Editing Skills

Skills improve through iteration. After adding a plugin or creating a skill, the real value comes from refining it based on real usage — editing instructions, adjusting output formats, and adding business-specific context.

You can edit skills through two interfaces: natural language via the Skill Manager MCP server, or the visual editor on the web dashboard.

The Skill Manager MCP server

The Skill Manager is an MCP server that gives Claude direct access to your skill library. It is the same server you connected during setup. Through it, Claude can list, create, update, and analyse your skills without you needing to open the web dashboard.

Available tools

The Skill Manager provides these MCP tools:

Tool	What it does
list_skills	Lists all your skills with usage counts
create_skill	Creates a new skill
update_skill	Updates an existing skill
list_plugins	Lists your plugins with their skills and agents
list_agents	Lists all your agents
create_agent	Creates a new agent
update_agent	Updates an existing agent
analyze_skill	AI-powered skill quality analysis
get_secrets	Views plugin environment variables
manage_secrets	Creates or updates secrets for external service connections
sync_skills	Syncs skills to the server

You do not need to call these tools directly. Ask Claude to manage your skills in natural language and it will use the appropriate tool.

Editing via natural language

Start a conversation with Claude and ask:

"Show me my current skills."

Claude will use the list_skills tool to display your skill library. Find the skill you want to edit and ask Claude to update it:

"Update my Call Prep skill. Add a section about always checking LinkedIn for recent posts from the prospect before the call. Also change the output format to include a 'Conversation Starters' section at the end."

Claude will use the update_skill tool to modify the skill content. The changes are saved immediately and take effect in your next conversation.

Editing via the web dashboard

You can also edit skills directly at systemprompt.io/admin/my/skills/. Click on any skill to open the editor, make your changes, and click Save. Changes are live immediately.

Both interfaces stay in sync. Edit a skill in the dashboard and it is available in Claude within seconds. Edit through Claude and the dashboard reflects the change instantly.

What to edit

Common reasons to edit a skill:

• Add company-specific context: Your sales methodology, your coding standards, your brand voice rules
• Change the output format: Add sections, change structure, specify length constraints
• Add prohibitions: Things Claude should never do or say when using this skill
• Refine based on experience: After using a skill several times, you will notice where Claude's output diverges from what you want

Writing effective instructions

The quality of a skill depends entirely on the quality of its instructions. These principles produce the best results:

Be specific, not vague. "Write in a professional tone" produces generic output. "British English, no superlatives, maximum four sentences per paragraph, always end with a clear next step" produces output that sounds like your team.

Include examples. Show Claude what good output looks like. One concrete example is worth ten abstract rules.

State prohibitions explicitly. If there are things Claude should never do, say so. "Never use the phrase 'best-in-class'. Never start emails with 'I hope this email finds you well'."

Cover edge cases. A brand voice skill might handle blog posts well but produce the wrong tone for error messages. Add sections that cover different contexts within the same skill.

Keep it focused. One skill should cover one domain. A "Brand Voice" skill that also tries to cover "Email Templates" and "Social Media Posts" will produce mediocre results across all three. Create separate skills.

Skill examples

Brand voice skill:

When writing customer-facing content, follow these guidelines.

We write in British English. Use "realise" not "realize", "optimise" not "optimize".

Our tone is professional but warm. We avoid jargon unless the audience is technical. We never use superlatives like "best-in-class" or "world-leading".

Short paragraphs. Maximum four sentences per paragraph. Use bullet points for lists of three or more items.

Always end customer emails with a clear next step.

Code review skill:

When reviewing code, evaluate against these criteria in order of priority.

1. Security: check for injection vulnerabilities, exposed secrets, insecure dependencies.
2. Correctness: does the code do what the PR description says it does?
3. Test coverage: are edge cases covered? Are there integration tests for new endpoints?
4. Style: does the code follow our existing patterns? Do not flag style issues if there are security or correctness problems.

Format feedback as a numbered list. Lead with the most important issue. If the PR is ready to merge, say so explicitly.

Customer support skill:

When drafting customer support replies, follow this structure.

First sentence: acknowledge the customer's specific problem. Do not use generic openers like "Thank you for reaching out."

Second paragraph: explain the solution or next step in plain language. No internal jargon.

Final paragraph: confirm what will happen next and when. Include a timeline if possible.

Keep the entire response under 150 words. Our customers value brevity.

Organise skills into plugins

As your skill library grows, you will want to organise skills logically. The create_skill tool accepts a target_plugin_id parameter that lets you assign a skill to a specific plugin.

Ask Claude:

"Create a new skill for drafting LinkedIn posts and add it to my Marketing plugin."

Claude will use the target_plugin_id to place the skill in the right plugin. This keeps your skill library organised and makes it easier to manage related skills together.

Analyse skill quality

Use the analyze_skill tool to get immediate feedback on a skill's quality:

"Analyse my Brand Voice skill and tell me how to improve it."

Claude will review the skill's instructions and provide suggestions for making them more effective. This is useful for catching ambiguities or gaps before you use the skill in real work.

Test your skills

After creating or editing a skill, test it immediately. Start a new conversation and ask Claude to use the skill on a real task:

"Use my Brand Voice skill to draft a LinkedIn post about our new feature launch."

Evaluate the output carefully. Does it follow your instructions? Are there conventions Claude missed? If the output is not right, edit the skill and test again. Most skills need two or three rounds of refinement before they consistently produce the right output.

Troubleshooting

Skill changes not taking effect

• Start a new conversation. Skills load at the start of a conversation.
• Check that the skill is saved (not in draft state) on the dashboard.
• Verify the Skill Manager connector is active.

Claude ignores skill instructions

• Check that your instructions are specific enough. Vague instructions produce vague results.
• Use the analyze_skill tool to identify gaps or ambiguities.
• Add explicit prohibitions for behaviours you do not want.

MCP tools not available

• Verify the Skill Manager connector is connected. See Connecting Claude for setup instructions.
• Start a new conversation — tools load at conversation start.

Next steps

• Creating Skills — build entirely new skills from scratch
• Skill Secrets — securely store and use API keys in your skills
• Control Center — track skill effectiveness and iterate
• Adding and Personalising Plugins — add more plugins to your library