Skills Overview | Bootspring Docs

Bootspring provides 7 skill patterns - reusable templates and best practices for common development tasks.

What Are Skills?#

Skills are pre-built patterns that encode best practices for specific development tasks. When you apply a skill, you get production-ready code that follows established conventions.

How to Use Skills#

Via Natural Language#

Use the api-endpoint skill to create a POST /api/users endpoint.

Via MCP Tool#

Use the bootspring_skill tool with:
- skill: "api-endpoint"
- context: { method: "POST", path: "/api/users" }

Available Skills#

Skill	Description	Output
api-endpoint	RESTful API endpoint patterns	Route handlers, validation, responses
react-component	React component templates	Accessible, typed components
prisma-crud	Database CRUD operations	Prisma queries, transactions
auth-flow	Authentication patterns	JWT, OAuth, session management
test-suite	Testing patterns	Unit, integration, E2E tests
error-handling	Error management	Error classes, handlers, logging
validation	Input validation	Zod schemas, sanitization

Skill Anatomy#

Each skill includes:

1. Template Code#

Production-ready code that you can use immediately.

2. Configuration Options#

Customize the output for your needs.

3. Best Practices#

Encoded knowledge from experts.

4. Examples#

Real-world usage examples.

Using Skills Effectively#

Skill Selection#

Choose based on your task:

Task	Skill
Create API endpoint	api-endpoint
Build UI component	react-component
Add database operations	prisma-crud
Implement login/signup	auth-flow
Write tests	test-suite
Handle errors	error-handling
Validate input	validation

Customization#

Skills accept options to customize output:

Use the react-component skill with:
- name: "UserProfile"
- props: ["user", "onEdit"]
- includeTests: true
- styling: "tailwind"

Chaining Skills#

Combine skills for complete features:

1. api-endpoint → Create the API route
2. validation → Add input validation
3. prisma-crud → Add database operations
4. error-handling → Handle edge cases
5. test-suite → Write tests

Skill Configuration#

Configure skill preferences in your config:

// bootspring.config.js
module.exports = {
  skills: {
    preferred: {
      // Component preferences
      components: 'functional',
      styling: 'tailwind',

      // API preferences
      api: 'rest',
      validation: 'zod',

      // Database preferences
      orm: 'prisma',

      // Testing preferences
      testing: 'vitest',
    },

    // Custom templates
    templates: {
      'api-endpoint': './templates/api-endpoint.ts',
      'react-component': './templates/component.tsx',
    },
  },
};

Creating Custom Skills#

You can create custom skills for your team:

// templates/api-endpoint.ts
export const template = `
import { NextResponse } from 'next/server';
import { z } from 'zod';
import { prisma } from '@/lib/prisma';

const {{name}}Schema = z.object({
  {{#each fields}}
  {{name}}: z.{{type}}(),
  {{/each}}
});

export async function {{method}}(request: Request) {
  try {
    const body = await request.json();
    const validated = {{name}}Schema.parse(body);

    // TODO: Implement logic

    return NextResponse.json({ data: result });
  } catch (error) {
    if (error instanceof z.ZodError) {
      return NextResponse.json(
        { error: 'Validation failed', details: error.errors },
        { status: 400 }
      );
    }
    throw error;
  }
}
`;

Best Practices#

When to Use Skills#

Starting new features
Applying consistent patterns
Onboarding team members
Enforcing standards

When to Customize#

Team-specific conventions
Project-specific requirements
Technology preferences

Keeping Skills Updated#

Review skills regularly
Update for new best practices
Share improvements with team

Next Steps#

api-endpoint - Most commonly used skill
react-component - UI component patterns
test-suite - Testing patterns