Heal SKILL.md Files

VerifiedSafe

Detects the active skill from conversation context, analyzes errors or outdated instructions in its SKILL.md file, proposes specific fixes with before/after diffs, and applies changes after user approval with optional git commit. Helps maintain skill definitions when they contain wrong API references or incorrect directives.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
DevelopmentIntermediate
806/2/2026
Claude Code
#skill-healing#documentation-repair#skill-maintenance#autofix

Recommended for

Our review

This skill fixes incorrect SKILL.md files and related files when they contain wrong instructions or outdated API references.

Strengths

  • Automatic analysis of errors in SKILL.md files
  • Proposes changes before applying them
  • Safe application with user approval
  • Integrated Git commit option

Limitations

  • Requires the user to identify the initial problem
  • Depends on correct skill detection from conversation context
  • Only corrects documentation files, not executable scripts
When to use it

Use this skill when you discover an existing skill has outdated API references, wrong instructions, or incorrect information in its SKILL.md.

When not to use it

Do not use it to create a new skill or to modify files unrelated to skill documentation.

Security analysis

Safe
Quality score88/100

The skill uses only safe Bash commands (ls, git) for file discovery and version control, requires explicit user approval before any modifications, and does not include any destructive, exfiltrating, or obfuscated actions. It operates within a constrained scope focused on updating documentation files.

No concerns found

Examples

Fix outdated API reference in a skill
Heal the SKILL.md for my 'weather-api' skill – the endpoint URLs are from v1 but the API now uses v2.
Correct broken installation instructions
The 'deploy-skill' skill has wrong pip install commands. Please heal it.

name: heal-skill description: Fix incorrect SKILL.md files when a skill has wrong instructions or outdated API references argument-hint: [optional: specific issue to fix] allowed-tools: [Read, Edit, Bash(ls:), Bash(git:)] disable-model-invocation: true

<objective> Update a skill's SKILL.md and related files based on corrections discovered during execution.

Analyze the conversation to detect which skill is running, reflect on what went wrong, propose specific fixes, get user approval, then apply changes with optional commit. </objective>

<context> Skill detection: !`ls -1 ./skills/*/SKILL.md | head -5` </context>

<quick_start> <workflow>

  1. Detect skill from conversation context (invocation messages, recent SKILL.md references)
  2. Reflect on what went wrong and how you discovered the fix
  3. Present proposed changes with before/after diffs
  4. Get approval before making any edits
  5. Apply changes and optionally commit </workflow>

</quick_start>

<process> <step_1 name="detect_skill"> Identify the skill from conversation context:
  • Look for skill invocation messages
  • Check which SKILL.md was recently referenced
  • Examine current task context

Set: SKILL_NAME=[skill-name] and SKILL_DIR=./skills/$SKILL_NAME

If unclear, ask the user. </step_1>

<step_2 name="reflection_and_analysis"> Focus on $ARGUMENTS if provided, otherwise analyze broader context.

Determine:

  • What was wrong: Quote specific sections from SKILL.md that are incorrect
  • Discovery method: Context7, error messages, trial and error, documentation lookup
  • Root cause: Outdated API, incorrect parameters, wrong endpoint, missing context
  • Scope of impact: Single section or multiple? Related files affected?
  • Proposed fix: Which files, which sections, before/after for each </step_2>

<step_3 name="scan_affected_files">

ls -la $SKILL_DIR/
ls -la $SKILL_DIR/references/ 2>/dev/null
ls -la $SKILL_DIR/scripts/ 2>/dev/null

</step_3>

<step_4 name="present_proposed_changes"> Present changes in this format:

**Skill being healed:** [skill-name]
**Issue discovered:** [1-2 sentence summary]
**Root cause:** [brief explanation]

**Files to be modified:**
- [ ] SKILL.md
- [ ] references/[file].md
- [ ] scripts/[file].py

**Proposed changes:**

### Change 1: SKILL.md - [Section name]
**Location:** Line [X] in SKILL.md

**Current (incorrect):**

[exact text from current file]


**Corrected:**

[new text]


**Reason:** [why this fixes the issue]

[repeat for each change across all files]

**Impact assessment:**
- Affects: [authentication/API endpoints/parameters/examples/etc.]

**Verification:**
These changes will prevent: [specific error that prompted this]

</step_4>

<step_5 name="request_approval">

Should I apply these changes?

1. Yes, apply and commit all changes
2. Apply but don't commit (let me review first)
3. Revise the changes (I'll provide feedback)
4. Cancel (don't make changes)

Choose (1-4):

Wait for user response. Do not proceed without approval. </step_5>

<step_6 name="apply_changes"> Only after approval (option 1 or 2):

  1. Use Edit tool for each correction across all files
  2. Read back modified sections to verify
  3. If option 1, commit with structured message showing what was healed
  4. Confirm completion with file list </step_6> </process>

<success_criteria>

  • Skill correctly detected from conversation context
  • All incorrect sections identified with before/after
  • User approved changes before application
  • All edits applied across SKILL.md and related files
  • Changes verified by reading back
  • Commit created if user chose option 1
  • Completion confirmed with file list </success_criteria>
<verification> Before completing:
  • Read back each modified section to confirm changes applied
  • Ensure cross-file consistency (SKILL.md examples match references/)
  • Verify git commit created if option 1 was selected
  • Check no unintended files were modified </verification>
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