Skills Overview

Extend Claude Code with CLEO skills for specialized workflows

CLEO Skills

Skills are reusable prompt packages that extend Claude Code’s capabilities with specialized knowledge and workflows. CLEO provides several built-in skills for common development tasks.

What are Skills?

Specialized Knowledge

Domain-specific expertise packaged as prompt instructions

Workflow Patterns

Proven patterns for complex multi-step tasks

Tool Integration

Pre-configured MCP server connections and tool usage

Reusable Components

Share and reuse across projects and teams

Available Skills

Epic Architect

Create comprehensive epics with full task decomposition, wave planning, and dependency analysis

Orchestrator

Coordinate multi-agent workflows for complex projects with parallel execution

Research Agent

Gather information from multiple sources with structured output

Skill Structure

Each skill contains:

skills/ct-skill-name/
├── SKILL.md              # Main skill instructions
├── references/           # Supporting documentation
│   ├── patterns.md
│   └── examples.md
└── examples/             # Example outputs
    └── sample-output.md

SKILL.md Format

---
name: "Skill Name"
description: "What this skill does"
version: "1.0.0"
triggers:
  - "keyword phrases"
  - "that invoke this skill"
---

# Skill Name

[Main instructions...]

## Workflow

[Step-by-step process...]

## Output Format

[Expected deliverables...]

Using Skills

Invoke via Slash Command

# In Claude Code
/epic-architect "User authentication system"

# Or use the skill trigger phrases
"create an epic for user authentication"
"plan the authentication epic"

Manual Invocation

Reference the skill in your prompt:

@skills/ct-epic-architect/SKILL.md

Please create an epic for implementing user authentication with JWT tokens.

Skill Triggers

Skills are automatically invoked when you use trigger phrases:

Skill	Trigger Phrases
Epic Architect	”create epic”, “plan epic”, “decompose into tasks”
Orchestrator	”orchestrate”, “coordinate agents”, “parallel work”
Research Agent	”research”, “investigate”, “gather information”

Creating Custom Skills

1. Create Directory Structure

   mkdir -p skills/my-skill/{references,examples}
   
2. Write SKILL.md

   Include frontmatter with name, description, version, and triggers

3. Add Supporting Docs

   Create reference files for patterns, examples, and edge cases

4. Test the Skill

   Invoke with trigger phrases and verify output quality

See the Skill Creator skill for guided skill development.

Skill Best Practices

Clear Triggers

Define specific, unambiguous trigger phrases that won’t conflict with other skills or normal prompts.

Structured Output

Define clear output formats (JSON, markdown templates) for consistent, parseable results.

Progressive Disclosure

Put essential instructions in SKILL.md, detailed references in subdirectories.

Error Handling

Include guidance for common failure modes and recovery strategies.

Next Steps

Installation

Install and configure skills

Epic Architect

Create comprehensive project epics