▶ Demo: building your first skills

Module 02 demo · ~5 minutes · three parts: a skill, a slash command, and one deliberate failure

Repo structure

client-project/

.claude/

skills/

meeting-brief/

SKILL.md

template.md

doc-helper/

SKILL.md

commands/

weekly-log.md

CLAUDE.md

STAKEHOLDERS.md

meetings/

thu-steerco.md

research/

deliverables/

briefs/

2026-08-21-thu-steerco.md

data/

logs/

week-of-2026-08-21.md

.claude/skills/meeting-brief/SKILL.md (what Claude wrote)

---
name: meeting-brief
description: Build a one page brief for an
  upcoming client meeting. Use when the user
  asks to prep, brief, or get ready for a
  named meeting or stakeholder call.
---

# Meeting brief

1. Find the meeting file in meetings/
2. Read STAKEHOLDERS.md for each attendee's
   role and open items
3. Fill out template.md: purpose, attendees,
   open questions, decisions needed
4. Save to deliverables/briefs/YYYY-MM-DD-<name>.md

STAKEHOLDERS.md (the supporting cast)

# Stakeholders

## Jordan Reyes, Client Sponsor
- Owns the governance program budget
- Open item: wants the intake process
  simplified before quarter end

## Sam Whitfield, IT Director
- Owns platform and security review
- Open item: waiting on our access
  control recommendations

new session · Part 1 test: the skill triggers by matching

Using the meeting-brief skill.

Read meetings/thu-steerco.md and STAKEHOLDERS.md.
Created deliverables/briefs/
  2026-08-21-thu-steerco.md

Brief covers: the meeting purpose, both
attendees with roles and open items, and
three decisions needed from the sponsor.

.claude/commands/weekly-log.md (the whole command)

---
description: File the weekly activity log
---

Summarize everything that changed in this
repo over the past 7 days. Use git history
and file modification dates. Write the
summary to logs/week-of-$ARGUMENTS.md and
keep it under one page.

new session · Part 2 test: the command runs by name

Created logs/week-of-2026-08-21.md

Summary of the last 7 days: repo initialized,
context layer built (CLAUDE.md, folder rules,
settings), capability layer added (1 skill,
1 command), first meeting brief drafted.

.claude/skills/doc-helper/SKILL.md (built to fail)

---
name: doc-helper
description: helper for documents
---

Help with documents.

new session · Part 3 test: the vague skill never fires

Claude: Happy to help. What would you like
to do, and with which document?

(doc-helper sat in the menu, unused. Nothing
in "help me with a document" matched "helper
for documents" strongly enough for Claude
to commit to it.)

doc-helper/SKILL.md (description rewritten, body unchanged)

---
name: doc-helper
description: Turn rough notes in research/
  into a clean one page summary. Use when
  asked to clean up, tidy, or summarize
  notes.
---

Module 02 · Demo

Building your first skills

Every prompt shown here works in your own repo. Three parts:

1 · Create a skill 2 · Create a command 3 · Break one on purpose

Same prompts, your repo, your words

Run this sequence in your own practice repo and you land in the same place: a skill that triggers on plain language, a command that runs by name, and firsthand proof that the description does the selling.

On to the Module 02 quiz →

Part 1 · Skill Part 2 · Command Part 3 · Bad skill