improving-skills

# Improving Skills

## Overview

**Improving skills IS refactoring documentation for clarity and effectiveness.**

Analyze current state, research best practices, apply targeted improvements.

**Core principle:** Improve what exists—don't rewrite from scratch unless necessary.

**Violating the letter of the rules is violating the spirit of the rules.**

## Task Initialization (MANDATORY)

Before ANY action, create task list using TaskCreate:

```
TaskCreate for EACH task below:
- Subject: "[improving-skills] Task N: <action>"
- ActiveForm: "<doing action>"
```

**Tasks:**
1. Analyze current skill
2. Gather project context
3. Research best practices
4. Identify improvements
5. Apply improvements
6. Validate and review

Announce: "Created 6 tasks. Starting execution..."

**Execution rules:**
1. `TaskUpdate status="in_progress"` BEFORE starting each task
2. `TaskUpdate status="completed"` ONLY after verification passes
3. If task fails → stay in_progress, diagnose, retry
4. NEVER skip to next task until current is completed
5. At end, `TaskList` to confirm all completed

## Task 1: Analyze Current Skill

**Goal:** Understand the skill's current state.

**Read the skill:**
```bash
cat <skill-path>/SKILL.md
ls -la <skill-path>/
```

**Document:**
- Purpose: What does it do?
- Triggers: What activates it?
- Structure: How is it organized?
- References: What supporting files exist?
- Issues: What problems are apparent?

**Common issues:**
- Vague triggers in description
- Missing verification criteria
- No task list enforcement
- Missing Red Flags/Rationalizations
- Content that should be in references

**Verification:** Have documented purpose, triggers, and issues.

## Task 2: Gather Project Context

**Goal:** Understand how the skill fits the project.

**Search for usage:**
```bash
grep -r "[skill-name]" . --include="*.md"
```

**Questions:**
- How often is this skill used?
- What files does it typically work on?
- Are there project-specific conventions it should follow