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name hr-root-router-maintaining
description Maintenance guide for the root SKILL.md router in the hr-skills monorepo. Use this skill when adding a new HR skill package, removing a deprecated skill, renaming a skill directory, moving a skill between routing sections, or auditing the router for consistency with the actual skills/ directory.
metadata
author version
Tuan Duc Tran
1.0.0

HR root router maintenance

The root SKILL.md at the repository root is the entry point for the entire HR Skills library. It does not contain HR knowledge — its only job is to route requests to the right specialized skill package under skills/.

This skill tells AI assistants exactly how to update that router whenever the library changes.

Supported tasks

  • Add a new skill entry to the correct routing section
  • Remove a deprecated skill from the routing table
  • Rename a skill entry when its directory is renamed
  • Move a skill entry between routing sections
  • Audit router for skills missing from the table or directories missing from skills/
  • Update the frontmatter description field when new domains are added
  • Suggest which routing section a new skill belongs in
  • Generate a complete, ready-to-paste router table row
  • Validate that all skills/<n>/SKILL.md paths resolve correctly

Router structure

The root SKILL.md has this layout — every edit must preserve it exactly:

frontmatter (---...---)
  name: hr-skills
  description: "..."       ← update when adding an entirely new domain
  metadata:
    author: Tuan Duc Tran
    version: "1.0.0"       ← bump patch version on every router change

# HR Skills              ← H1, never change
intro paragraph          ← never change

## How to use this skill ← never change
numbered rules 1-5       ← never change

## Routing tables        ← H2, never change
### <Section name>       ← H3 section headers (see canonical list below)
| Skill | Use when... |  ← routing table rows
...

## Notes                 ← H2, never change

Canonical routing sections

These are the current H3 section headers in order. New skills go into an existing section whenever possible. Only add a new H3 section when no existing one fits.

  1. ### Talent acquisition & recruiting
  2. ### Onboarding, offboarding & people operations
  3. ### Performance, talent & career management
  4. ### Compensation, benefits & rewards
  5. ### Learning & development
  6. ### Organizational development, design & change
  7. ### Workforce planning & analytics
  8. ### HR technology, data & AI
  9. ### Compliance, labor relations & risk
  10. ### Culture, engagement, experience & wellbeing
  11. ### Project management & global/local context
  12. ### Software-engineering & technical hiring specialists

Section 12 has a two-column format | Skill | Discipline | instead of | Skill | Use when the task involves... | — use the discipline column for tech-specialist skills.

Key prompts

Adding a new skill

  1. "Add [hr-new-skill] to the root SKILL.md router. The skill covers [description of scope]. Suggest the right section and generate the table row."
  2. "I just created skills/hr-[name]/SKILL.md. Update the router to include it. Here is the skill's description field: [paste description]."
  3. "Generate a router table row for a new skill called hr-[name] that handles [scope]. Include the markdown link in the correct format."

Removing or renaming a skill

  1. "Remove hr-[old-name] from the root SKILL.md router. The skill directory has been deleted."
  2. "Rename hr-[old-name] to hr-[new-name] in the router. Update the link and keep everything else the same."
  3. "hr-[name] has been merged into hr-[other-name]. Remove the old entry and update the surviving skill's 'Use when' description to cover both scopes."

Moving a skill between sections

  1. "Move hr-[name] from '### [current section]' to '### [target section]' in the router."
  2. "hr-[name] fits better under [section] than its current section. Relocate it and keep the row content unchanged."

Auditing the router

  1. "Audit the root SKILL.md against the actual skills/ directory and list any mismatches: skills in the directory not in the router, or router entries pointing to non-existent directories."
  2. "Check every markdown link in the routing tables and confirm the target path exists under skills/."
  3. "List all skills currently in the router by section."

Updating scope

  1. "The router description field doesn't mention [new domain]. Update it to include [domain] without making the description longer than it currently is."
  2. "Add a note to the ## Notes section explaining [new convention]."

Editing rules

Follow these rules exactly when editing the root SKILL.md.

Table row format — always use this exact format, no variation:

| [hr-skill-name](skills/hr-skill-name) | One-line description of when to use this skill |
  • The link text is the skill slug only, no spaces, no decoration.
  • The link target is skills/hr-skill-name — a relative path, no leading slash, no .md.
  • The "Use when" column starts with a noun phrase or verb phrase describing the task, not "Use when the task involves" — that prefix lives in the column header only.

Section 12 row format (tech-specialist skills):

| [hr-skill-name](skills/hr-skill-name) | Short discipline label (e.g. "Backend engineering, APIs, databases") |

Version bump — every time the router changes, increment the patch version in frontmatter:

version: "1.0.0"  →  version: "1.0.1"

Placement within a section — insert new rows alphabetically by skill slug within the section, unless there is a logical grouping reason to place it elsewhere (e.g. keep closely related skills adjacent).

Never touch:

  • The ## How to use this skill block
  • The ## Notes block (unless explicitly asked)
  • The H1 # HR Skills title
  • The intro paragraph under H1
  • Existing rows unless they are the target of the edit

Section assignment guide

Use this table to decide which section a new skill belongs in:

If the skill covers... Put it in...
Finding, attracting, assessing, or hiring candidates Talent acquisition & recruiting
Starting or ending employment, HR ops, admin Onboarding, offboarding & people operations
Performance, growth, career paths, coaching Performance, talent & career management
Pay, benefits, rewards, job levels Compensation, benefits & rewards
Training, skills, learning programs Learning & development
Org structure, culture change, OD Organizational development, design & change
Headcount forecasting, HR data, workforce models Workforce planning & analytics
HR systems, AI tools, automation, data HR technology, data & AI
Legal, compliance, labor law, risk Compliance, labor relations & risk
Employee experience, culture, DEI, wellbeing Culture, engagement, experience & wellbeing
Cross-functional projects, global/Vietnam context Project management & global/local context
Hiring for a specific technical discipline Software-engineering & technical hiring specialists

Tips

  • Always read the existing router table before inserting a new row — confirm the skill does not already exist under a different name before adding a duplicate.
  • When unsure which section fits, read the new skill's description field and match its primary verb (recruiting vs managing vs analyzing vs designing) to the section guide above.
  • After any edit, do a quick count: the number of | [hr- links in the router should equal the number of directories under skills/ that contain a SKILL.md.
  • The router description field is a single long string — when updating it, preserve the existing domains and append; never replace the whole string.
  • Tech-specialist skills (section 12) are meant to be loaded alongside a functional skill (hr-recruiting, hr-job-description, hr-interviewing), not instead of one — if the new skill is a standalone functional skill mistakenly placed in section 12, move it to the correct section.
  • Bump the patch version on every router edit so contributors can track the change history without diffing the full file.

Common mistakes

  • Adding a new skill row but forgetting to bump version in frontmatter.
  • Using an absolute path skills/hr-name/SKILL.md instead of the relative path skills/hr-name in the link target — the router links point to directories, not files.
  • Inserting the row into the wrong table column order (link column must come first, "Use when" second).
  • Duplicating an existing entry under a different section without removing the original.
  • Adding a new H3 section when the skill clearly fits an existing section — check all 12 sections before creating a new one.
  • Editing the ## How to use this skill block when only a routing table change was needed.
  • Forgetting to update the description frontmatter field when an entirely new domain (not covered by any existing skill) is added.