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Software as a Skill

Uninstall the app.
Install the .md

For many applications, software is overkill. Describe an application and make it a skill instead.

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How it works

Two steps, no release pipeline.

  1. 01

    Describe it

    "Like Vale, except…" works great. Name a tool you know, then say what it can't do. Inputs, outputs, edge cases: the more you say, the better.

  2. 02

    Install anywhere

    Paste one line into your AI agent and it installs itself. Or use curl, or upload the zip to claude.ai. It's yours: edit it, commit it, share it.

Why

Most software is mostly logic.

Parse the input, branch on the cases, format the output. If you can describe what goes in, what comes out, and how it behaves in between, Claude can play the part of the program.

Vale catches patterns. Plenty of writing problems aren't patterns, but you can explain each one in a sentence. That's Dale: 22 rules, about 60 lines of YAML, maintained by a technical writer, not a developer.

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Gallery

Start from one that works.

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dale

Vale's sibling from the future. A prose linter whose rules are one sentence about when they should fire, for the writing problems a regex can't catch.

24 files · in production on the Netwrix docs repo

message: "Do not use the 'x is not y, x is z' format."
level: warning
reason: "This rule should trigger when the user or agent
  writes something in the negative-positive form,
  for example 'x is not y, x is z' or similar."

FAQ

Fair questions.

What is a "skill"?

An Agent Skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file of instructions plus any supporting files. Claude loads it when it's relevant. Claude Code, claude.ai, and a growing list of other agents support the same open format.

Is it free?

Yes. Everyone gets 5 free generations a day on Claude Haiku. For unlimited generations, or to use Sonnet or Opus, add your own Anthropic API key. Usage then bills to your account at Anthropic's normal rates, usually a fraction of a cent per skill on Haiku.

Do you store my API key?

No. Your key goes to our server only to make that one request to Anthropic. It is never written to storage or logs. If you tick "remember", it stays in your own browser's local storage, and you can clear it anytime.

Who can see the skills I generate?

Each skill gets a permanent, unlisted link with a random ID. It isn't listed or indexed anywhere, but anyone with the link can view it, so don't put secrets in your description.

Why no scripts or hooks?

A skill you install from a link should never be able to run code on your machine. Generated skills contain only text: instructions and data files. Shell-execution syntax is stripped, and every file is shown in full before you install.

When is a skill the wrong tool?

When the answer has to be exact and repeatable, like money, permissions, or security enforcement. An LLM can give slightly different results on two runs. Anything a pattern can catch should stay code. Skills shine where a person reads the output and an occasional miss is cheap: linters, reviewers, writers, and checkers.

What app could have been a skill?

Compile one →