Templates

skill-forge ships with five battle-tested templates. Each one encodes best practices for a specific type of Claude Code skill.

Built-in Templates

basic

The simplest starting point. A minimal SKILL.md with a references directory.

skill-forge create my-skill --template basic

Best for: Simple instructions-only skills, reference lookups, coding conventions.

Generated structure:

my-skill/
├── SKILL.md
└── references/
    └── conventions.md

cli-tool

For skills that wrap or extend CLI tools.

skill-forge create my-skill --template cli-tool

Best for: Git workflows, build tool helpers, deployment automation.

Generated structure:

my-skill/
├── SKILL.md
├── references/
│   └── commands.md
└── scripts/
    └── setup.sh

browser

For browser automation skills using Playwright or similar tools.

skill-forge create my-skill --template browser

Best for: Web scraping, form filling, testing, screenshot capture.

code-review

For skills that analyze and review code.

skill-forge create my-skill --template code-review

Best for: PR review, linting rules, security audits, code quality checks.

custom

An empty scaffold with maximum flexibility.

skill-forge create my-skill --template custom

Best for: Unique use cases that don’t fit other templates.

Creating Custom Templates

You can create reusable templates for your team:

# Create a template from an existing skill
skill-forge template create --from ./my-polished-skill --name team-standard

# List custom templates
skill-forge template list

# Use your custom template
skill-forge create new-skill --template team-standard

Template Structure

Custom templates are directories with a template.json manifest:

{
  "name": "team-standard",
  "description": "Our team's standard skill layout",
  "files": [
    { "src": "SKILL.md.template", "dest": "SKILL.md" },
    { "src": "references/", "dest": "references/" }
  ],
  "variables": {
    "skillName": { "prompt": "Skill name", "default": "{{name}}" },
    "author": { "prompt": "Author name" }
  }
}

Templates support Mustache-style variables ({{variableName}}) that are replaced during scaffolding.