skill-size-discipline
Skill Size Discipline
Section titled “Skill Size Discipline”What This Enforces
Section titled “What This Enforces”SKILL.md files stay lean. Large skills waste context tokens and reduce agent effectiveness.
Constraints
Section titled “Constraints”- SKILL.md ≤ 500 lines — anything over goes into
reference/*.mdfiles - Reference skills: SKILL.md ≤ 100 lines — the entry point is a lean router to reference docs
- Process skills: SKILL.md ≤ 300 lines — core process + essential rules, details in reference
- Pimp skills: SKILL.md ≤ 150 lines — routing table + rules, nothing else
Provenance
Section titled “Provenance”Every SKILL.md frontmatter MUST include: name, description, model, last_updated, category.
Description Format
Section titled “Description Format”Third-person only:
- ✓ “Processes video files and generates thumbnails”
- ✗ “I can help you process video files”
When Active
Section titled “When Active”- When creating new skills (via writing-skills, writing-reference-skills, armadillo-maker)
- When modifying existing skills
Integration
Section titled “Integration”| Skill | How it uses this rule |
|---|---|
writing-skills | Enforces size limit during craft phase |
writing-reference-skills | Enforces lean SKILL.md + reference split |
armadillo-maker | Checks size during verification phase |