Skills Overview - profClaw

What Are Skills?

A skill is a SKILL.md file that gives the AI a focused set of instructions, context, and behaviors for a particular task domain. When a skill is active, the AI’s system prompt is extended with that skill’s instructions - making it an expert in that specific area. Examples:

The code-review skill makes the AI a thorough code reviewer with a specific feedback format
The git-workflow skill teaches branching conventions and safe commit practices
The web-research skill instructs structured information gathering with citations

Skills are plain Markdown with a YAML frontmatter header. No code required - anyone can write one.

Skill Architecture

Skills are loaded from multiple sources in priority order. Later sources override earlier ones by skill name:

Loading Priority (lowest to highest):
Extra directories    (config.load.extraDirs)
Built-in skills      (50 bundled with profClaw)
Managed skills       (~/.profclaw/skills/)
Workspace skills     (<project>/skills/)

Your workspace skills/ directory always wins, allowing you to override any built-in skill for a specific project.

Skill File Format

---
name: code-review
description: Analyze diffs, suggest improvements, and review PRs
version: 1.0.0
metadata: {"profclaw": {"emoji": "magnifying-glass", "category": "development", "priority": 85}}
---

# Code Review

You are a thorough code reviewer...

## What This Skill Does
...

The YAML frontmatter defines the skill’s identity and behavior flags. The Markdown body is injected as system instructions when the skill is active.

Frontmatter Fields

Field	Type	Description
`name`	string	Unique skill identifier (kebab-case)
`description`	string	Short description shown in the UI
`version`	string	Semver version
`user-invocable`	boolean	Show as a slash command users can invoke
`disable-model-invocation`	boolean	Prevent the AI from auto-activating this skill
`command-dispatch`	`"tool"`	Route slash command directly to a specific tool
`command-tool`	string	Tool name for `command-dispatch` mode
`command-arg-mode`	`"raw"` or `"parsed"`	How arguments are passed to the tool
`metadata`	JSON string	Extended metadata: category, emoji, trigger patterns

How Skills Are Activated

Slash Commands
AI Auto-Activation
Preset Assignment

User-invocable skills respond to /skill-name commands. Arguments after the command name are passed through:

/code-review
/git-workflow commit my changes
/web-research latest Hono middleware docs
/summarize src/chat/

Skills with triggerPatterns in their metadata are auto-activated when the AI detects a matching intent in the user’s message:

“review my code” activates code-review
“commit my changes” activates git-workflow
“search for…” activates web-research

Disable auto-activation for a specific skill with disable-model-invocation: true in frontmatter.

Skills can be assigned to a preset (persona) so they are always active for a specific channel or use case:

# settings.yml
presets:
  code-assistant:
    skills:
      - code-review
      - git-workflow
      - debug-helper

Skill Sources

Built-in Skills

50 pre-installed skills covering development, productivity, and media workflows.

ClawHub

Community skill marketplace. Browse and install with profclaw skills install.

Creating Skills

Write your own SKILL.md files for custom behavior. No code required.

Using Skills

How to invoke, list, manage, and configure skills.

Managing Skills via CLI

# List all available skills
profclaw skills list

# Search for skills on ClawHub
profclaw skills search code-review

# Install a skill from ClawHub
profclaw skills install @profclaw/skill-debug-helper

# Show skill details
profclaw skills show git-workflow

# Disable a built-in skill
profclaw skills disable web-research

Skills vs Tools vs Plugins

Understanding when to use each extension mechanism:

	Skills	Tools	Plugins
Format	SKILL.md (Markdown)	TypeScript code	npm package
Purpose	AI instructions and behavior	Executable functions	System extensions
Complexity	Simple - text only	Medium - typed functions	Full - npm package
Requires code	No	Yes	Yes
Can call tools	Yes (by instruction)	N/A	Yes
Can add tools	No	Yes (via plugin)	Yes

Skills are the easiest and fastest way to extend profClaw behavior. Use Plugins when you need to add executable tools or system-level integrations.

​What Are Skills?

​Skill Architecture

​Skill File Format

​Frontmatter Fields

​How Skills Are Activated

​Skill Sources