Extending Skills

Skills are Markdown instruction files with frontmatter. They teach Murph when and how to use a source, tool, workflow, or evidence type.

File location

Shipped runtime skills live in the app's skills/ directory. User-created runtime skills live in:

~/.murph/skills/*.md

Murph loads shipped skills first, then user skills. A user skill with the same name overrides the shipped skill.

File shape

---
name: jira
description: Use Jira evidence for issue, project, cycle, and blocker questions.
knowledgeDomains: [work_item]
contextSourceNames: [jira.thread_search]
groundingPolicy: prefer_search
priority: 20
riskLevel: low
---

Use Jira evidence when the request mentions issues, projects, cycles, blockers, or roadmap status.
Prefer issue titles, current status, assignee, labels, and recent comments over memory.

Frontmatter

Field	Purpose
name	Stable skill id. Defaults to the filename when omitted.
description	Selection hint for when the skill is relevant.
knowledgeDomains	Domains the skill applies to, such as work_item or code.
contextSourceNames	Context sources the skill expects or prefers.
channelNames	Channel providers where this skill applies.
sessionModes	Session modes where this skill applies.
groundingPolicy	model_choice, prefer_search, or required_when_no_artifacts.
priority	Higher priority skills are considered first. Default is 10.
riskLevel	low, medium, or high. Default is low.

Priority

Use priority to resolve overlap:

• 10: normal source guidance.
• 20: important source-specific workflow.
• 30+: narrow high-priority operational behavior.

Avoid making broad skills high priority. They can crowd out more specific instructions.

Grounding policy

Use prefer_search when search is usually helpful but not mandatory.

Use required_when_no_artifacts when Murph should retrieve source evidence before answering factual questions if no current artifacts already exist.

Use model_choice for style, routing, or interpretation guidance that does not require retrieval.

Instructions

The body should be operational, not promotional. Include:

• what evidence to prefer;
• what claims require grounding;
• what to avoid;
• when to queue or ask instead of answering;
• source-specific terms users are likely to use.

Keep one skill focused on one source or workflow. Create separate skills when priorities, risk, or grounding expectations differ.