HKUST-Got-Skills

Design a skill to automate and accelerate scientific discovery

Step-by-Step Guide

Follow these prompts in order inside Claude Code or Codex CLI. Type each prompt, wait for the AI to finish, then move to the next.

Prompts you need to type are marked with ▶ Prompt.

Prerequisites: Install your AI coding tool. See the Setup Guide if needed.

Part A: Build a Coding Project

Step 1: Install Tools

Install https://github.com/obra/superpowers and gh (GitHub CLI) if not already installed.

Then choose your model by typing /model:

Step 2: Brainstorm Your Idea

Brainstorm with me: <describe your project idea here>. use superpower skill

Replace <describe your project idea here> with what you want to build. For example: “Brainstorm with me: Build a symbolic engine for quantum symbolic simplification with rust. use superpower skill”

Step 3: Research Existing Work

Is there some package already did the same thing? Is there a package that I can take advantage of?

Optionally, point the AI to specific projects to learn from:

What can I learn from this project to improve my own: https://github.com/some-user/some-repo

Step 4: Initialize and Publish the Repo

initialize a repo with the current design file, sync to github with gh, create a test plan for human verification (file an issue), add the tests to integration tests as well.

Step 5: Write a Plan

/superpowers:writing-plans

Choose the subagent-driven approach when prompted.

Step 6: Execute the Plan

/superpowers:executing-plans

Step 7: Set Up Project Config

After initial code implementation, generate a project config:

/init

This creates a CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md that helps the AI understand your project in future sessions.

Part B: Create a Skill

A skill is a reusable prompt file that teaches the AI a specific workflow. Skills live in the superpowers framework and can be shared with others. See the Complete Guide to Building Skills for Claude for background.

Step 1: Install Tools

Same as Part A — install superpowers and gh if not already done.

Install https://github.com/obra/superpowers and gh (GitHub CLI) if not already installed.

Step 2: Confirm Your Idea Is Suited for a Skill

I want to <describe what the skill does>. Is this task suited to be implemented as a skill?

For example: “I want to automate literature survey from a list of arxiv links. Is this task suited to be implemented as a skill?”

Step 3: Brainstorm Your Skill Idea

Brainstorm with me: I want to create a skill that <describe what the skill does>. use superpower skill

Step 4: Create the Skill

/superpowers:writing-skills

This guides you through creating, naming, and writing the skill file.

Step 5: Test the Skill

/agentic-tests:test-skill

This simulates a user interacting with your skill and produces a test report.

Step 6: Publish

Upload code to GitHub with gh (if gh is missing, install and configure it first)

Bonus: Quick Prompts to Improve Your Code

Copy-paste any of these at any time:

Upload code to GitHub with gh (if gh is missing, install and configure it first)

Generate Makefile/skills file to automate tasks

Improve coverage to >95%, setup CI/CD and add README badge (if not yet done)

Inspect the API design, follow the KISS principle, Follow the DRY principle

Inspect the UI/UX logic, follow the HCI principles

Going Further

Questions worth asking the AI to deepen your project:

Useful references:

Makefile Target for Autonomous Plan Execution

Add this to your Makefile to let Claude execute a plan file autonomously:

run-plan:
	@NL=$$'\n'; \
	BRANCH=$$(git branch --show-current); \
	PLAN_FILE="$(PLAN_FILE)"; \
	if [ "$(AGENT_TYPE)" = "claude" ]; then \
		PROCESS="1. Read the plan file$${NL}2. Execute the plan — it specifies which skill(s) to use$${NL}3. Push: git push origin $$BRANCH$${NL}4. If a PR already exists for this branch, skip. Otherwise create one."; \
	else \
		PROCESS="1. Read the plan file$${NL}2. Execute the tasks step by step. For each task, implement and test before moving on.$${NL}3. Push: git push origin $$BRANCH$${NL}4. If a PR already exists for this branch, skip. Otherwise create one."; \
	fi; \
	PROMPT="Execute the plan in '$$PLAN_FILE'."; \
	if [ -n "$(INSTRUCTIONS)" ]; then \
		PROMPT="$${PROMPT}$${NL}$${NL}## Additional Instructions$${NL}$(INSTRUCTIONS)"; \
	fi; \
	PROMPT="$${PROMPT}$${NL}$${NL}## Process$${NL}$${PROCESS}$${NL}$${NL}## Rules$${NL}- Tests should be strong enough to catch regressions.$${NL}- Do not modify tests to make them pass.$${NL}- Test failure must be reported."; \
	echo "=== Prompt ===" && echo "$$PROMPT" && echo "===" ; \
	claude --dangerously-skip-permissions \
		--model opus \
		--verbose \
		--max-turns 500 \
		-p "$$PROMPT" 2>&1 | tee "$(OUTPUT)"