`ical skills install --agent others` installs an invalid `ical-cli` skill

[MrSimonC]

Summary

The generated/embedded ical-cli skill installs successfully, but the installed SKILL.md is not valid against common Codex/agent skill validators and is heavier than it needs to be for an agent skill.

How to reproduce

1. Run ical skills install --agent others
2. Inspect the installed file at ~/.agents/skills/ical-cli/SKILL.md
3. Validate it with a skill validator such as:

python quick_validate.py ~/.agents/skills/ical-cli

Actual result

Validation fails because the frontmatter contains unsupported keys.

Validator output

Unexpected key(s) in SKILL.md frontmatter: compatibility, permissions. Allowed properties are: allowed-tools, description, license, metadata, name

Problems identified

• SKILL.md uses invalid frontmatter keys:
  • compatibility
  • permissions
• Skill name is ical while the folder/install target is ical-cli
• The body is written more like product documentation than an agent skill:
  • installation instructions
  • exhaustive command tables
  • long tutorials/examples
  • Go API section
• The main skill body duplicates detail that is better kept in references
• At least one command detail is out of sync with the real CLI:
  • ical calendars alias is documented as icals, but the CLI reports cals

Expected result

The installed skill should:

• validate successfully
• use supported frontmatter only
• ideally use name: ical-cli to match the folder/install target
• provide a concise workflow-oriented skill body
• push long-form detail into references/*.md

Why this matters

• invalid installed skills break downstream validation/sync workflows
• agent skills work better when SKILL.md is procedural and compact
• mismatches between skill text and actual CLI behavior reduce trust

Suggested fix

• Update skills/ical-cli/SKILL.md
• Remove unsupported frontmatter keys
• Rename the skill to ical-cli
• Rewrite SKILL.md to focus on:
  • preconditions
  • workflow
  • guardrails
  • a few short command patterns
  • references for the rest
• Add a test to validate the embedded skill file during CI/release

[MrSimonC]

Basically my tip is: for codex or claude use a skill creator skill to validate the skill in your repo (codex has it built in and claude has one you can install in it's official plugins)

[BRO3886]

Hey @MrSimonC, v0.9.0 ships a full rewrite of the embedded skill addressing everything you flagged here.

• name is now ical-cli to match the install directory
• Dropped the unsupported frontmatter keys (metadata, permissions, stale version)
• Body is now workflow-oriented with a decision table, gotchas, and references, not a command manual
• cals alias corrected (was icals before)
• Added allowed-tools: Bash(ical *) and a dynamic date injection block via the !`command` preprocessing syntax so the skill always sees the real current date

Conforms to agentskills.io and the Claude Code skill docs. If you run ical skills install again you should get the new version. Would love it if you could re-run your validator against it and flag anything else.

Release: https://github.com/BRO3886/ical/releases/tag/v0.9.0