Example — MAKE path: idea → new optional catalog skill

Real run: PAP-15684 → PR #10410 (feat(skills-catalog): add optional /simplified-english skill).

Input

Task from Dotta: "make a skill that has agents write user-facing text in Simplified English." No tweet this time — the source is a known public specification (ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English).

Step 1 — FIND

grep -i 'simplified\|plain.english' packages/skills-catalog/generated/catalog.json → no hits; nothing in .agents/skills/ or skills/ either.
gh search code --filename SKILL.md "simplified technical english" → no usable published skill (only STE checker tools, no SKILL.md procedure).
Verdict: MAKE a new local skill.

Step 2 — Placement

kind: optional (useful, but not something every company must ship with).
category: content (existing category, fits writing/communication).
slug: simplified-english.
Path: packages/skills-catalog/catalog/optional/content/simplified-english/.

Step 2B — Authoring

One markdown-only SKILL.md (trust level stays markdown_only):

markdown

---
name: simplified-english
description: Write user-facing comments, plans, and documents in ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English — short, unambiguous sentences with approved words and one meaning each — so readers understand them the first time.
key: paperclipai/optional/content/simplified-english
recommendedForRoles:
  - engineer
  - product
  - writer
  - devrel
tags:
  - writing
  - communication
  - clarity
  - style
---

# Simplified English

For user-facing comments, plans, and documents, write using only ASD-STE100
Simplified Technical English.

## Core rules

- Use short sentences (procedures ≤ 20 words, descriptions ≤ 25 words).
- Give one instruction per sentence.
- Use approved words with one meaning each; avoid synonyms and jargon.
...

Note the frontmatter hits every builder rule: description is 40–300 chars, key matches the placement, roles and tags are non-empty.

Steps 3–4 — Examples, manifest, tests

Add examples/rewrite-status-comment.md showing a jargon-heavy status comment rewritten under the rules (before/after).
pnpm --filter @paperclipai/skills-catalog build:manifest → regenerates generated/catalog.json with the new entry.
Add "paperclipai/optional/content/simplified-english" to EXPECTED_OPTIONAL_KEYS in src/shipped-catalog.test.ts (alphabetical).
pnpm --filter @paperclipai/skills-catalog test → green.

Step 5 — PR

Four-part diff:

packages/skills-catalog/catalog/optional/content/simplified-english/SKILL.md
packages/skills-catalog/catalog/optional/content/simplified-english/examples/rewrite-status-comment.md
packages/skills-catalog/generated/catalog.json
packages/skills-catalog/src/shipped-catalog.test.ts

(The historical PR #10410 predates this skill and shipped as a three-part diff without the examples/ file; a run that follows this skill includes the worked example from Step 3 in the same PR.)

PR body links the ASD-STE100 spec as the source and states trust level markdown_only.