research: Ideas from Anthropic's official Skills guide

[mmorris35]

Source

Anthropic's official "Complete Guide to Building Skills for Claude" (30 pages)
PDF: https://resources.anthropic.com/hubfs/The-Complete-Guide-to-Building-Skill-for-Claude.pdf

Relevant Patterns

Progressive Disclosure (3 levels)

1. YAML frontmatter — Always loaded, minimal, helps Claude decide relevance
2. SKILL.md body — Loaded when triggered
3. Linked files — Loaded only as needed

DevPlan application: Could executor/verifier agents use this pattern? Frontmatter = task summary, body = current wave, linked = full plan?

Category 2: Workflow Automation

Anthropic explicitly calls this out as a skill category:

"Multi-step processes that benefit from consistent methodology"
Example: skill-creator skill with "step-by-step workflow with validation gates, templates, iterative refinement loops"

This is literally DevPlan. We're aligned with Anthropic's recommended patterns.

Success Metrics

Anthropic suggests tracking:

• Skill triggers on 90% of relevant queries
• Completes workflow in X tool calls
• 0 failed API calls per workflow
• Users don't need to prompt about next steps
• Consistent results across sessions

DevPlan application: Could devplan_usage_stats track these metrics? Success rate, tool call counts, validation pass rate?

YAML Frontmatter for Auto-Triggering

"The YAML frontmatter is how Claude decides whether to load your skill."
"description MUST include BOTH: what the skill does AND when to use it (trigger conditions)"

DevPlan application: When we generate executor agents, should we include YAML frontmatter with trigger phrases like "execute development plan", "run wave X", etc.?

Questions

1. Should DevPlan-generated agents follow the SKILL.md format for better Claude integration?
2. Can we add success metrics to the dashboard (trigger rate, completion rate)?
3. Should devplan_generate_executor output a skill folder structure instead of just markdown?

Action

Review guide for more patterns. Consider packaging DevPlan methodology as a proper Anthropic-style skill.