api-hardening

Skills are modular instruction sets that extend Claude's capabilities for specialized tasks. Each skill contains domain-specific knowledge, workflows, templates, and best practices that Claude loads automatically when relevant to your work.

For Claude Code users

```bash

# Clone to your Claude skills directory

git clone https://github.com/jamditis/claude-skills-journalism.git ~/.claude/skills/journalism-skills

# Or install individual skills

cp -r source-verification ~/.claude/skills/

```

For Claude.ai users

Skills can be added via the Claude.ai interface under Settings > Skills.

Journalism and media

| Skill | Description |

|-------|-------------|

| [source-verification](./source-verification/) | SIFT method, digital verification, reverse image search, social media account analysis, building verification trails |

| [foia-requests](./foia-requests/) | Public records request drafting, tracking systems, appeals process, state-specific guidance |

| [data-journalism](./data-journalism/) | Data acquisition, cleaning, analysis, visualization, and storytelling for newsrooms |

Academic and research

| Skill | Description |

|-------|-------------|

| [academic-writing](./academic-writing/) | Research design, literature reviews, IMRaD structure, peer review responses, grant proposals |

| [digital-archive](./digital-archive/) | Building archives with AI enrichment, entity extraction, knowledge graphs |

Development (for building tools)

| Skill | Description |

|-------|-------------|

| [vibe-coding](./vibe-coding/) | AI-assisted software development methodology based on YC best practices |

| [electron-dev](./electron-dev/) | Electron + React desktop application development patterns |

| [python-pipeline](./python-pipeline/) | Data processing pipelines with modular architecture |

| [web-scraping](./web-scraping/) | Content extraction with anti-bot handling and poison pill detection |

| [zero-build-frontend](./zero-build-frontend/) | Static web apps without build tools, CDN-loaded frameworks |

Security (ship without getting sued)

| Skill | Description |

|-------|-------------|

| [security-checklist](./security-checklist/) | Pre-deployment security audit covering auth, input validation, secrets, and compliance |

| [secure-auth](./secure-auth/) | Production-ready authentication patterns (sessions, JWTs, OAuth, MFA) |

| [api-hardening](./api-hardening/) | Rate limiting, input validation, CORS, API key management |

Each skill follows the Claude Agent Skills standard:

```

skill-name/

├── SKILL.md # Main instructions (required)

├── examples/ # Example inputs/outputs (optional)

├── templates/ # Reusable templates (optional)

└── scripts/ # Helper scripts (optional)

```

SKILL.md format

```yaml

---

name: skill-name

description: When to use this skill and what it does

---

# Skill title

Instructions and knowledge for Claude to use.

```

Source verification

When you ask Claude to verify a claim or check a source:

```

"Can you help me verify this viral tweet claiming [X]?"

"What steps should I take to verify this document?"

"Help me check if this image is authentic"

```

FOIA requests

When working with public records:

```

"Draft a FOIA request for EPA records about [topic]"

"How do I appeal this FOIA denial?"

"Track my pending public records requests"

```

Data journalism

When analyzing data for stories:

```

"Help me clean this messy CSV of campaign finance data"

"What's the right chart type for showing change over time?"

"Write a methodology box for my data story"

```

Academic writing

When working on research:

```

"Help me structure my literature review"

"D