dev-skills

A modular AI skill library for software engineers. 37 structured SKILL.md files covering technical development, AI agents, soft skills, and career growth — built for GitHub Copilot Agents, Claude, and Claude Code.

Drop it into any project and your AI assistant instantly becomes a better, more context-aware engineering partner.

---

What's Inside

.github/
├── copilot-instructions.md     ← Always-on root instructions (plan mode, verification, self-improvement)
├── skills/                     ← 37 modular skill files
│   ├── ai-agent-design/
│   ├── git-workflow/
│   ├── testing/
│   └── ... (34 more)
└── tasks/
    ├── lessons.md              ← Persistent agent memory (commit this, never delete)
    ├── todo.md                 ← Per-session task tracker template
    └── session.md              ← Per-session work log template

---

Skills

Technical

Skill	What It Covers
ai-agent-design	LLM integration, RAG, multi-agent orchestration, MCP, LangGraph, CrewAI, self-healing agents
api-design	REST, GraphQL, tRPC, gRPC patterns, versioning, pagination, security
backend-dev	Server logic, auth patterns, middleware, queues, error handling
database-design	Schema design, indexing, query optimization, vector DBs, Redis patterns
debugging-mindset	Scientific debugging method, divide & conquer, rubber duck, root cause
devops-cicd	CI/CD pipelines, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, monitoring, DevSecOps
frontend-design	Component architecture, Tailwind, accessibility, performance, Next.js App Router
git-workflow	Conventional commits, PR templates, branching strategies, code review etiquette
incident-response	Production incidents, postmortems, runbooks, blameless culture
system-design	Scalability, caching, load balancing, CAP theorem, back-of-envelope estimation
testing	Unit, integration, E2E (Playwright), mocking, coverage guidelines
threat-modeling	STRIDE, OWASP Top 10, attack surface analysis, security design principles
code-review	Quality checklists, security review, architecture review, feedback categories

AI & Prompting

Skill	What It Covers
prompt-engineering	CoT, few-shot, ReAct, plan-before-execute, verification patterns, self-improvement loops
ai-prompting-patterns	Intent clarification, plan mode, task tracking, confirmation protocols, error communication
ai-assisted-learning	Socratic method, codebase navigation, skill gap analysis, avoiding over-reliance
self-healing-mindset	Resilience design, circuit breakers, retry logic, chaos engineering, developer self-improvement
mcp-builder	MCP server implementation in Python (FastMCP) and TypeScript

Documentation & Communication

Skill	What It Covers
doc-creation	READMEs, architecture docs, runbooks, ADRs, AI-optimized documentation
internal-comms	DSU/standup format, sprint updates, leadership comms, Slack best practices
technical-communication	Explaining tech to non-technical audiences, BLUF format, decision communication
code-explanation	Inline comments, docstrings, PR descriptions, Architecture Decision Records
cross-functional-collab	Working with PMs and designers, translating tech decisions to business language
client-communication	Project scoping, scope creep, delivering bad news, handling feedback

Career & Growth

Skill	What It Covers
performance-review	PA documents, self-assessments, peer feedback, honest accomplishment writing
career-growth	Developer growth model, 90-day plans, visibility without bragging
interview-prep	DSA patterns, system design framework, STAR behavioral method
resume-portfolio	Accomplishment writing formula, quantifying impact, portfolio writeups
technical-mentoring	Socratic code review, teaching patterns, feedback ladder
side-project-planning	Idea validation, MVP scoping, monetization models, build vs buy

Thinking & Problem-Solving

Skill	What It Covers
problem-solving	First principles thinking, MECE decomposition, trade-off analysis
research-synthesis	Technology evaluation framework, decision documents, source quality
code-reading	Codebase onboarding order, code tracing, navigating large repos
focus-productivity	Deep work protocol, task prioritization, fighting procrastination
tech-research	Build vs buy framework, comparison templates, staying current

Building

Skill	What It Covers
web-artifacts-builder	Multi-component React apps, shadcn/ui, Zustand, TanStack Query
sprint-planning	User stories, INVEST criteria, estimation scale, retrospectives, DSU

---

How It Works

Skill Discovery

All skill names and descriptions are always in the agent's context via copilot-instructions.md. When a task matches a skill, the agent loads the full SKILL.md — this is called progressive disclosure. The agent only loads what's relevant, keeping context lean.

Task Tracking (.github/tasks/)

File	Purpose	Lifecycle
lessons.md	Persistent memory of past mistakes and rules	Commit it. Never delete. Grows over time.
todo.md	Plan + step tracker for the current session	Reset at start of each new task
session.md	Real-time work log and decision record	Reset at start of each new session

The agent reads lessons.md at the start of complex tasks to avoid repeating mistakes from previous sessions.

Root Instructions (copilot-instructions.md)

Inspired by Boris Cherny's CLAUDE.md, the root file enforces:

• Plan before execute — spec before code for any non-trivial task
• Verification before done — prove it works, don't just assert it
• Self-improvement loop — capture lessons from every correction
• Confirmation before irreversible actions — always ask before push, delete, deploy

---

Pushing to GitHub (First Time Setup)

Step 1 — Extract the zip

Extract james-skills.zip anywhere on your machine. You'll get a james-skills/ folder.

Step 2 — Initialize the repo

cd james-skills
git init
git add .
git commit -m "feat: initial commit — 37 dev skills for Copilot Agents and Claude"

Step 3 — Create the repo on GitHub

Go to github.com/new and fill in:

• Repository name: dev-skills
• Description: A modular AI skill library for software engineers — 37 SKILL.md files covering technical, soft, and career skills for GitHub Copilot Agents, Claude, and Claude Code.
• Visibility: Public
• Do NOT initialize with README, .gitignore, or license (you already have your files)

Click Create repository.

Step 4 — Connect and push

git remote add origin https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/dev-skills.git
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main

Step 5 — Add topics

On your repo page, click the ⚙️ gear icon next to About and add these topics:

ai-skills  github-copilot  claude  prompt-engineering  skill-library
developer-tools  ai-agent  copilot-instructions  mcp  software-engineering

Step 6 — Add license file

cat > LICENSE << 'EOF'
MIT License

Copyright (c) 2026 James Torrevillas

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
SOFTWARE.
EOF

git add LICENSE
git commit -m "chore: add MIT license"
git push

Step 7 — Add .gitignore (recommended)

cat > .gitignore << 'EOF'
# OS
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db

# Editor
.vscode/
.idea/
*.swp

# Logs
*.log
EOF

git add .gitignore
git commit -m "chore: add .gitignore"
git push

Tip: For future skill updates, use conventional commits:

git add .github/skills/your-skill/SKILL.md
git commit -m "feat(skills): add your-skill"
git push

---

Installation

Option 1: Drop into an existing project

# Clone or download this repo, then copy .github/ into your project root
cp -r .github/ /path/to/your/project/

Option 2: Clone and use as template

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/dev-skills.git
cd your-project
cp -r dev-skills/.github .

Option 3: Git submodule

git submodule add https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/dev-skills.git .dev-skills
cp -r .dev-skills/.github .

After installing, GitHub Copilot Agents will automatically detect .github/copilot-instructions.md and load skills on demand.

---

Compatibility

Platform	Support	Notes
GitHub Copilot Agents (VSCode)	✅ Full	Native support via .github/skills/ and copilot-instructions.md
Claude (claude.ai)	✅ Full	Upload .github/skills/ folder to a Claude Project
Claude Code	✅ Full	Place at project root — reads SKILL.md automatically
Cursor	✅ Partial	Place content as .cursor/rules/dev-skills.mdc (.cursorrules is deprecated since 2025)
Continue	✅ Partial	Reference skill files via prompt file system

---

Customizing

Add your own skill

.github/skills/your-skill-name/
└── SKILL.md

Minimum SKILL.md structure:

---
name: your-skill-name
description: Use this skill when [task]. Trigger on keywords: [keyword1], [keyword2].
---

# Your Skill Name

## Core Principle
[One sentence that captures the philosophy]

## [Section]
[Content]

Then add it to the skills table in copilot-instructions.md.

Personalize the root instructions

Edit .github/copilot-instructions.md to match your team's stack, conventions, and preferred communication style.

Track lessons across sessions

When your AI makes a mistake, ask it to append to .github/tasks/lessons.md. Over time this builds a project-specific memory of what goes wrong and how to prevent it.

---

Structure Reference

.github/
├── copilot-instructions.md
├── skills/
│   ├── ai-agent-design/SKILL.md
│   ├── ai-assisted-learning/SKILL.md
│   ├── ai-prompting-patterns/SKILL.md
│   ├── api-design/SKILL.md
│   ├── backend-dev/SKILL.md
│   ├── career-growth/SKILL.md
│   ├── client-communication/SKILL.md
│   ├── code-explanation/SKILL.md
│   ├── code-reading/SKILL.md
│   ├── code-review/SKILL.md
│   ├── cross-functional-collab/SKILL.md
│   ├── database-design/SKILL.md
│   ├── debugging-mindset/SKILL.md
│   ├── devops-cicd/SKILL.md
│   ├── doc-creation/SKILL.md
│   ├── focus-productivity/SKILL.md
│   ├── frontend-design/SKILL.md
│   ├── git-workflow/SKILL.md
│   ├── incident-response/SKILL.md
│   ├── internal-comms/SKILL.md
│   ├── interview-prep/SKILL.md
│   ├── mcp-builder/SKILL.md
│   ├── performance-review/SKILL.md
│   ├── problem-solving/SKILL.md
│   ├── prompt-engineering/
│   │   ├── SKILL.md
│   │   └── references/prompt-templates.md
│   ├── research-synthesis/SKILL.md
│   ├── resume-portfolio/SKILL.md
│   ├── self-healing-mindset/SKILL.md
│   ├── side-project-planning/SKILL.md
│   ├── sprint-planning/SKILL.md
│   ├── system-design/SKILL.md
│   ├── tech-research/SKILL.md
│   ├── technical-communication/SKILL.md
│   ├── technical-mentoring/SKILL.md
│   ├── testing/SKILL.md
│   ├── threat-modeling/SKILL.md
│   └── web-artifacts-builder/SKILL.md
└── tasks/
    ├── lessons.md
    ├── todo.md
    └── session.md

---

License

MIT — use freely, modify as needed, attribution appreciated but not required.

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Acknowledgements

Skill structure inspired by the Claude Skills spec and Boris Cherny's Claude Code workflow (Boris Cherny is the creator of Claude Code at Anthropic). Research grounded in community data from GitHub Awesome Copilot, State of JS 2025, and Anthropic/OpenAI agentic communication guidelines.