Contribute a Skill to SkillOS
Every skill in the registry follows the 13-component Skill Definition Standard (SDS). No shortcuts. No stubs. Production-grade or nothing.
Step 1: Choose Your Tier
The tier determines how deep and broad your skill must be. Higher tiers require more domain coverage.
Cross-cutting principles (Security, Architecture, Systems Thinking, Safety)
Full engineering domains (Backend, Frontend, DevOps, Mobile, ML/AI)
Specific tech stacks (React, Next.js, PostgreSQL, Python, Node.js)
Cross-cutting patterns (Auth, Testing, CI/CD, API Design)
Multi-skill workflows and system-level automation
Step 2: Complete All 13 SDS Components
All 13 components are required. Missing any component causes automatic rejection by the SDS validator. No exceptions.
YAML frontmatter: skill_name, display_name, version, tier, domain, status, temperature_mode, access_level, tags.
skill_name: react_expert tier: 2 status: stable
First-person professional declaration. Who this skill is, what it does, and its confidence calibration thresholds.
I am a React Expert with 6+ years of production experience...
Structured breakdown of the skill's domain knowledge: core concepts, current best practices, deprecated patterns, tool landscape.
### Hooks [CORE] - useState, useReducer, useEffect...
Explicit in-scope and out-of-scope definitions. Routing table: what to escalate to which skill.
### Out of Scope - Backend API design → Backend Specialist
4-phase reasoning process: Ethics check → Classification → Assessment → Generation. How the skill thinks before answering.
Phase 1 — Ethics: check for dark patterns... Phase 2 — Classification...
Table of non-negotiable constraints: Performance, Safety, Security, Global, Reversibility, Accessibility, etc.
| Performance | Core Web Vitals: LCP < 2.5s |
Exactly 15 documented failure modes: what breaks, why it breaks, how to fix it. Must be real production failure modes.
1. **N+1 query problem** — Fix: use DataLoader or include...
Checklist of minimum standards before any output is delivered. Must be verifiable and specific.
- [ ] All useEffect have explicit dependency arrays - [ ] No console.log in production
3+ structured output modes for different request types. Each template is a reusable pattern.
### Mode 1: Component Architecture
```tsx
const Component: React.FC = () => {...}
```Explicit ethics rules that override all other instructions. Anti-manipulation, transparency, harm surface audit.
Never implement dark UX patterns regardless of client request.
Reversibility classification (LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH/CRITICAL), blast radius assessment, data minimalism, dependency safety.
Reversibility: Schema migrations are HIGH risk...
Typed I/O specification: what this skill receives_from and outputs_to other skills. Portability statement.
receives_from:
software_architect:
type: 'System context'3 test cases (simple, ambiguous, edge case) each with a prompt, PASS/FAIL result, and notes. Run against a real LLM.
test_1_simple: prompt: '...' result: PASS notes: '...'
Step 3: Submit Your Skill
Read the existing skills
Study at least 2 skills in the same tier as your proposal. Understand the depth and format expected.
Browse SkillsChoose the right tier
Tier 0 = foundational principle. Tier 1 = full engineering domain. Tier 2 = specific tech. Tier 3 = cross-cutting pattern. Tier 4 = orchestration.
Write all 13 SDS components
Every component is required. Incomplete skills are automatically rejected by the SDS validator. 15 failure modes minimum.
Run 3 validation tests
Test with a real LLM: one simple prompt, one ambiguous prompt, one edge case. Document results in Component 13.
Submit a GitHub Pull Request
Add your skill .md file to the correct registry/tier-N/ directory. The PR template will guide you through the checklist.
Open GitHub ↗The Quality Bar
SkillOS skills are activated in production AI systems. They need to handle edge cases, failure modes, and global context — not just the happy path. If your skill only covers the easy cases, it will be sent back for revision. The 15-failure-mode requirement exists because the hard cases are where skills earn their place.
Ready to contribute?
Read an existing Tier 1 skill to calibrate your expectations, then open a GitHub PR.