diff --git a/skills/build.gradle.kts b/skills/build.gradle.kts
index 234f2e0d5c..0d49fe6c00 100644
--- a/skills/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/skills/build.gradle.kts
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ kotlin {
         jvmTest {
             dependencies {
                 implementation(kotlin("test-junit5"))
+                implementation("org.snakeyaml:snakeyaml-engine:3.0.1")
                 implementation(libs.junit.jupiter.params)
                 implementation(libs.kotlinx.coroutines.test)
                 runtimeOnly(libs.logback.classic)
diff --git a/skills/src/commonMain/kotlin/ai/koog/skills/prompt/SkillsPrompt.kt b/skills/src/commonMain/kotlin/ai/koog/skills/prompt/SkillsPrompt.kt
index 16d67c70d9..540366da36 100644
--- a/skills/src/commonMain/kotlin/ai/koog/skills/prompt/SkillsPrompt.kt
+++ b/skills/src/commonMain/kotlin/ai/koog/skills/prompt/SkillsPrompt.kt
@@ -230,9 +230,30 @@ private fun escapeJson(value: String): String = buildString {
     }
 }
 
-private fun escapeYml(value: String): String = "\"${value.replace("\\", "\\\\").replace("\"", "\\\"")}\""
+private fun escapeYml(value: String): String = buildString {
+    append('"')
+    value.forEach { character ->
+        when (character) {
+            '\\' -> append("\\\\")
+            '"' -> append("\\\"")
+            '\n' -> append("\\n")
+            '\r' -> append("\\r")
+            '\t' -> append("\\t")
+            in '\u0000'..'\u001f', in '\u007f'..'\u009f', '\u2028', '\u2029' -> {
+                append("\\u")
+                append(character.code.toString(16).padStart(4, '0'))
+            }
+            else -> append(character)
+        }
+    }
+    append('"')
+}
 
 private fun escapeYmlKey(value: String): String =
-    value
-        .replace("\\", "\\\\")
-        .replace(":", "\\:")
+    if (value.matches(Regex("[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z0-9_-]*")) &&
+        value.lowercase() !in setOf("true", "false", "null", "yes", "no", "on", "off", "y", "n")
+    ) {
+        value
+    } else {
+        escapeYml(value)
+    }
diff --git a/skills/src/jvmTest/kotlin/prompt/SkillsPromptYamlTest.kt b/skills/src/jvmTest/kotlin/prompt/SkillsPromptYamlTest.kt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..84d6ca1b23
--- /dev/null
+++ b/skills/src/jvmTest/kotlin/prompt/SkillsPromptYamlTest.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+package prompt
+
+import ai.koog.skills.model.Skill
+import ai.koog.skills.prompt.SkillsPromptFormat
+import ai.koog.skills.prompt.generateSkillsPrompt
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.ParameterizedTest
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.MethodSource
+import org.snakeyaml.engine.v2.api.Load
+import org.snakeyaml.engine.v2.api.LoadSettings
+import org.snakeyaml.engine.v2.schema.CoreSchema
+import kotlin.test.assertEquals
+
+class SkillsPromptYamlTest {
+    @ParameterizedTest
+    @MethodSource("strings")
+    fun testAllFieldsRoundTrip(value: String) {
+        val skill = Skill(value, value, value, value, value, mapOf("author" to value), value)
+        val yaml = generateSkillsPrompt(listOf(skill), SkillsPromptFormat.YML, true, true, true, true, true)
+        assertEquals(
+            mapOf(
+                "name" to value,
+                "description" to value,
+                "location" to value,
+                "license" to value,
+                "compatibility" to value,
+                "metadata" to mapOf("author" to value),
+                "allowed-tools" to value,
+            ),
+            parseSkill(yaml),
+        )
+    }
+
+    @ParameterizedTest
+    @MethodSource("strings")
+    fun testMetadataKeyRoundTrip(key: String) {
+        val skill = Skill("example", "Example", "SKILL.md", metadata = mapOf(key to "value"))
+        val yaml = generateSkillsPrompt(listOf(skill), SkillsPromptFormat.YML, includeMetadata = true)
+        assertEquals(mapOf(key to "value"), parseSkill(yaml)["metadata"])
+    }
+
+    private fun parseSkill(yaml: String): Map<*, *> {
+        val document = Load(LoadSettings.builder().setSchema(CoreSchema()).build()).loadFromString(yaml) as Map<*, *>
+        return (document["available_skills"] as List<*>).single() as Map<*, *>
+    }
+
+    companion object {
+        @JvmStatic
+        fun strings(): List<String> = listOf(
+            "author", "version", "", "true", "True", "TRUE", "false", "False", "FALSE",
+            "null", "Null", "NULL", "~", "yes", "no", "on", "off", "y", "n",
+            "123", "01", "1.5", ".inf", ".NaN", "a: b", "a:b", "#comment", "[a]", "{a}",
+            "*alias", "&anchor", "? key", "- item", " leading", "trailing ", "a\\b", "a\"b",
+            "first\nsecond", "first\rsecond", "first\r\nsecond", "\n", "\t", "\u0000", "\u0001", "\u001f",
+            "\u007f", "\u0085", "\u009f", "\u2028", "\u2029", "café 日本語 🐨",
+        )
+    }
+}