Skill Developer Workflow
Implement skill development issues through iterative planning, TDD-governed implementation, and review cycles.
When to Use
- Implementing a GitHub issue that creates or modifies skills, plugins, agents, or hooks
- Issue requires TDD-governed phases (baseline → implement → verify)
- Work involves SKILL.md frontmatter, workflow references, agent prompts, or hook scripts
When NOT to Use
- General code changes unrelated to skill/plugin authoring
- Quick validation or auditing — use
/plugin-devinstead - Scaffolding a new plugin from scratch — use
/plugin-dev:createinstead
Quick Reference
| Phase | Action | Exit Condition |
|---|---|---|
| 0. Setup | MUST create feature branch | On feature branch (NOT main/master) |
| 1. Context | Read issue + detect skill files | Requirements clear, skill files noted |
| 2. Plan | Draft implementation plan | Plan complete |
| 3-4. Validate | Gemini review loop (max 5) | APPROVED status |
| 4.5. Baseline (RED) | TODO: #163 — capture baseline behavior | Baseline captured (or skipped pending #163) |
| 5-7. Implement (GREEN) | Write minimal skill addressing failures | All tasks done + criteria met + tests passing + validation passing |
| 7.5. Verify (REFACTOR) | TODO: #163 — compare against baseline | Benchmark passes (or skipped pending #163) or escalated |
| 8-9. Review | Council review (max 3) | APPROVED status |
| 10. Finalize | Commit + PR | PR created |
| 11. Cleanup | Clean temps, delete branch | Branch deleted after merge |
Consultant Scaling
| Change Size | Criteria | Consultants |
|---|---|---|
| Trivial | <10 lines, no logic changes | Skip review → Phase 10 |
| Small | 1-2 files, simple logic | council:gemini-consultant only |
| Medium | 3-5 files, moderate complexity | council:gemini-consultant + council:codex-consultant |
| Large | 6+ files, architectural impact | /council skill |
Skill File Detection
During Phase 1, detect and note these skill-related files for domain-specific handling:
SKILL.md— Skill activation definitions (YAML frontmatter + instructions)references/*.md— Workflow reference files (e.g.,references/WORKFLOW.md)agents/*.md— Agent/subagent definitionshooks/hooks.json— Hook config (declares hook types, matchers, and script references)scripts/— Hook scripts (executables referenced byhooks.jsonvia${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/scripts/...)
Triggers
Use this skill when the user says: "develop skill", "skill dev", "plugin develop", "develop issue", "skill workflow", "implement skill issue", "TDD skill development".
Workflow Reference
Read references/WORKFLOW.md now — it contains the detailed step-by-step procedures for every phase, including TDD extension points, loop limits, and escalation rules. Follow it exactly.