marketingskills/AGENTS.md

# AGENTS.md

Guidelines for AI agents working in this repository.

## Repository Overview

This repository contains **Agent Skills** for AI agents following the [Agent Skills specification](https://agentskills.io/specification.md). It also serves as a **Claude Code plugin marketplace** via `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json`.

- **Name**: Marketing Skills
- **GitHub**: [coreyhaines31/marketingskills](https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills)
- **Creator**: Corey Haines
- **License**: MIT

## Repository Structure

```
marketingskills/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── marketplace.json   # Claude Code plugin marketplace manifest
├── skills/                # Agent Skills
│   └── skill-name/
│       └── SKILL.md       # Required skill file
├── CONTRIBUTING.md
├── LICENSE
└── README.md
```

## Build / Lint / Test Commands

**Not applicable** - This is a content-only repository with no executable code.

Verify manually:
- YAML frontmatter is valid
- `name` field matches directory name exactly
- `name` is 1-64 chars, lowercase alphanumeric and hyphens only
- `description` is 1-1024 characters

## Agent Skills Specification

Skills follow the [Agent Skills spec](https://agentskills.io/specification.md).

### Required Frontmatter

```yaml
---
name: skill-name
description: What this skill does and when to use it. Include trigger phrases.
---
```

### Frontmatter Field Constraints

| Field         | Required | Constraints                                                      |
|---------------|----------|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `name`        | Yes      | 1-64 chars, lowercase `a-z`, numbers, hyphens. Must match dir.   |
| `description` | Yes      | 1-1024 chars. Describe what it does and when to use it.          |
| `license`     | No       | License name (default: MIT)                                      |
| `metadata`    | No       | Key-value pairs (author, version, etc.)                          |

### Name Field Rules

- Lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens only
- Cannot start or end with hyphen
- No consecutive hyphens (`--`)
- Must match parent directory name exactly

**Valid**: `page-cro`, `email-sequence`, `ab-test-setup`
**Invalid**: `Page-CRO`, `-page`, `page--cro`

### Optional Skill Directories

```
skills/skill-name/
├── SKILL.md        # Required - main instructions (<500 lines)
├── references/     # Optional - detailed docs loaded on demand
├── scripts/        # Optional - executable code
└── assets/         # Optional - templates, data files
```

## Writing Style Guidelines

### Structure

- Keep `SKILL.md` under 500 lines (move details to `references/`)
- Use H2 (`##`) for main sections, H3 (`###`) for subsections
- Use bullet points and numbered lists liberally
- Short paragraphs (2-4 sentences max)

### Tone

- Direct and instructional
- Second person ("You are a conversion rate optimization expert")
- Professional but approachable

### Formatting

- Bold (`**text**`) for key terms
- Code blocks for examples and templates
- Tables for reference data
- No excessive emojis

### Clarity Principles

- Clarity over cleverness
- Specific over vague
- Active voice over passive
- One idea per section

### Description Field Best Practices

The `description` is critical for skill discovery. Include:
1. What the skill does
2. When to use it (trigger phrases)
3. Related skills for scope boundaries

```yaml
description: When the user wants to optimize conversions on any marketing page. Use when the user says "CRO," "conversion rate optimization," "this page isn't converting." For signup flows, see signup-flow-cro.
```

## Claude Code Plugin

This repo also serves as a plugin marketplace. The manifest at `.claude-plugin/marketplace.json` lists all skills for installation via:

```bash
/plugin marketplace add coreyhaines31/marketingskills
/plugin install marketing-skills
```

See [Claude Code plugins documentation](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/plugins.md) for details.

## Git Workflow

### Branch Naming

- New skills: `feature/skill-name`
- Improvements: `fix/skill-name-description`
- Documentation: `docs/description`

### Commit Messages

Follow the [Conventional Commits](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/) specification:

- `feat: add skill-name skill`
- `fix: improve clarity in page-cro`
- `docs: update README`

### Pull Request Checklist

- [ ] `name` matches directory name exactly
- [ ] `name` follows naming rules (lowercase, hyphens, no `--`)
- [ ] `description` is 1-1024 chars with trigger phrases
- [ ] `SKILL.md` is under 500 lines
- [ ] No sensitive data or credentials

## Tool Integrations

This repository includes a tools registry for agent-compatible marketing tools.

- **Tool discovery**: Read `tools/REGISTRY.md` to see available tools and their capabilities
- **Integration details**: See `tools/integrations/{tool}.md` for API endpoints, auth, and common operations
- **MCP-enabled tools**: ga4, stripe, mailchimp, google-ads, resend, zapier

### Registry Structure

```
tools/
├── REGISTRY.md              # Index of all tools with capabilities
└── integrations/            # Detailed integration guides
    ├── ga4.md
    ├── stripe.md
    ├── rewardful.md
    └── ...
```

### When to Use Tools

Skills reference relevant tools for implementation. For example:
- `referral-program` skill → rewardful, tolt, dub-co, mention-me guides
- `analytics-tracking` skill → ga4, mixpanel, segment guides
- `email-sequence` skill → customer-io, mailchimp, resend guides
- `paid-ads` skill → google-ads, meta-ads, linkedin-ads guides

## Checking for Updates

When using any skill from this repository:

1. **Once per session**, on first skill use, check for updates:
   - Fetch `VERSIONS.md` from GitHub: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/main/VERSIONS.md
   - Compare versions against local skill files

2. **Only prompt if meaningful**:
   - 2 or more skills have updates, OR
   - Any skill has a major version bump (e.g., 1.x to 2.x)

3. **Non-blocking notification** at end of response:
   ```
   ---
   Skills update available: X marketing skills have updates.
   Say "update skills" to update automatically, or run `git pull` in your marketingskills folder.
   ```

4. **If user says "update skills"**:
   - Run `git pull` in the marketingskills directory
   - Confirm what was updated

## Skill Categories

See `README.md` for the current list of skills organized by category. When adding new skills, follow the naming patterns of existing skills in that category.