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ContralDocs

Using Contral

Skills

Use Contral's built-in skills, install more from the marketplace or GitHub, and write your own SKILL.md.

Skills are reusable instructions that teach Contral's Build agent a specific workflow, such as a code review checklist, a debugging routine or a docs-writing style. Contral includes a set of built-in skills, offers more in a marketplace, and lets you write your own.

How Contral skills work#

A skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file. When you run a skill, Contral adds its instructions to the agent's prompt for that task. Each skill becomes a slash command named after it, for example /code-review.

Built-in skills in Contral#

These skills come with the extension:

CommandWhat it does
/code-reviewReview code for correctness, regressions, missing tests and maintainability
/debugInvestigate failing behavior with a read-first, reproduce-first workflow
/test-writerAdd focused tests for behavior changes, regressions and edge cases
/refactorPlan and make small, safe refactors without changing behavior
/docs-writerWrite concise developer docs, READMEs, changelogs and API notes
/security-reviewCheck auth, secret handling, injection and unsafe tool boundaries
/performance-auditFind likely latency, memory, rendering, bundle and query issues
/accessibility-auditReview UI for keyboard, screen reader, contrast and focus issues
/graphifyMap a codebase, docs or research into a knowledge graph and report
/seo-claudeTechnical SEO, metadata, schema and AI-search optimization
/gstackGrowth strategy: funnels, analytics, experiments and go-to-market

Run a skill#

Type the skill's command followed by your task:

text
/code-review the changes in src/auth

Or use /skill <name> [task]. If you run a skill without a task, Contral shows a card with suggested tasks.

Install a skill from the marketplace or GitHub#

  1. Sign in. The skills marketplace needs a signed-in account.
  2. Search the marketplace:
text
/skills search testing
  1. Install by marketplace ID, GitHub repository, GitHub URL or local folder:
text
/skills install page-cro
/skills install owner/repo
/skills install https://github.com/owner/repo/tree/main/skills/my-skill
  1. Confirm the prompt: "Install skill from "…"? Only install skills from sources you trust."

The marketplace includes first-party skills (the built-in set above) and community skills, such as a collection of marketing and SEO skills.

Create your own skill#

  1. Create a folder for the skill in one of these locations:
    • For all your projects: ~/.contral/skills/<skill-name>/
    • For one project: <your-project>/.vscode/contral/skills/<skill-name>/
  2. Add a SKILL.md file with YAML front matter and instructions:
markdown
---
name: api-checklist
description: Check new API endpoints against our team's conventions.
whenToUse: When adding or changing an HTTP endpoint.
argument-hint: "<file or endpoint>"
---

When reviewing an endpoint:
1. Confirm input is validated and errors return a JSON body with "error".
2. Confirm the route checks authentication before reading data.
3. List anything missing as a checklist.
  1. Run /skills reload. Your skill is now available as /api-checklist.

Skill instructions are capped at about 18,000 characters, so keep them focused.

Manage installed skills#

CommandWhat it does
/skills listList installed skills
/skills remove <name>Remove a skill installed for all projects
/skills reloadReload after adding or editing a skill by hand
/skills smokeCheck that your skills load correctly

/skills remove only removes skills in ~/.contral/skills. To remove a project skill, delete its folder from .vscode/contral/skills/.

Skills and your usage limits#

Running a skill is a normal Build message: it uses one AI message (or one BYOK message with your own key). Managing skills with /skills commands is free. See Usage limits & quotas explained.

Still stuck? Ask the support assistant in the corner of this page, or open a support ticket.

Skills · Contral Docs