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Cursor Skills Turn Repeated AI Prompts Into Reusable Operation Cards

Foreword

Hello everyone, I'm Tianluo.

If you've used AI a lot, I'm sure you know what a Skill is and how to make a useful one. In this article, Brother Tianluo will make one with you~~

1. What is a Skill? The difference between a Prompt and a Skill

When you chat with an AI, the text you type is called a Prompt.

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But there are things you do repeatedly, like asking the AI to organize today's work into a few loggable worklog entries. If you have to fill in worklogs every time and retype the requirements each time, it's long and easy to miss things.

A Skill is writing those repeated requirements into a standard operation card in advance, so you can call it directly next time.

You can compare it to: instead of verbally instructing an intern each time, you give them a card that clearly states what to do first and what to deliver.

Prompt Skill
Like An ad-hoc verbal instruction A pre-written operation card
Suitable for One-off questions Doing the same type of task repeatedly
Result Sometimes misses requirements Delivers results according to agreed steps and format

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The difference between a Prompt and a Skill

In one sentence: Skill = clearly stated steps + clearly stated acceptance criteria + a fixed deliverable.

2. A simple, basic Skill

The most basic version is actually very simple: create a folder, put a SKILL.md file inside, and write clearly what it does, when it triggers, and what to do after triggering. That's basically a recognizable Skill.

For us, the approach is:

.cursor/skills/your-skill-name/SKILL.md

For example, I use Cursor, so I create a folder under .cursor/skills/ in the project, and then put the SKILL.md file inside.

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This is the same thing as the "folder + SKILL.md" mentioned above.

The file usually has two parts:

  1. The first few lines: what the skill is called, when it should be used (trigger)
  2. The main body: what to do after triggering, and what the output looks like

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What a basic Skill looks like

3. Benefits/Advantages of Skills

  1. Reduces typing the same set of requirements into a Prompt 100+ times
  2. Fewer missed steps, making results easier to verify
  3. When you find an error, just fix the operation card; no need to correct it in every chat

A Skill is not better just because it's longer; writing clear judgments and deliverables is more important than writing an essay.

4. Step-by-step: making a small worklog Skill

Let's use an example everyone understands.

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Step 1: Confirm this is a recurring task

For example: frequently needing to organize a conversation into 1–3 worklog task entries (date, approximate time spent, one-sentence description).

Step 2: Create the file

Create: .cursor/skills/worklog-from-chat/SKILL.md

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Step 3: Write the shortest usable content (example)

---
name: worklog-from-chat
description: >-
  Organize conversations into loggable worklog entries.
  Use when the user says organize worklog, write registered worklog, or what did I do today to register.
# Worklog Organization
Based on the current conversation, output only 1–3 worklog entries, no long summaries.
Each entry must include:
- Actual work date
- Suggested time spent (e.g., 1h, 2h)
- One-sentence description
Prohibited: making up things not discussed; writing a long daily report.

Step 4: Call and verify

In the conversation, say:

@worklog-from-chat
Organize today's conversation into loggable worklog entries

Check if there are only 1–3 entries and if the fields are complete. If not, fix SKILL.md and test again.

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5. Summary