---
name: add-seed-skills
description: Use when adding or editing QA skills in seed-skills/ or getting them onto the live qaskills.sh catalog, e.g. "add N new skills", "create a seed skill for X", "seed the database", "the skill page is empty", "skill 404s on the site".
---

# Add Seed Skills

Pipeline: `seed-skills/<slug>/SKILL.md` -> validator -> `seed.ts` upsert into the PROD database -> live catalog. These are PRODUCT catalog skills (Zod schema with testingTypes/languages), not Claude Code workflow skills; never confuse the two formats.

## Format contract (parser reality)

`packages/web/src/db/seed.ts` parses frontmatter with regex, not a YAML library:
- Every value on ONE line; a wrapped description parses as truncated garbage
- Arrays INLINE ONLY: `tags: [a, b, c]`. YAML block lists (`- item`) parse as EMPTY arrays
- Zod limits: name 1-100 chars, description 10-500 chars, version semver, `testingTypes` >= 1, `languages` >= 1
- Allowed values come from `packages/shared/src/constants/` (testing types, frameworks, languages, domains, agent slugs); check there before inventing one

Template (model the body on `seed-skills/playwright-e2e/SKILL.md`):

```markdown
---
name: Human Readable Skill Name
description: One line, 10-500 chars, what the skill teaches an agent to do.
version: 1.0.0
author: thetestingacademy
license: MIT
tags: [tag-one, tag-two]
testingTypes: [e2e]
frameworks: [playwright]
languages: [typescript]
domains: [web]
agents: [claude-code, cursor, github-copilot, windsurf, cline]
---

# Skill Title

Real instructions: principles, project structure, code samples, checklists.
This body becomes fullDescription: it renders on the skill page and is what
the CLI downloads. Aim for 100+ lines of substance; an empty or thin body
is a broken product page.
```

## Steps

### 1. Dedup the slug (directory name = slug)

```bash
ls /Users/promode/qaskills/seed-skills | grep -i "<core-term>"
curl -s -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}\n' "https://qaskills.sh/api/skills/<slug>"   # want 404
```

### 2. Write `seed-skills/<slug>/SKILL.md`

Frontmatter per the contract above, then the full body.

### 3. Validate every file

```bash
cd /Users/promode/qaskills
pnpm --filter @qaskills/shared build && pnpm --filter @qaskills/skill-validator build
for d in <slug-one> <slug-two>; do
  node packages/skill-validator/dist/cli.js "seed-skills/$d/SKILL.md" || echo "INVALID: $d"
done
```

Also eyeball that arrays are inline and the description is one line (the validator uses the real YAML parser and can pass files the seed regex still mangles).

### 4. Seed PRODUCTION (the dangerous step)

**Never use the `DATABASE_URL` from `.env.local`.** It points at a stale non-prod database; seeding it changes nothing on the live site. This mistake has burned a full session before.

1. Baseline: `curl -s 'https://qaskills.sh/api/skills?limit=1'` and record the top-level `total`.
2. Get the prod URL: run `vercel env pull .env.vercel-prod --environment=production` yourself (worked from the agent as of 2026-07-07; the file is gitignored). If the pull is blocked, ask the user to run that exact command and wait.
3. Seed with the explicit URL (strip any surrounding quotes from the value):

```bash
cd /Users/promode/qaskills
export DATABASE_URL='<prod-url-without-quotes>'
pnpm --filter @qaskills/web db:seed
```

`seed.ts` is an upsert (`onConflictDoUpdate` on skills): safe to re-run, it will not delete the live rows that exist only in prod. Never substitute custom SQL, and never run UPDATE/DELETE against prod without explicit user approval.

### 5. Verify live (the only proof that counts)

```bash
curl -s 'https://qaskills.sh/api/skills?limit=1'                       # total must equal baseline + N
curl -s "https://qaskills.sh/api/skills/<slug>/content" | head -20     # frontmatter + body, not empty
curl -s -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}\n' "https://qaskills.sh/skills/thetestingacademy/<slug>"  # 200 (adjust author segment if different)
```

`total` unchanged, or slug 404s => you seeded the wrong database. STOP. Do not retry blindly; re-verify which URL was exported and report the mismatch.

### 6. Commit

```bash
git -C /Users/promode/qaskills add seed-skills/<slug-one> seed-skills/<slug-two>
git -C /Users/promode/qaskills commit -m "feat(skills): add <N> <theme> seed skills"
git -C /Users/promode/qaskills push origin main
```

No web redeploy is needed for catalog changes (pages read the DB), but commit so the repo stays the source of truth.

## Failure modes

| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Skill live but tags/types empty | Block-list arrays or multi-line values in frontmatter | Convert to inline arrays, single lines, re-seed |
| Skill page renders only the short description | Missing/empty markdown body | Write the body, re-seed (upsert refreshes fullDescription) |
| Live `total` did not grow | Seeded the stale `.env.local` DB | Step 4.2, re-seed with the real prod URL |
| Validator passes but seed drops fields | Validator parses real YAML, seed.ts regex does not | Obey the format contract, not just the validator |
| Connection error on seed | Quoted URL or Node 24 | Strip quotes; use Node 20 |

## Red flags

- Exporting DATABASE_URL from `.env.local` "because it is right there"
- Skipping the baseline/after `total` comparison
- Frontmatter-only SKILL.md ("body later")
- Writing DELETE/UPDATE SQL to "fix" prod data