Pick the thing you can't stop thinking about.
Not what's impressive. Not what a grown-up would pick. The thing you'd talk about for an hour without getting bored. Tap one — you can write about something else later.
Don't see yours? That's fine. These are just to get you thinking — you can write about anything in the steps that follow.
One of these is good. The other just works.
Two real Skills written by two different kids. Both about a pet dog named Buddy. Read them both, then look closely at what makes the right one feel different.
My Dog
My dog is a golden retriever. He is 3 years old. He likes treats. He barks when someone comes to the door. His name is Buddy.
My Dog Buddy
Buddy only answers to his name when you say it in a slightly higher pitch. He loves the peanut butter cookies from the Sunday farmers market but will pretend the regular ones don't exist. He has a small scar on his left ear from running into a door frame, and we think he's kind of proud of it.
The good one isn't better because it's longer. It's better because only one kid in the world could have written it. Every yellow-highlighted detail is something a stranger could never guess.
Do you actually know enough about your thing?
Tap every sign that's true about you and the thing you picked. No right answer — this is just so you can see what you're working with before you start writing.
Even if you only got one — keep going. Skills get better every time you make one. Module 02 is specifically about making them better.
Now you write one sentence.
About your —. Just one sentence — but try to put one detail in it that only you would know. Watch the feedback as you type.
This isn't graded. Nobody's keeping score. The feedback just helps you notice when you're saying something specific vs. something anyone could say.
This is what a Skill actually looks like.
A Claude Skill is just a short text file with some rules. Here's a complete, working one. You can copy it, change every line, and give it to Claude.
# A Skill about my dog Buddy # Claude will use this whenever I ask about him name: "My Dog Buddy" description: "Everything Claude needs to know about my golden retriever" facts: - "Buddy is a 3-year-old golden retriever" - "He only answers to his name in a higher pitch" - "He loves peanut butter cookies from the farmers market" - "He has a small scar on his left ear" - "He only barks at one specific neighbor" personality: "Proud of his scar, suspicious of normal treats" when_to_use: "Any time the user asks about Buddy"
That's the whole thing. A name, a description, five facts, one personality sentence, and a rule for when to use it. That's a real Skill. In the next step, you're going to build one for your own thing.
If this looks scary, it isn't. The next step is a guided form — you don't need to type any of the keywords or quotes. The form will handle that.
Build your Skill. Watch it appear as you type.
Fill in the blanks below. As you type, your real Skill will build itself underneath. When you're done, you can copy the whole thing and give it to Claude.
# Fill in the form above and watch this update. name: ... description: ... facts: - ...
You just made your first Skill.
Seven steps. About twenty minutes. One real thing only you could have made — and the code to prove it.
What you just learned
- A Skill is a short text file with rules — not a big program.
- "Good" means specific enough that only you could have written it.
- Length doesn't matter. Only-you-could-say-this matters.
- The code is real and copyable. You can paste it into Claude tonight.
- Every Skill you make from now on gets easier than the last one.
You can do this again with anything. Your cat. A different video game. The specific way your grandma makes dumplings. The form is always the same — name, description, five specific facts, one personality sentence. You now have the muscle.
In Module 02, you're going to learn what makes a Skill good vs. just "working" — and you'll go back and make this one better.
★ Before you call it done
Three questions. Same three. Every time.
These are the same three questions for every module in Kindling. They are how you check whether AI did the part it should and you did the part only you could. Tap each one to mark it true.
★ ★ ★