skillSystem DesignJul 5, 2026 1 min read
Skills Are Not Chat Templates
How to write reusable system skills with clear triggers, inputs, and outputs — and why examples matter.
NS
Nadia Sari
AI Systems
5.1k 420
NOTES · SKILL · JULY 2026
A skill is a contract. Trigger defines when it fires. Input defines what it needs. Output defines the shape of success. Soft chat templates skip the contract and drift over time.
Write the trigger first
Start with a single sentence: when the user does X, you become Y. Vague identity fluff burns tokens and confuses routing in multi-skill stacks.
Ship with an example pair
Every skill page on promptcrates includes an input/output example. That pair is documentation for humans and few-shot grounding for models. Keep examples short and realistic.
Tip — If your skill cannot explain a good output in one paragraph, the skill is underspecified — fix the contract before publishing.
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