skills-house is a framework for skill authors. This walkthrough covers skill-auditor — the included example skill that demonstrates the build pipeline.
Why an example skill
A framework needs a working example. skill-auditor demonstrates:
- Meta-tooling — it audits other skills
- Script-backed builds — bundles a
validate.shhelper - Reference-heavy layout — guide in
references/ - Modular authoring — sections merged via
@include
Source layout
skills/skill-auditor/
├── package.json
├── SKILL.md
├── sections/
│ ├── checklist.md
│ └── manual-review.md
└── references/
└── agent-skills-layout.md
SKILL.md stays short. Checklists and review guidance live in sections/
and merge via @include. The layout reference loads on demand from references/.
Shared script package
The validator lives in scripts/skill-auditor-tools/ — not copied into the skill directory.
The skill references it:
[Validate skill](skill-auditor-tools/validate)
At build time, @skills-house/build resolves the export, bundles validate.sh
into skills-dist/skill-auditor/scripts/, and rewrites the link for dist.
Build and validate
pnpm --filter @skills-house/build build
node internal-scripts/build/dist/cli.js skills/skill-auditor
bash scripts/skill-auditor-tools/scripts/validate.sh skills/skill-auditorThe validator checks frontmatter, name/directory match, and in-package link targets. Fast feedback before PR.
What I learned
- Second skill took ~2 hours — the framework pays off once specs exist
- Shared scripts avoid duplication across meta-tooling skills
- skill-auditor dogfoods its own checklist on every skills-house PR
Read the source: skills/skill-auditor. Previous: Agent Skills at Scale.