Free recipes / Writing Your Own Skills

The Hermes SKILL.md Template With Frontmatter

A skill that gives you a complete SKILL.md template with valid frontmatter and the When to Use, Procedure, Output, Pitfalls and Verification sections, ready to fill in for any task.

You want to write a skill by hand and need a correct starting point instead of a blank file. Saves about 20 minutes

The recipe

--- name: [SKILL_NAME] description: [WHAT_IT_DOES] Use when I say things like [TRIGGER_PHRASES]. version: 1.0.0 platforms: [macos, linux] # optional, delete this line to allow every platform metadata: hermes: tags: [[CATEGORY], personal] category: [CATEGORY] requires_toolsets: [file] # only toolsets the steps really need --- # [SKILL_NAME] ## When to Use - The user asks for something like: [TRIGGER_PHRASES]. - Not for: [NOT_FOR]. If the request is only loosely related, ask before using this skill. ## Inputs - Needs: [INPUT_NEEDED]. If it is missing, ask for it once in one short question, then stop. ## Procedure 1. Read the whole input before writing anything. 2. Pull out every item that fits the Output sections. Do not invent items that are not in the input. 3. Where something is unclear, mark it (CHECK: what is unclear) instead of guessing. 4. Write the result in the Output format below. 5. Run the Verification checks, fix anything that fails, then reply. ## Output [OUTPUT_SHAPE] Plain markdown, headings in this order, nothing before the first heading. ## Pitfalls - This skill never sends, posts, deletes or moves anything. If the user asks for that next, show a draft or plan and wait for an explicit yes. - No API keys, passwords or other people's private details in the output. - The output should be shorter than the input. ## Verification - Every item in the output can be traced back to the input. - Every Output section is present, even if it says None. - The reply makes sense without scrolling back through the chat.

Fill in these brackets

`[SKILL_NAME]`	e.g. meeting-notes-cleanup (lowercase with hyphens, also used as the folder name)
`[WHAT_IT_DOES]`	e.g. Turns raw meeting notes into decisions, action items and open questions.
`[TRIGGER_PHRASES]`	e.g. clean up my meeting notes, tidy these notes, what did we decide
`[NOT_FOR]`	e.g. writing formal minutes or notes from scratch
`[CATEGORY]`	e.g. writing (one lowercase word, the parent folder)
`[INPUT_NEEDED]`	e.g. pasted raw notes or a path to a notes file
`[OUTPUT_SHAPE]`	e.g. three headings: Decisions, Action items (owner and date), Open questions

Pro tip

Save it as ~/.hermes/skills/<category>/<skill-name>/SKILL.md, run /reload-skills, and test it with /<skill-name> on a real example. A colon followed by a space inside the description breaks the frontmatter, so reword it or wrap the whole description in quotes.

Variation

If the skill needs an API key, add a required_environment_variables list to the frontmatter (each item with name, prompt and help) so Hermes asks for it securely, and keep the value in ~/.hermes/.env, never in the skill.

Written for Hermes Agent v0.21.x. Check commands against your version with hermes --version. This site is independent and not affiliated with Nous Research.