Using Skills

What a skill is

Each skill is a folder under skills/<skill-id>/ containing **SKILL.md** — instructions the agent follows (workflows, checklists, output formats). Skills are validated by:

npm run validate:skills
npm run check:skills

(package.json → scripts/validate-skills.mjs, scripts/build-skills.mjs)

How to use them in practice

1. Name the skill in your prompt — e.g. “Follow cm-tdd before writing implementation code.”
2. Load the file if your client supports file attachments — open skills/cm-planning/SKILL.md.
3. Chain work — when a skill says “hand off to X”, switch to that skill explicitly.
4. Persist outputs — write summaries to .cm/ or memory as the skill describes so MCP tools can find them later.

Discovery

• Browse the categorized lists in the Skills library.
• Use your editor search across skills/**/SKILL.md for keywords.

CLI vs skills

Mechanism	What it does
cm … commands	Runs TypeScript in this repo
Skills	Tells the agent how to use tools and what to produce

See also

• Working memory
• Codebase analysis
• TRIZ-Parallel engine