Recipe Authoring Guidelines

Human maintainers only — not agent runtime guidance. Agents load recipes via gh-cookbook SKILL.md.

Use this checklist when adding a new recipe to the cookbook.

File Naming

Path: reference/recipe-{N}-{slug}.md
{N} = next sequential number (0, 1, 2, …)
{slug} = short kebab-case outcome name (e.g., extrude, pipe-sweep)

Template

# Recipe {N} — {Outcome Name}

**What:** One-sentence description of what this recipe produces.

**Zone Map:** `[params] → [processing] → [output]` *(brief layout hint)*

## Components

| Step | Component | Config | Notes |
|------|-----------|--------|-------|
| ... | **ComponentType** | default values / ranges | gotchas or alternatives |

## Wiring

ASCII diagram showing left-to-right data flow with port labels.


## Output
What comes out and its data shape (single? list? tree?).

## Typical Next Steps
- Link to other recipes by number where this output naturally feeds.
- Mention common composition patterns.

Rules

Name it for the outcome, not the tool. (“Subdivide Surface” not “Divide Domain² Recipe”)
Zone Map required — one-line ASCII at top showing params → processing → output placement.
Component table — what’s needed, what config, notes column for gotchas.
ASCII wiring diagram — left-to-right flow, clear port labels.
Output — what comes out and what data shape it has (list? tree? single?).
Typical next steps — where this output usually feeds (link to other recipes by number).
Keep it under 60 lines per file. If longer, split into sub-sections (like 5a/5b).
Add benchmark prompts in docs/gh-cookbook-benchmarks.md when a combination is used for QA.
Register it in the Recipes table in SKILL.md so it’s discoverable (under the right category).

mds/skills/gh-cookbook/reference/GUIDELINES.md / View source on GitHub ↗