Find & Create Skills

Discover community skills and create new ones when SerpentStack's built-in skills don't cover what the user needs.

When to Use This Skill

Use this when the user asks for something outside the scope of the built-in skills:

scaffold

auth

test

db-migrate

dev-server

deploy

git-workflow

generate-skills

model-routing

If the user needs something else — monitoring, Stripe, email, Slack, S3 file uploads, PDF generation, browser automation, etc. — search for a community skill or official docs first before building from scratch.

Step 1: Search for Existing Skills

Via web search (recommended):

Search for:

"SKILL.md" <what the user needs>

site:github.com SKILL.md <topic>

Via package registries:

Many integrations have official SDKs with excellent docs:

# Python packages
uv search <topic>

# Check PyPI directly
# https://pypi.org/search/?q=<topic>

# NPM packages
npm search <topic>

Via official documentation:

For third-party services, always prefer the provider's official docs over community implementations — they're always up to date:

• Stripe: https://docs.stripe.com/api
• AWS S3: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/s3/
• SendGrid: https://docs.sendgrid.com/api-reference
• Twilio: https://www.twilio.com/docs/usage/api

Step 2: Evaluate Before Adopting

Before using any community skill or third-party integration, check:

1. Read the instructions — does it actually do what the user needs?
2. Check requirements — what dependencies does it need? Are those installed?
3. Check for red flags — does it ask you to run

   curl | bash

   from unknown URLs? Does it request API keys be sent to external services?
4. Check recency — is the source recently updated, or abandoned?

Step 3: Create a New Skill

If no existing skill covers what's needed, create one. A skill is a markdown file at

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

Skill format:

---
name: <skill-name>
description: "<when to use this skill>"
---

# <Skill Title>

## When to Use
<Describe the trigger conditions>

## Steps
<Specific, actionable instructions with real file paths and commands>

## Verification
<How to verify the task was done correctly>

Good skills are:

• Actionable — specific commands, real file paths, decision trees (not vague documentation)
• Self-contained — all the info needed to complete the task, without requiring external searches
• Linked to live docs — for third-party services, link to their official docs rather than hardcoding API signatures that go stale
• Adapted to project conventions — use

  uv add

  not

  pip install

  , put services in

  backend/app/services/

  , use structured logging, etc.

Step 4: Adapt to SerpentStack Patterns

When following any external guide or community skill, adapt it to SerpentStack conventions:

• Python packages: use

  uv add

  not

  pip install

• Config/secrets: add to

  backend/app/config.py

  as a Pydantic settings class, set via env vars in

  .env

• Service layer: new integrations go in

  backend/app/services/

  , not in route handlers
• Route handlers: use

  async def

  with

  AsyncSession = Depends(get_db)

• Frontend API calls: add typed functions in

  frontend/src/api/

  , hooks in

  frontend/src/hooks/

• Logging: use

  get_logger(__name__)

  with structured JSON events

Example: Adding Stripe Integration

User asks: "I want to add Stripe payments."

1. Search: check Stripe's official Python SDK docs at https://docs.stripe.com/api
2. Install:

   cd backend && uv add stripe

3. Config: add

   STRIPE_SECRET_KEY

   and

   STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET

   to

   backend/app/config.py

4. Service: create

   backend/app/services/stripe.py

   with payment logic
5. Route: create

   backend/app/routes/payments.py

   with checkout and webhook endpoints
6. Create skill: write

   .skills/payments/SKILL.md

   documenting the integration for future agent sessions
7. Verify: run

   make test

   to ensure nothing broke

Skills Created by This Project

Add skills here as you create them.

make dev

Created a useful skill? Consider sharing it by opening a PR.