Proposed worksheet · Method notes updated 11 November 2026 · Not independently tested

The decision

Add a skill only when its task fit, authority boundaries and maintenance burden are understood.

Use this guide with your own evidence

The draft includes this method’s reference and proposed checks. Confirm they fit your task, then add your authorized scope and observations. No checks have been run.

Start a JSON recordStart a Markdown record

Use this when

You are considering a reusable instruction package or updating one already used by an agent.

Skip this when

The current workflow already meets the task requirements with no repeated failure. Keep the free, competent baseline in the comparison.

Work through the checks

  1. Name the job

    Describe the exact problem the skill should solve and when it should not run. Read its instructions and referenced scripts. Inspect the requested tools, data, network access and side effects.

  2. Check compatibility and provenance

    Record the source, version, license and supported host. A valid SKILL.md name and description can help discovery but do not prove safety or quality. Treat scripts as code, not prose.

  3. Compare against the existing workflow

    Use comparable tasks, the same tools and permissions, and clear acceptance tests. Do not weaken the baseline so the new package looks useful. Include failure and unavailable-tool cases.

  4. Keep rollback small

    Preserve the prior version and a way to disable the new skill. Stage authorized changes in an isolated environment. Keep permission changes separate from content updates.

What would count as success?

  1. The skill improves a defined outcome or removes demonstrated recurring work. Evidence for check 1
  2. Quality and required controls are preserved. Evidence for check 2
  3. The previous working version remains recoverable. Evidence for check 3

Evidence to bring back

Proposed evidence plan, not observed results or extra mandatory process. Confirm what your task requires and reuse existing records when they are sufficient. Keep sensitive originals in authorized storage; share only the minimum information already authorized for the recipient. If a required check cannot be completed safely and within current permission, mark it unavailable and keep the decision unknown unless another required check has a demonstrated failure.

  1. The skill improves a defined outcome or removes demonstrated recurring work.

    Proposed evidence for acceptance check 1. No result has been observed here.

    Bring back: Keep paired task results against the same competent baseline, with the defined outcome, recurring problem and setup/review burden visible. Record a keep or skip decision when no useful gain is demonstrated.

    Not enough: Popularity, a longer output or a reduced tool count without an accepted-result comparison.

  2. Quality and required controls are preserved.

    Proposed evidence for acceptance check 2. No result has been observed here.

    Bring back: Keep the acceptance results and required permission/failure-path checks for both workflows, including failures and unavailable cases. Changes to permissions need their own approval.

    Not enough: A faster happy path that omits the baseline’s quality checks or weakens a required control.

  3. The previous working version remains recoverable.

    Proposed evidence for acceptance check 3. No result has been observed here.

    Bring back: Keep the prior version’s identity, authorized storage location and a bounded restore check of that version in the intended test environment. A disable check demonstrates only that the new skill can be stopped. State what recovery was not exercised.

    Not enough: A promised rollback or an untested backup pointer described as demonstrated recovery.

Stop or recover

Do not install when provenance, required access or effects are unclear. Stop if a proposed update silently expands permissions or makes unsupported compatibility claims.

What this does not establish

This worksheet does not install, certify or endorse any skill. A schema check is not an effectiveness test.

Reference links

Links checked 10 November 2026. Each note below states what the reference supports. No source review validates this worksheet’s effectiveness or replaces testing in your environment.

Take this worksheet with you

Section links identify this page, not an immutable copy. Numbered checks may change in later revisions. For an exact reference, retain build revision release-2026-11-11-r12 and the method source hash in the JSON or Markdown version.

This guide’s draft recordHow to complete a recordRead MarkdownRead JSON