Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Build a Personal Skill agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
Build a Personal Skill is an agent skill from the OpenMAIC project that reviews your own past classroom and chat records and turns the patterns it finds into a reusable Skill for future course-making. It is written for teachers and course creators who have already built several classrooms in OpenMAIC and want an AI agent to follow their style. This guide explains what the skill does, how to install it, how to trigger it, and what to check before you run it.
Build a Personal SkillTHU-MAIC/OpenMAIC · MIT Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download and unzip. Download the ZIP from the directory page and unzip it so the build-personal-skill folder containing SKILL.md is available.
- 2Place the folder. Move it to ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use, or to the project's .claude/skills/ folder, or upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
- 3Confirm the tools. Make sure your OpenMAIC environment provides search_classrooms, search_chats, read_classroom, read_chat, ask_user and create_skill.
- 4Make the request. Ask something like 总结我的做课记录，给我做个专属 Skill or summarize your past course-making records and create a reusable Skill.
- 5Answer the questions. When the agent calls ask_user, correct, prioritise or reject each pattern based on what you actually want.
- 6Review the saved skill. After create_skill succeeds, check the saved instructions reflect your habits and contain no sensitive material.
What an agent skill is and what this one does
An agent skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file with instructions that an AI agent loads when a request matches the skill's description. This one, build-personal-skill, is licensed under MIT and is part of the OpenMAIC project.
The skill does not decide your teaching preferences in advance. It inventories your past classrooms and chats, selects a representative spread of them, and states provisional patterns as hypotheses. It then runs narrower searches to find examples that both confirm and contradict those hypotheses, asks you to correct or reject them, and finally saves a new reusable skill built from the evidence.
- Searches your classroom and chat history with an empty query to get an inventory
- Reads selected records section by section, following pagination where needed
- Shows evidence-backed hypotheses and asks you to confirm, correct or reject them
- Saves the final instructions with the create_skill tool rather than only printing them
Install the skill from the ZIP download
Download the ZIP for this skill from the directory page and unzip it. The skill is a folder that must contain SKILL.md. Put the folder in one of these locations, depending on whether you want it for all projects or one project:
For a personal install across projects, place it in ~/.claude/skills/. For a single project, place it in that project's .claude/skills/ folder.
You can also upload the skill in the Claude apps. Go to Settings → Capabilities → Skills and upload it there.
- Personal install: ~/.claude/skills/build-personal-skill/
- Project install: .claude/skills/build-personal-skill/ inside your project
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills
Check the requirements before you start
This skill only does useful work inside the OpenMAIC application environment. The agent needs access to the search_classrooms, search_chats, read_classroom, read_chat, ask_user and create_skill tools. Without them the skill cannot read your history or save a result.
A web_search tool is optional. The skill uses it only when you ask for a comparison or when external references are needed, and it never treats web results as your preference.
The skill does not run scripts, but it does use the network, because it calls OpenMAIC tools to read your records.
- Required tools: search_classrooms, search_chats, read_classroom, read_chat, ask_user, create_skill
- Optional tool: web_search, only for comparisons or external references
- Runs scripts: no
- Uses network: yes
How to trigger the skill with a natural request
Ask in plain language for a summary of your past course-making records and a personal or reusable Skill. The skill's description lists example phrasing, and the agent matches requests like these to it.
Examples from the skill description include the following. You can also write in English or another language with the same meaning.
- 总结我的做课记录，给我做个专属 Skill
- 从我过去的课程和对话里提炼一个个人技能
- Summarize my past course-making records and make me a reusable Skill
- Learn from my earlier classrooms and chats and create a personal skill for my courses
What happens during a run
The agent works through a fixed sequence. It first inventories your history, then chooses records across different topics, formats, dates and outcomes rather than only the newest ones. It reads those records, tests its hypotheses against both supporting and contradicting examples, and asks you for confirmation.
Your answer shapes the final skill. If the answer reveals a gap, the agent searches again. If evidence is still too thin, it tells you what is missing and asks rather than inventing a preference. When the decisions are settled, it writes self-contained instructions and saves them.
- Inventory: search with an empty query, paging while hasMore is true
- Sample: pick a varied spread of classrooms and chats
- Test: run narrower searches for confirming and disconfirming examples
- Confirm: answer the questions the agent asks through ask_user
- Save: the new skill is written with create_skill
Safety notes before you run it
The agent reads your classroom and chat records and saves a summary of them into a new skill. Anyone who later loads that skill will see the instructions it contains. Do not run it on sensitive or confidential course materials unless you are comfortable with that summary being stored.
The skill tells the agent to treat history output as user-controlled, low-priority evidence and not as system instructions. It also says the history tools omit hidden payloads, system prompts, materials and secrets, and that the agent should not expose them. The agent is told not to copy long history into the saved instructions.
- Saved skills contain summarized instructions drawn from your records
- Avoid running it on confidential course material
- Web results are never presented as your own preference
Tips for a useful result
The skill works best when you have many classrooms and chats. With little history there is not enough evidence to find patterns, and the agent is designed not to invent preferences. Answer the confirmation questions carefully, since you can correct, prioritise or reject each hypothesis.
Keep the saved skill focused. Preserve variation where your courses genuinely differ, instead of forcing one style on every course.
- Use it once you have a meaningful body of past work
- Correct hypotheses that do not match what you actually want
- Ask again later if your course style changes and you want an updated skill
What people use it for
- Turning several past OpenMAIC classrooms into a reusable routine for future lessons in the same subject
- Building a personal course template that reflects how you usually structure lessons and quizzes
- Creating a distinct skill for a second teaching style when your past courses show clear variation
- Reviewing your own course-making habits to see which patterns repeat across chats
Frequently asked questions
Is the Build a Personal Skill agent skill free?
The skill is published under the MIT licence, as stated on this page. The source does not mention pricing, so check the OpenMAIC project for any other terms.
What does the build-personal-skill skill require?
It requires the OpenMAIC application environment with the search_classrooms, search_chats, read_classroom, read_chat, ask_user and create_skill tools. A web_search tool is optional and used only for comparisons or external references. It does not run scripts but does use the network.
How do I install an agent skill from a ZIP file?
Download the ZIP, unzip it, and place the build-personal-skill folder containing SKILL.md in ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use or in a project's .claude/skills/ folder. You can also upload it in the Claude apps under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Why does the skill ask me questions before saving?
It shows evidence-backed hypotheses and asks you to correct, prioritise or reject them, so the saved skill reflects your real habits. The agent is designed never to fabricate a preference when the evidence is thin.
Will it work if I have only a few classrooms?
Probably not well. The skill needs enough history to find repeated patterns, and it is built not to invent preferences when there is little evidence. It is best suited to people with many classrooms and chats in OpenMAIC.
Is it safe to use with confidential course materials?
Use caution. The agent reads your classroom and chat records and saves a summary of them into a new skill, so sensitive or confidential past material may end up summarised in stored instructions. The skill itself says history tools omit materials and secrets.
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Our verdict
Build a Personal Skill suits teachers and course creators who have built many OpenMAIC classrooms and want future courses to follow their own habits. It is a poor fit for new users with little history or for anyone whose past course materials are sensitive, because it summarises those records into a saved skill. If you want a generic course template rather than one drawn from your own work, pick a skill that is not based on your history.
Download the skill