skill-author

# skill-author Author a new skill, the right way. The public entry and natural-language requests route here; this complete owner is also available as a directly read internal resource. Use a verb-noun name (for example, `dependency-review`), not a descriptive sentence. A one-time action belongs to the applicable work procedure. A question about whether a skill is needed is answered without authoring; an almost-matching owner is reviewed and extended through the existing change workflow rather than duplicated. ## Pre-flight Read these, or STOP and surface the gap — never author on assumption: - The `<gap>` argument. Absent → STOP and ask: "Describe the gap this skill would fill. What situation does no existing skill cover today?" - [routines/INDEX.md](../INDEX.md) — the surface scan of every existing skill. This is the gap-overlap check in Phase 1 and the integration target in Phase 5. Never bulk-read the skill bodies. - [routines/commit-gate/SKILL.md](../commit-gate/SKILL.md) and [routines/tdd/SKILL.md](../tdd/SKILL.md) — the canonical v2 format the authored skill must mirror. Read them before Phase 3. The command-backed commit owner also demonstrates the single-source entry convention. Keep its description and argument hint with the owning skill; the generator supplies the compatible public spelling per host. - `<project-root>/.codearbiter/CONTEXT.md` — project context, only if the gap is project-specific. A generic skill needs no project state. ## Phase 1 — Gap evi...