Cheatsheet

Promptor Skill?

Prompts are reps. Skills are technique. A prompt gets one thing done. A skill writes the method down so it works the same way every time, for you and for the next person. Most prompts should stay prompts. The few that shouldn't are the ones you keep retyping.

Stay with a prompt when …

It's a one-off.

If you won't do this again next month, a skill is overhead. Type it, take the result, move on.

Still learning what's good.

A skill freezes a method. Freeze it too early and you freeze the wrong one. Iterate in chat first.

The steps change every time.

If the sequence depends on the situation, there's nothing stable to write down yet. A skill needs a method, not a mood.

Write a skill when …

Same brief, third time.

The third time is the signal. That's when the method is stable enough to leave your head.

A sequence and a standard.

Gather, check, format, hand over. Work with a fixed order and a quality bar belongs in a file, not in your memory.

Others need the same result.

A skill is how your method leaves your laptop. If the team should produce it the same way, write it down once.

The three-question test

Before you write a skill

Run this before you write a single line. Two times yes: write the skill. Three times yes: share it.

Rules

„1. Will I do this again, more than twice? 2. Does it have a fixed sequence and a quality bar? 3. Should a colleague get the same result without asking me?"

The anatomy of a skill that works

The trigger line.

The most important sentence in the file: the agent reads the description and decides whether the skill fits. Say what it does and when, in words people type. Too vague, it never fires. Too broad, it fires on everything.

Method, not knowledge.

A skill holds how, not what: steps, order, output format, quality bar. Reference material and templates go into companion files. If it reads like a wiki page, it's a wiki page with a header.

One finished example.

Show one real output the way you want it. One example beats three paragraphs of description.

Done criteria, stop rules.

Write down when the job is finished, and where the skill must stop and ask: before sending, before deleting, before anything outside its scope. A skill that just sends is a skill nobody will share.

The skill skeleton

Copy it, fill in the brackets, save it as a plain-text file in a folder of the same name. The name and description fields are part of the format — keep them in English.

Prompt

„--- name: [lowercase-with-hyphens] description: [What it does. Use when the user asks for …, mentions …, or needs …] --- Goal: [one sentence] Steps: 1. [gather] 2. [check] 3. [produce] Output: [format, length] Done means: [criteria] Stop and ask before: [sending, deleting] Example: [one result]"

Prompts are reps. Skills are technique.

The prompt you keep retyping is a skill you haven't written. And once it's a file, it has an owner: put a name and a date on it, and share it again when it changes.

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FAQ

What's the difference between a prompt and a skill?

A prompt is a one-time instruction: you type it, the assistant answers. A skill is a written-down method the assistant applies on its own whenever a request matches its description: a small plain-text file with name, trigger line and instructions. Prompts are for one-off and exploratory work. Skills are for work you repeat, with a fixed sequence, that a colleague can reproduce without you.

What goes into a skill file?

A folder with one plain-text file. At the top, two fields: a name and a description of what the skill does and when to use it. Below that, the method: goal, steps in order, output format, done criteria and stop rules, plus one example of the finished result. Reference material and templates go into companion files. The format is an open standard, so the same file works across many AI tools.

When should I not write a skill?

When the work is a one-off, when you're still exploring what a good result looks like, or when the steps change with every run. A skill freezes a method. Written too early, it freezes the wrong one. Iterate in chat until the result is stable, then write it down.

What are the most common mistakes with skills?

A vague description, so the skill never fires. A description that's too broad, so it fires on everything. A skill that stores knowledge instead of method and turns into a wiki page. No done criteria, so the assistant doesn't know when to stop. No stop rules before sending or deleting. And too many overlapping skills with no owner, so nobody knows which version is current.

Who owns a shared skill?

The person who wrote it, until someone else takes it over explicitly. A shared skill needs a name on it, a date, and one place where the current version lives. When it changes, share it again from there. A skill without an owner drifts, duplicates, and stops being trusted.

Last updated: 5 September 2026

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