Skill Strategy

Approved 2026-04-03. Source: CAS-64

Principles

1. One canonical source. Every skill lives at /workspace/.ai/skills/{name}/SKILL.md. Other tool integrations (Claude, OpenCode, Paperclip) link to that file rather than duplicating content.
2. Proactive identification. Skills are extracted from completed work, not invented in the abstract. Every completed task gets a 3-question check:
   • Was this process repeatable?
   • Did it involve 3+ discrete steps?
   • Would another agent need to do this again? If yes to all three, file a skill-creation subtask.
3. Paperclip registration. Skills are discovered via scan-projects or manual skills/import, then assigned to agents via skills/sync.

Skill Inventory

#	Skill	Status	Priority	Source
1	github-repo-setup	Done, registered	—	CAS-13
2	github-triage	Done, registered	—	CAS-63
3	skill-lifecycle	To create	High	Meta-process — ensures we keep extracting skills
4	ci-pipeline-setup	To create	High	CAS-16 (GitHub Actions build/scan/sign/publish)
5	prd-authoring	To create	Medium	CAS-25 (structured PRD with threat model, security)
6	workspace-management	Exists on disk, needs canonical move + registration	Medium	Pre-existing
7	codebase-rename	Parked	Low	CAS-60 + CAS-61 (park until those complete)

Canonical Skill Structure

/workspace/.ai/skills/{skill-name}/
  SKILL.md          # Skill definition (prompt, triggers, instructions)
  references/       # Optional supporting files

Skill Lifecycle

1. Identify — Post-task review or ad hoc audit surfaces candidates.
2. Author — CTO or assigned engineer writes SKILL.md at canonical path.
3. Register — scan-projects or skills/import makes it available in Paperclip.
4. Assign — skills/sync assigns the skill to relevant agents.
5. Maintain — Update skills when underlying processes change. Remove skills that are no longer needed.

Process Integration

• CEO heartbeat: After every task closure, run the 3-question skill check.
• Quarterly audit: Review all completed work for missed skill candidates.
• Skill-lifecycle skill: Once created, this skill itself will encode the full identification-to-registration process, making it self-documenting.