Our review
This guide helps create a new skill file following the catalyst-skills library's fan-out, reduce, verify, synthesize pattern.
Strengths
- Ensures consistency with existing skills via a strict template.
- Breaks down work into parallelizable analysis tasks.
- Includes explicit deduplication and skeptic verification steps.
- Offers a fully worked realistic example.
Limitations
- Relies on reference files like ORCHESTRATION-PROMPT.md being present.
- Builds only a single markdown file, no framework code.
- May be overkill for trivial skills.
When adding a new reusable skill to a structured library like catalyst-skills and matching its established format.
When creating a simple standalone prompt or a skill that does not need to fit an existing library pattern.
Security analysis
SafeThe skill only instructs to read local files (ORCHESTRATION-PROMPT.md and an existing skill) and create a new markdown file within the catalyst-skills/ directory. No destructive commands, network activity, or exfiltration. It is entirely safe to execute.
No concerns found
Examples
Add a new skill to catalyst-skills/ named 'refactor-legacy' with a worked example about breaking up a monolithic function.Add a new skill 'debug-first-failure' to the catalyst-skills library following the standard pattern.Add a new skill to catalyst-skills/ for writing database migrations, including a realistic ticket example and verification questions.Add a new skill to the catalyst-skills/ library.
Reference: Read ORCHESTRATION-PROMPT.md for the pattern (fan out, reduce, verify, synthesize). Reference: Read one existing file in catalyst-skills/ (any of them) to match the exact structure and tone.
Skill name: $ARGUMENTS
DO NOT BUILD framework code. Build ONE markdown file only: catalyst-skills/[skill-name].md
The file must include, in this order:
- Problem Pattern — when a ticket matches this skill
- Analysis Tasks — independent, parallelizable investigation tasks (FAN OUT)
- Deduplication — how to consolidate/filter findings (REDUCE)
- Verification Questions — skeptic checks with fresh context, assume false until proven (VERIFY)
- Implementation Checklist — concrete build steps (SYNTHESIZE)
- One worked example with a realistic ticket
Match the formatting, heading style, and level of specificity of the existing skill files exactly. This should feel like it belongs in the same library, not like a different author wrote it.
After creating the file, do not modify any other files.
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