What a skill is #
A skill is a set of instructions inside your project that your AI reads before it acts. Not a program, not a button, not an add-on you install. It is text written for the machine, holding the knowledge an experienced person would carry in their head for this kind of task.
The skills live in your Template in the folder .claude/skills, one subfolder per skill, each holding a file called SKILL.md. The dot at the start of the folder name makes it hidden, so your file manager only shows it once you switch on hidden files. The full layout of your Template is covered in Inside your Template.
- start · the way in
- system-knowledge · the map of the project
- template-setup · the rebuild into your real site
- design-system · colours, shapes, images
- copywriting · tone and text lengths
- seo · getting found
- quality-assurance · the check
You do not call skills, you describe your goal
That is the most important sentence in this chapter. Every skill carries a description in its first line saying when it applies. Your AI reads those descriptions, compares them with what you wrote and pulls in the right skill on its own. You never have to know a name or memorise a command.
Write “The accent should become a dark green” and design-system takes over. Write “Please check that everything still holds after the changes” and quality-assurance takes over. Often several run one after another without you noticing. The names in this chapter are there for the moment you want to steer.
Part 1 is the universal core and applies to every website built from an AI Website Template. Part 2 is written for your template and names file names, thresholds and the typical trip hazards of that exact starting point. That is why you get concrete answers instead of general advice.
There the names read start, systemwissen, template-aufbau, design-system, copywriting, seo and qualitaetspruefung. Content and effect are identical, only the language changes.
All seven at a glance #
This table covers everyday use. If you want to know how a skill works in detail, its own section is further down.
| Skill | What it is for | Typical sentence |
|---|---|---|
| start | The way in. Walks you through the whole rebuild in four rounds of conversation. | “Where do I begin?” |
| system-knowledge | The map of the project. Explains where things are maintained and how the parts connect. | “Where do I change the phone number?” |
| template-setup | Turns the template into your real website. Also builds new pages and sections in the existing style. | “Replace the services with mine.” |
| design-system | Colours, logo, corner radii, spacing, motion and images, all held centrally as tokens. | “The accent should become green.” |
| copywriting | Text in the tone of your brand and in the lengths the layout can carry. | “Rewrite the home page for me.” |
| seo | Titles, descriptions, structure, structured data, sitemap and domain. | “Optimise every title for my city.” |
| quality-assurance | The check after every change and the long list before you go live. | “Check that everything still holds.” |
Start · The way in #
The skill for your first hour. It assumes you have just paid, are sitting in front of an unfamiliar folder and want your website rather than a lesson in how a project is put together. So it holds a conversation instead of handing you a form.
It asks one question per message and says every time what it needs the answer for. It never asks about something it can decide itself. It translates every technical term. And it shows you something visible after each round, so you can see it moving forward.
The four rounds
Who you are
Your company name, the people behind it, your city and one sentence about what you offer. That becomes the logo, the page titles and the identity that appears on every page.
Hard facts
Address, phone, email, opening hours and your domain. These land in the footer of every page, on the contact page and in the machine-readable data that search engines read.
Your offer
Your services with their process, formats and pricing logic, plus who they are meant for. That becomes the service sections, the price statements and the matching answers in your FAQ.
People and proof
Do you have your own photo? Real testimonials with written permission? Real numbers and projects? What you have goes in. What you do not have goes out rather than being invented.
After round 4 the skill hands over to template-setup, which takes on the systematic rest. The full chapter on your first day is Getting started.
It applies on its own the moment you open the project for the first time, and whenever a message sounds like “where do I begin”, “what can I do here” or “just help me out”.
I just bought this Template and I do not know where to begin. Walk me through the rebuild step by step and ask me for what you need one question at a time.
Turn this template into the website of [company name] in [city]. We offer [service]. Start with round 1 and show me after each round what has changed.
Before we start, show me what on this website is invented and has to be replaced before launch. Names, numbers, testimonials, images.
What it deliberately does not do. It invents no detail you have not given it. If something is missing, it goes on a list of open points instead of into the text of your website.
System knowledge · The map #
The skill that explains your own project to you. It holds the map: which file does what, where your text lives, which list feeds which section and which places belong together.
That is worth more than it sounds. In a website a lot of things connect across several places. A phone number exists once as display text and once as a clickable link. A service appears on the home page, on the services page and in the footer. Change one place only and you have half a website. This skill knows the pairs.
- Where things live. Contact details, navigation, services, prices, testimonials and FAQs sit in one central data file. Page-specific text sits in the page file itself.
- What follows automatically. Lists feed whole sections. A new entry appears in the right place on its own, without anyone touching a layout.
- What does not follow. Some places are set by hand, such as lists in the footer or number words inside running text. The skill names them.
- How an article comes about. A blog post needs two things, an entry in the overview and a page of its own. Miss one and a link goes nowhere.
It applies on its own for every question about where and how. It is also the right first step when you are planning a larger change and want to understand what it touches.
Where do I change the phone number, and in which places across the website does it appear?
Explain in plain words how this project is put together. Which file is responsible for what, where does my text live and what happens automatically when I change something there?
What it deliberately does not do. It answers rather than starts building. If you want the change straight away, say so and the matching skill takes over.
Template setup · The rebuild #
The largest of the seven. It turns the template you received into your real website, and from then on it handles everything that gets added structurally, meaning new pages, new sections, new offers.
Its approach is proven and always runs the same way. Gather first, build second. Before the first edit it asks for your real data instead of inventing it along the way.
- A table of old against new. Every invented name, every city, every number, every example company gets an entry. That table becomes the checklist at the end.
- Working in blocks. Identity, then contact details, then services and prices, then proof, then articles, then images, then titles and descriptions, and the legal pages last. After each block it builds and looks.
- Carrying the number words along. When eight services become five, the old number often still sits in a sentence somewhere. The skill goes looking for it.
- The zero-hits proof. The rebuild only counts as finished when a search for every entry in the table returns zero hits, inflected forms included.
It applies on its own when you describe what the template should become, when you have content replaced and when something new is built that did not exist before.
Replace the services with my real offers. I have five instead of eight, I will give you the descriptions in a moment. Remember that the old number also appears in running text and in the footer.
Create a new page for [service], built the same way as the existing pages, and add it to the navigation.
Keep a table of old against new for everything invented in this project and work through it. At the end, show me that a search for every old entry returns zero hits.
No skill generates your imprint or your privacy policy. That would be legal advice. Both pages ship as empty placeholders, and your reviewed text goes in 1:1. The full chapter is Imprint and privacy.
What it deliberately does not do. It never polishes invented proof. Numbers, testimonials and case examples are either replaced with real, approved ones or removed.
Design system · Colour and form #
The skill for everything visible that is not language. Colours, logo, corner radii, spacing, motion and images. Its principle is simple. Design is defined in one central place and read from there everywhere.
Those central values are called tokens. A brand change is therefore an edit to a handful of lines instead of a hunt through twenty files. And because everything comes from the same source, the website stays coherent after the change instead of turning patchy.
- A colour change is a chain. A new accent colour involves the light mode, the dark mode, the browser bar on phones, the favicon and the styleguide. The skill carries all of them along together.
- Contrast gets measured. Text from 4.5 to 1, interface elements from 3 to 1, checked in both colour modes. A beautiful colour nobody can read is not an option.
- One accent is enough. More colours dilute the brand. If you want variety, vary surfaces and sizes rather than hues.
- Images live in the project. Every file is stored locally, every source noted in the image credits. Nothing is pulled in from someone else's server.
It applies on its own as soon as colours, logo, radii, spacing, motion or images come up. The full chapter is Adjusting the design.
The accent should become a dark green. Change the tokens, carry the dark mode, the favicon and the styleguide along with it, then check the contrast in both modes.
Swap the portrait in the hero for my own photo, it is saved as [file name]. Crop it to fit, delete the old file and update the image credits.
What it deliberately does not do. It never introduces a second typeface or a second accent colour, and it never fixes a colour problem in one isolated place, always at the central source.
Copywriting · Tone and length #
The skill for every word on your website. It knows the tone of your template, the form of address, the vocabulary of your field and the text lengths the layout can carry.
The lengths are the underrated part. A headline of fourteen words wraps into five lines on a phone and takes the hero apart. So the skill works to fixed ranges. Headlines 3 to 8 words, section text 2 to 4 sentences, answers in your FAQ 4 sentences at most. Anyone with more to say writes an article.
- Understand first, write second. Who is reading this, what should they do next, what is holding them back? No headline without those answers.
- Benefit before feature. The name of the method is not what convinces, what changes for the customer is.
- Concrete beats complete. One precise example carries more weight than three general statements.
- Read it aloud. After every writing round. Whatever stumbles when spoken gets rewritten.
It applies on its own as soon as you have text written, rewritten or shortened, from a headline through a button label to a blog post. The full chapter is Text and content.
Rewrite the home page for my [field]. Keep the tone of the template and the given text lengths, and invent no numbers or awards.
The answer about cost is too long and too vague. Cut it to four sentences at most, state the price openly and close with the next step.
What it deliberately does not do. It adds no numbers, quotes or awards of its own. Where substance is missing, the section gets smaller rather than the claim getting bigger.
SEO · Getting found #
The skill for everything that sits between your website and a search query. It sets page titles and descriptions, watches the heading structure, maintains the machine-readable data and creates new articles in a search-friendly way.
- One topic per page. Every page gets exactly one focus. Two pages on the same topic get in each other's way.
- Fixed lengths. Titles 50 to 60 characters, descriptions 120 to 155 characters, written actively and ending with the next step.
- Internal links are compulsory. Articles point to services, services point to each other and to your contact page.
- Local search. Your city sits in the title, in the heading, in the answers and in the structured data. Name, address and phone are identical everywhere.
- A domain change has three places. The configuration, the instruction file for search engines and the central data file. The skill knows all three.
It applies on its own for titles and descriptions, for a change of city or domain, when an article is created and for every question about how you get found for something. The full chapter is SEO and visibility.
Switch every page title and description from [city A] to [city B]. Then check that each title stays under 60 characters and each description sits between 120 and 155.
I want to be found for [search term]. Tell me which page carries that topic, what it is missing and which internal links should point to it.
What it deliberately does not do. It never stuffs search terms, never invents review stars and never adds structured data for content that is not visible on the page.
Quality assurance · The check #
The skill that closes every round. It checks against fixed thresholds instead of gut feeling and works in two stages. A short run after every change, a long list before you go live.
After every change
- The build completes without errors.
- Every changed page is viewed at 1440 and at 390 pixels.
- Every changed page is viewed in light mode and in dark mode.
- The browser error console stays empty.
- With reduced motion switched on, all content is visible.
- Internal links lead somewhere, every image path points to a file.
Before you go live
On top of that comes the long block. It holds the thresholds for speed, the accessibility pass with keyboard operation, contrast and 200 percent zoom, the form test, the check on titles and descriptions, and the proof that nothing of the sample identity is left. The complete list is in the chapter Going live.
Please check that everything still holds after the changes. Build, both screen widths, both colour modes, error console and internal links.
We go live tomorrow. Run the complete checklist including the launch block and give me every finding sorted by urgency.
The build is failing. Find the cause, fix it and then explain to me in plain words what triggered it.
One check before every upload costs you a minute and catches broken links, missing images and contrast problems before your visitors see them. It is the habit that turns a good website into a reliable one.
What it deliberately does not do. It does not decide whether a claim is true. It finds the place where a number or a testimonial sits, and you either supply the proof or take it out.
How the skills work together #
Most jobs touch several skills. A new page needs a frame, text, a title and a check. That is not work for you, it is an order your AI keeps to on its own. You still only describe the goal.
| What you want | The chain behind it |
|---|---|
| Your first day | start gathers everything in four rounds, template-setup carries on systematically, quality-assurance closes it out. |
| A new page | template-setup creates the page in the existing structure, copywriting writes the text, seo sets title, description and internal links, quality-assurance checks. |
| A new blog post | seo picks the search question and sets the metadata, copywriting writes the article to the pattern, quality-assurance checks links, image and dates. |
| A new brand colour | design-system changes the tokens along with dark mode, favicon and styleguide, quality-assurance measures the contrast in both modes. |
| Moving to another city | template-setup swaps address and contact details, seo follows up titles, descriptions and structured data, copywriting smooths the text, quality-assurance runs the zero-hits proof. |
| Shortly before launch | quality-assurance alone, with the long block. Everything else is done by then. |
There is something to gain from spelling a chain out once. Not because your AI could not manage otherwise, but because it fixes the order and lets you read along after each step.
I need a new service page for [service]. Work through it in order. First create the page in the existing structure, then write the text, then set title, description and internal links, and finish with the check. Give me a short word after each step.
When your AI takes a wrong turn #
It happens, and it is no drama. Usually the brief left more room than you thought. Three moves solve almost every case.
Get more concrete
Name the goal, the place and the limit. “Make the home page better” becomes “cut the hero headline to six words at most and leave the rest of the page untouched”. The tighter the brief, the more precise the result.
Name the skill
That is what the names in this chapter are for. “Use the design-system skill for this” or “run the quality check once” brings your AI back on track when it has worked past the playbook.
Ask for the plan first
Before larger rebuilds it pays to hear the plan up front. Have it explained in three sentences what should happen and which files are affected, then give your yes. That costs half a minute and can save an hour.
Before you change anything, tell me in three sentences what you plan to do and which files you will touch. Wait for my yes.
Undo the last change to [file or area] and leave everything else exactly as it is. Then show me what looks different again.
| What you see | What helps |
|---|---|
| Too much changed | Set a limit. “Change only this one section, everything else stays.” Then have the last change undone on its own. |
| The tone is off | Point to copywriting and give an example you like. Two sentences in the right tone work better than any description. |
| Only one colour mode works | Point to design-system and ask explicitly for both modes. Colour changes always need both sides of the coin. |
| The answer stays general | Ask for the specific file and line. “Show me the place” gets there faster than “how does this work”. |
| The conversation gets vague | After many messages, have the state summarised and start a fresh conversation. The skills live in the project and keep applying there. |
| Something is broken | Run the quality check and describe what you did last. The skill searches with thresholds instead of guesses. |
Before you set off a brand change or a full pass over the text, make a copy of your project folder. Then every way back is a matter of seconds. How to solve this for good is in the chapter Maintaining and extending.
Describe your goal in one sentence, as concretely as you can. The right skill takes over on its own. If something turns out differently than expected, name the skill and draw the limit tighter. There is nothing more to operate.