Lessons from Building My First Claude Skill - a code tutorial generator

A developer shares lessons from building a Claude Code skill (SKILLS.md) that generates code tutorials from a codebase. The project evolved from a standalone Java CLI tool called Waver (using LangChain4J and a custom task pipeline library JGraphlet) into an NPM-distributable Claude skill. The skill supports two modes: Analyze (3-stage pipeline generating Mermaid architecture diagrams in 2-5 minutes) and Build (6-stage pipeline creating multi-chapter Markdown tutorials in 10-30 minutes). Commands include /tutorial analyze, /tutorial build, /tutorial preview, and /tutorial doctor. The post compares the skill approach (seamless Claude Code integration, no setup) vs. the original Waver CLI (model control, parallel execution, CI/CD integration), suggesting both have complementary strengths.