Localized reading guide
build-agentPurpose, usage and source
Turns a task the owner keeps doing by hand into a named, reusable skill they can trigger by name or put on a schedule. Watches them do it once or listens to them describe it, works out what varies and what stays fixed, writes the skill with approval checkpoints in the right places, registers it with the router, and shares it with the team. This is how a business gets a workflow nobody shipped for them. Use this whenever the owner describes something repetitive they wish were automatic — including phrasings like "I do this every week," "can you remember how to do this," "make this a thing I can just ask for," "build me an agent," "automate this for me," "turn this into a workflow," or "I want this to happen every Monday." Reach for it when they describe a routine, even without asking for automation.
Source retrieved:
- Source repository
- anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins
- SKILL.md
small-business/skills/build-agent/SKILL.md- Repository stars
- 34,049
- Repository updated
- 2026-10-30
- Categories
- Agent workflows
- Last collected
License: Apache-2.0
Workflow excerpts are reading aids, not executable instructions from Codez. No third-party Skill was run to produce this page.
The purpose and workflow passages below are upstream material, organized and translated for reading. They are distinct from the separately labeled Codez editorial analysis.
What this Skill does
Turns a task the owner keeps doing by hand into a named, reusable skill they can trigger by name or put on a schedule. Watches them do it once or listens to them describe it, works out what varies and what stays fixed, writes the skill with approval checkpoints in the right places, registers it with the router, and shares it with the team. This is how a business gets a workflow nobody shipped for them. Use this whenever the owner describes something repetitive they wish were automatic — including phrasings like "I do this every week," "can you remember how to do this," "make this a thing I can just ask for," "build me an agent," "automate this for me," "turn this into a workflow," or "I want this to happen every Monday." Reach for it when they describe a routine, even without asking for automation.
How the upstream workflow works
Step 1 — Watch it happen, or hear it described
Two starting points, and the first is much better. Best: they just did it in this conversation. If the owner has walked through the task with you — pulled the files, made the decisions, corrected you twice — that transcript is the specification. Extract it rather than re-interviewing them. The corrections they made are the most valuable part, because they encode judgment the owner would never have thought to state. Otherwise: they describe it. Ask them to walk through the last time they did it, concretely. Real specifics beat an abstract description every time — "last Tuesday I pulled the carrier file, matched it against what we'd booked, and chased six discrepancies" tells you more than "I reconcile commissions." Read reference/capture.md for how to get a complete picture without an interrogation.
Step 2 — Separate what varies from what stays fixed
This is the whole craft of the step. A skill that hardcodes last Tuesday's specifics only works on last Tuesday. For each part of the task, decide: Fixed — the sequence, the sources, the output format, the rules Varies — dates, names, amounts, which file, which customer
Upstream passage · L34 ↗Step 3 — Find the approval gates
Every step that sends, spends, publishes, or deletes needs a gate. So does every step where the owner hesitated. Do not gate everything — a skill that asks permission nine times is worse than doing it by hand. Gate the consequential and the ambiguous, and let the rest run. Read reference/skill_authoring.md for where gates belong and how to phrase them.
Requirements and setup
No short requirements passage was selected from this file. This does not mean the Skill has no dependencies. Check the repository setup instructions and referenced files.
Limits and quality checks
No separate limits passage was selected from this file. This does not mean the Skill is safe for every input or environment. Review the complete source and validate your own result.
Start with a safe trial
- Check the supported host and the repository installation instructions. Keep the Skill directory and its referenced scripts, assets and documentation together; SKILL.md alone may omit dependencies.
- Give the agent your real input, desired output and acceptance criteria. Invocation syntax and available tools depend on the host; this site does not assume a universal install command.
- Try the source workflow in a disposable project or on a copy. Review operations that change files, remote services or billable resources before allowing them.
- Validate the output against the source quality checks and your own requirements. A successful trigger or a high repository Star count does not establish a correct result.
Read further in the source
- Build Agent
- Step 1 — Watch it happen, or hear it described
- Step 2 — Separate what varies from what stays fixed
- Step 3 — Find the approval gates
- Step 4 — Write it
- Step 5 — Test it on a real case, before they rely on it
- Step 6 — Register and set the cadence
- Step 7 — Share it, with approval
- What not to do
- After the build
- Reference files
Related Skills
Translation and scope
This reading guide selects passages from the pinned upstream SKILL.md. Translation is assisted. It is not a complete manual or a claim of tested compatibility. Read the original and its referenced files before use.
This introduction refers to the pinned version below; current repository activity and collection time are shown separately.
- Pinned source
- Read the original ↗
- Source retrieved
- Source commit
2574e29377c7173d0cecffef29a6ecbd7f8ccb5d- Source SHA-256
1d67eef47a09e4d26563cf02599ae87970d4e66dadd6e07510745b444b333812