Where to Find the SKILL.md Contract for a Skill in garden-skills

The SKILL.md contract for any skill is located at skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md inside the ConardLi/garden-skills repository.

In the ConardLi/garden-skills repository, every skill is governed by a canonical SKILL.md contract that defines its architecture, inputs, and workflow. This article maps the exact file locations and explains how these contracts structure the skill's behavior.

SKILL.md Contract Location

Each skill resides in its own subdirectory under the top-level skills/ folder. The contract itself is a markdown file named exactly SKILL.md placed directly inside that skill's directory.

The predictable path pattern is:

/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

Real-World File Paths

According to the repository structure, you can find active skill contracts at the following locations:

• Web-Video Presentation skill – skills/web-video-presentation/SKILL.md
• Web Design Engineer skill – skills/web-design-engineer/SKILL.md
• KB Retriever skill – skills/kb-retriever/SKILL.md
• GPT Image-2 skill – skills/gpt-image-2/SKILL.md
• Beautiful Article skill – skills/beautiful-article/SKILL.md

Anatomy of the SKILL.md Contract

Each SKILL.md serves as a self-contained blueprint that agents and developers use to understand or extend a skill. As implemented in ConardLi/garden-skills, the contract specifies five core components:

• Name & description – A short title and high-level overview of the skill's purpose.
• Workflow – The step-by-step process the skill follows, such as content generation or audio synthesis.
• File layout – The expected directory structure and required files (e.g., article.md, script.md, outline.md).
• Self-inspection contracts – References to supporting documents like SCRIPT-STYLE.md or OUTLINE-FORMAT.md that validate execution.
• Hard nodes – Mandatory checkpoints where the skill pauses for user confirmation before proceeding.

Loading a SKILL.md Contract Programmatically

You can load the contract at runtime to inspect skill requirements dynamically. The TypeScript implementation reads the file directly from the skills directory:

import { readFileSync } from "fs";
import path from "path";

function loadSkillContract(skillName: string): string {
  const contractPath = path.join(
    __dirname,
    "..",
    "skills",
    skillName,
    "SKILL.md"
  );
  return readFileSync(contractPath, "utf-8");
}

// Usage
const contract = loadSkillContract("web-video-presentation");
console.log(contract.slice(0, 200));   // prints the first 200 characters

For quick command-line inspection, use:

cat skills/web-video-presentation/SKILL.md | head -n 20

Supporting Files and References

Each skill directory contains additional resources referenced by the SKILL.md contract:

• skills/<skill-name>/references/ – Supporting reference documents (e.g., SCRIPT-STYLE.md, OUTLINE-FORMAT.md) used for self-inspection.
• skills/<skill-name>/templates/ – Boilerplate files scaffolded when the skill initializes a new project.
• skills/<skill-name>/scripts/ – Helper scripts (e.g., scaffold.sh, audio synthesis scripts) invoked by the workflow defined in the contract.

Summary

• The SKILL.md contract is the canonical specification for every skill in the repository.
• File location follows the strict pattern skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md.
• Contracts define workflow, file layouts, self-inspection rules, and mandatory user checkpoints.
• Supporting resources live in references/, templates/, and scripts/ subdirectories.
• You can read contracts programmatically using standard file system APIs or CLI tools.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the exact filename for a skill contract?

The filename must be exactly SKILL.md (uppercase, with the .md extension). The garden-skills repository enforces this naming convention so that automation tools can consistently locate specifications at skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md.

Can I read the SKILL.md file via command line?

Yes. Navigate to the repository root and run cat skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md to view the contract. Pipe the output to head -n 20 to preview the first 20 lines, or use grep to search for specific workflow steps.

What information does the SKILL.md contract contain?

The contract contains the skill's name, description, workflow steps, expected file layout, self-inspection contracts for validation, and hard nodes that require user confirmation. This serves as the complete architectural blueprint for the skill's execution.

Are there helper files alongside the SKILL.md?

Yes. Each skill directory includes a references/ folder for style guides, a templates/ folder for boilerplate scaffolding, and a scripts/ folder for automation scripts. These resources are explicitly referenced within the SKILL.md contract to ensure consistent implementation.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}