Agents35k · #5427

book-to-skill

Transforms books and documents into agent skills. It extracts concepts and techniques so the agent can use them in tasks.

What it does

Transforms books and documents into 'skills' (instruction sets) for artificial intelligence. It extracts key ideas like methods, principles, and common mistakes so the AI can use them.

When to use it

✓When you want an AI to learn and apply ideas from a book.
✓When you want to use an author's methods while working.
✓When you want to create a new AI tool based on a document.

Example of what to ask your AI

“Turn this book on productivity into a skill for the AI.”

Want more? Open the sections below.

How to use

The easiest way: copy the message below and paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or any AI. It reads the skill and follows the instructions.

Skill link

https://github.com/virgiliojr94/book-to-skill/blob/master/SKILL.md

Ready-to-paste message

Use this skill to help me: https://github.com/virgiliojr94/book-to-skill/blob/master/SKILL.md Read the SKILL.md file at that link and follow its instructions for my task.

View on GitHub ↗Raw file

How it works

The AI reads the document you provide and identifies the main ideas, such as techniques and principles. It then organizes these ideas into a format that other AIs can understand and use.

Installation

Easiest way: copy the skill link and paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor asking it to follow the instructions.

In the terminal (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor), in your project folder:

npx skills add virgiliojr94/book-to-skill --skill book-to-skill

Or download just the file:

curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/virgiliojr94/book-to-skill/master/SKILL.md -o SKILL.md

Technical content (original SKILL.md)

Original text by the author, straight from GitHub.

Book-to-Skill Converter

Transform written knowledge into actionable agent skills by extracting structure — not producing summaries.

Philosophy

Books contain crystallized expertise: frameworks, principles, and techniques that took years to develop. This skill extracts that knowledge into a format GitHub Copilot CLI, Amp, Claude Code, Hermes Agent, OpenCode, OpenClaw, or another compatible agent can leverage repeatedly. Extract structure, not summaries. A skill isn't a book report. It's a toolkit of:

Named frameworks (mental models with clear application)
Actionable principles (rules that guide decisions)
Techniques (step-by-step methods)
Anti-patterns (what to avoid and why)
Voice calibration (how the author thinks and communicates)

Preserve the author's precision. Frameworks often have specific names for reasons. "The 5 Whys" isn't interchangeable with "ask why multiple times." Capture the exact formulation.

Layer depth appropriately. Simple books → simple skills. Complex books with 10+ frameworks → skills with reference files and on-demand chapters.

Modes of Operation

Four paths available. Route based on what the user asks:

1. Full Conversion (Default)

Trigger: User provides one or more document/directory/glob paths without special instructions Action: Run all steps below (Steps 0–9) Output: Complete skill with SKILL.md, chapters/, glossary, patterns, cheatsheet

2. Analyze Only

Trigger: User says "analyze", "just extract", or "I want to review before generating" Action: Run Steps 0–3, then produce a structured extraction report (frameworks, principles, techniques found). Stop — do NOT generate skill files. Output: Analysis report for user review

3. Generate from Prior Analysis

Trigger: User has existing analysis notes or previously ran analyze-only Action: Skip Steps 0–3, use the provided analysis as input, run Steps 4–9 Output: Skill files from the provided analysis

4. Update / Fold-in (Existing Skill)

Trigger: User provides one or more new source paths and indicates they want to update an existing skill (either by pointing to the existing skill folder, providing a skill slug that already exists in SKILLS_HOME, or explicitly requesting an update). Action: Run Step 0 (out-of-scope check), Step 1 (validate inputs), Step 1.5 (identify book type), and Step 2 (extract new files). Then skip to Step 5 (identify/detect existing skill path) and run the Update / Fold-in Workflow to merge the new content into the existing skill files. Output: Updated existing skill with new/revised chapter summaries and merged indexes/glossaries.

Skill Locations

This converter can run from multiple skill systems. When looking for this converter's helper script or writing the generated book skill, prefer these locations in order:

GitHub Copilot CLI personal skills: ~/.copilot/skills/
Cross-agent personal skills (Copilot, Amp, Codex; OpenClaw with its default state): ~/.agents/skills/
Claude Code personal skills: ~/.claude/skills/
Project-local Copilot skills: .github/skills/
Project-local Claude skills: .claude/skills/
Project-local Amp / Copilot / OpenClaw skills: .agents/skills/
Amp global skills: ~/.config/agents/skills/
Amp legacy global skills: ~/.config/amp/skills/
Hermes Agent personal skills: $HERMES_HOME/skills/ (defaults to ~/.hermes/skills/)

…

FAQ

What file types does the AI understand?

It understands various formats like PDF, EPUB, DOCX, HTML, plain text, and others, as long as they are in a readable format for the AI.

What is an AI 'skill'?

A 'skill' is like a set of instructions or tools you give an AI to use. Instead of just answering questions, the AI can perform tasks or apply specific knowledge.

Will the AI summarize the book?

No, the main goal is not to summarize. It is to extract the structure and applicable concepts, such as methods and principles, so the AI can use them actively.

Details

Original description by the author

Converts books and documents (PDF, EPUB, DOCX, HTML, Markdown, plain text, RTF, MOBI/AZW with Calibre) into structured agent skills, extracting frameworks, mental models, principles, techniques, and anti-patterns. Use when the user wants to study a document through GitHub Copilot CLI, Amp, Claude Code, Hermes Agent, OpenCode, or OpenClaw, apply an author's frameworks while working, or build a reus

repo: virgiliojr94/book-to-skill

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