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A free class for experienced FileMaker Developers, from your first Skill to a Skill library you publish. Ten lessons, then an open book quiz with a certificate at 80%.
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02: FileMaker Reference Skills and Workflow Skills
The Latin root of 'reference' is referre : to carry back. A Reference Skill carries the facts back to the Agent. A Workflow Skill carries the work forward.
Lesson 01 gave you one Skill with one rule. This one shows you the two jobs a Skill can do, and why the best Skills do only one of them.
In this post:
What a FileMaker Reference Skill Holds
A Reference Skill is what the Agent knows: technical knowledge, code methodologies and design patterns. Function formats, Script Steps, error codes, the version a feature arrived in. Facts, checked against a source.
My claris-filemaker-pro Skill is the one I lean on most. Ask it about GetPersistentData and it answers from its own catalog before it reaches for anything else:
Format: GetPersistentData ( name ; instanceID )
Introduced in: FileMaker 26.0
Then the gotchas that matter: no match returns '?', not empty, and writing to the store needs Full Access. That's the detail that used to need a trip to the Claris Help Centre.
What a FileMaker Workflow Skill Does
A Workflow Skill is how the Agent works: the task workflow, confirming the process with you, and calling other Skills. The steps, the questions and the checks.
My practice for a Workflow Skill is five habits:
A checklist of requirements.
Questions, with options.
Sub-agents and other Skills to call.
Reporting back on which references it used.
Building on what it learnt at the end of each session.
Example: I asked Claude to install FileMaker Server in Docker. I didn't name a Skill. My cadenceux-fms-docker-setup Skill fired, ran its pre-flight checks, then asked where the installer package was, with options to choose from. It walked the installer's settings in order and asked again before it set up a trusted local certificate. It also taught me caution: on the first run the drive filled up, and when I asked the Agent to check, it deleted the whole install instead of just the installer.
That last part is why a Workflow Skill asks before it acts.
Why Keep Reference and Workflow Skills Apart
They change at different speeds, so they version at different speeds. A reference changes when Claris ships a release. A workflow changes every time a session teaches you a better order of steps.
Every FileMaker Developer already knows this pattern. We build focused utility scripts, not mega-scripts that try to do everything. A Skill that mixes the catalog and the process is the mega-script. It's harder to maintain, and it loads more context than the prompt in front of it needs.
There's no one single 'right' way to split them. Start with the question: is this a fact, or a step?
Make Your FileMaker Skill Ask First
A Workflow Skill doesn't have to decide everything for you. It can ask.
Example: My fmp-dev-design-patterns Skill holds my script boilerplate, including the two opening steps, Allow User Abort [ Off ] and Set Error Capture [ On ]. Those two can be controversial, some say even political. So the Skill offers a choice: always add them, ask me each time, or something else.
Exercise: Open the Skill you built in lesson one and add one question it must ask before it applies your rule. For a script-naming Skill, it could ask whether the script is an entry point or a sub-script. Bump its version, remove the old copy under Customize, then Skills, and upload the new one.
A sketch of the section you'd add to SKILL.md:
## Before naming a script
1. Ask: "Entry point or sub-script?" Offer: entry point, sub-script, not sure.
2. Apply Domain: Action.
3. Report the name, and the rule it followed.
Three Ways to Call a FileMaker Skill
Just ask. Use the key phrases in its description and the Skill loads itself. "What does JSONRaw return?" is enough for a FileMaker reference.
Type a slash, then its name. / and the Skill's name, then your request, gets its direct attention. Naming it in plain words works too.
The plus button. In a chat, the plus button below the prompt opens a Skills submenu. Pick the Skill from there.
In the Code tab, Skills arrive as plugins instead, covered later in this series.
Like a small child or a pet, using its name gets its attention. Most of the time, just asking is enough.
Skill Types Vocabulary
Reference Skill. A Skill that holds what the Agent knows: functions, Script Steps, error codes, versions.
Workflow Skill. A Skill that holds how the Agent works: the steps, the questions and the checks.
Key phrase. A word or phrase in a Skill's description that loads it when you use it in a prompt.
Skill call. Loading a Skill on purpose, by its name, a slash or the plus button.
Takeaway
Referre. A Reference Skill carries the facts back, a Workflow Skill carries the work forward, and keeping them apart keeps both easy to update. Give your workflow the habit of asking first.
Next, how a Skill gets better after version one. Continue with my next post, Improve a FileMaker Skill From Real Sessions.
More to come . . .
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