Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Sprint Retrospective Facilitator agent skill (retro)
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The retro skill is a set of instructions that teaches an AI agent to facilitate a sprint retrospective: the meeting where a team reviews what went well, what did not, and what to change next. It is built for Scrum teams, agile groups, team leads and agile coaches, and for anyone learning how to run a retro. After this guide you will know how to install the skill, ask for it in plain language, and get back a structured retro summary with a short list of owned action items.
Sprint Retrospective Facilitatorphuryn/pm-skills · MIT Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download the ZIP. Get the retro skill ZIP from this page.
- 2Unzip into a skills folder. Place the folder in ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use, or in a project's .claude/skills/ folder.
- 3Or upload in the Claude apps. Go to Settings → Capabilities → Skills and upload the ZIP.
- 4Gather sprint inputs. Collect the sprint goal, committed and completed points, raw feedback and last retro's actions.
- 5Ask in plain language. Request a retro facilitation, for example asking to group feedback into themes or run a Start/Stop/Continue retro.
- 6Choose a format. Pick Start/Stop/Continue, 4Ls or Sailboat, or let the agent choose based on context.
- 7Review and adopt the action items. Check the 2-3 proposed actions, confirm owners and deadlines, and carry them into the next sprint.
What the retro skill makes the agent do
Agent skills are folders of instructions that an AI agent loads when a task matches the skill's description. The retro skill is described as facilitating a structured sprint retrospective: what went well, what didn't, and prioritized action items with owners and deadlines.
Once installed, the agent can guide a team through one of three formats: Start/Stop/Continue, 4Ls (Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed For), or Sailboat (Wind, Anchor, Rocks, Island). It can group raw feedback such as sticky notes or survey answers into themes, review sprint performance against the goal and commitment, and propose a short list of action items. It then writes a markdown summary, including carry-over from the previous retro.
- Picks a retro format based on context, or lets you choose one
- Groups similar feedback into themes and notes sentiment patterns
- Reviews whether the sprint goal was met and how committed points compare with completed points
- Proposes 2-3 action items, each with an owner, deadline and success metric
- Checks whether actions from the previous retro were completed
How do you install the retro skill?
The skill ships as a single file, SKILL.md, inside the pm-skills repository at pm-execution/skills/retro. Download the ZIP from the skill's page on this site and unzip it. You can then install it in one of two ways.
Option 1 is a personal install for Claude Code: unzip the folder into ~/.claude/skills/ so the skill is available across your projects. Option 2 is a project install: unzip it into the .claude/skills/ folder of a specific project, so it applies only there.
Option 3 is for the Claude apps: upload the ZIP under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
- Personal (Claude Code): ~/.claude/skills/
- Project only: .claude/skills/ inside your project folder
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload the ZIP
How do you trigger the retro skill with a natural request?
You do not need a special command. The skill's description tells the agent when to use it, so ask in plain language about running a retrospective, reflecting on a sprint, turning team feedback into action items, or learning how to run a retro. The description names these situations: running a retrospective, reflecting on a sprint, creating action items from team feedback, or learning how to run effective retros.
The more context you give, the better the output. The skill reads any files you provide, such as sprint data, velocity charts, team feedback or previous retro notes, before it starts.
- "Facilitate a retro for Sprint 14 using Start/Stop/Continue."
- "Here are the sticky-note comments from our retro. Group them into themes."
- "Help me run a retro for our team and turn it into action items with owners."
- "Summarize this sprint's retro notes and check what we did from last time."
What should you give the agent before the retro?
The skill works best when it has the sprint's facts in front of it. The source workflow asks about the sprint goal, velocity against commitment, blockers and collaboration patterns. Provide what you have: the sprint goal, committed and completed points, raw feedback, and the previous retro's action items.
If you lack some data, say so. The workflow is built around sprint goals and velocity, so if your team does not track these, the output will be less relevant.
- Sprint goal and whether it was achieved
- Committed and completed points, if you track them
- Raw feedback: sticky notes, survey answers or chat messages
- Notes from the previous retro, including its action items
What does the output look like?
The skill saves its result as markdown. The summary follows a fixed layout with sections for sprint performance, key themes, action items, and carry-over from the last retro. Action items appear in a table with priority, action, owner, deadline and success metric, and the skill limits them to 2-3 so the list stays achievable.
The skill is instructed to keep the tone constructive, with the goal being improvement rather than blame.
- Sprint Performance: goal status and committed vs completed points
- Key Themes: numbered themes with short summaries
- Action Items: 2-3 specific, assignable, measurable items
- Carry-over from Last Retro: each previous action marked Done, In Progress or Not Started
## Sprint [X] Retrospective — [Date]
### Sprint Performance
- Goal: [Achieved / Partially / Missed]
- Committed: [X pts] | Completed: [Y pts]
### Key Themes
1. [Theme] — [summary]
### Action Items
1. [Action] — [Owner] — [By date]
### Carry-over from Last Retro
- [Previous action] — [Status: Done / In Progress / Not Started]What safety and privacy points should you know?
The skill requires nothing beyond the agent itself. It does not run scripts and does not use the network, according to its listing. Its only file is SKILL.md.
Do not use it for anonymous or sensitive HR feedback. The skill sends team comments through the AI model, and it does not address confidentiality. Remove names or sensitive details from notes before you paste them in if the feedback is private.
- Runs scripts: no
- Uses network: no
- Files included: SKILL.md only
- Not suitable for anonymous or sensitive HR feedback
What people use it for
- Facilitating a sprint retro for a Scrum team using Start/Stop/Continue
- Grouping sticky-note or survey feedback into themes before a meeting
- Checking whether last retro's action items were completed
- Writing a markdown retro summary to share with the team after the meeting
- Learning how the 4Ls or Sailboat formats work before running your first retro
Frequently asked questions
How do I install the retro agent skill?
Download the ZIP from this page and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use, or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder. In the Claude apps, you can instead upload the ZIP under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Does the retro skill require anything else to run?
The listing says it requires nothing beyond the agent itself. It does not run scripts and does not use the network, and it consists of a single SKILL.md file.
Is the retro skill free to use?
The skill is published under the MIT licence in the phuryn/pm-skills repository. This page does not list pricing, so check the licence and any fees for the AI tool you run it with.
Can I use the retro skill for a team that does not work in sprints?
It is not recommended. The workflow assumes sprint goals and velocity data, so teams not working in sprints or iterations will get less relevant output.
Can I use it for anonymous or sensitive HR feedback?
No. The skill sends team comments through the AI model and does not address confidentiality, so it is not suitable for anonymous or sensitive HR feedback.
What retro formats does the skill support?
It supports Start/Stop/Continue, 4Ls (Liked, Learned, Lacked, Longed For) and Sailboat (Wind, Anchor, Rocks, Island). The agent can choose one based on context or let you pick.
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Our verdict
The retro skill suits Scrum teams, agile groups, team leads and coaches who want a consistent retro structure and a clean summary with owned action items. It is a poor fit for teams that do not work in sprints, or for anonymous or sensitive HR feedback, where you should use a process designed for confidentiality.
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