Agent Skills
Agent Skills are folders of instructions, scripts, and resources that agents can discover and use to do things more accurately and efficiently. An open standard for packaging agent capabilities.
Quick Start
A skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file:
my-skill/ ├── SKILL.md # Required: instructions + metadata ├── scripts/ # Optional: executable code ├── references/ # Optional: documentation └── assets/ # Optional: templates, resources
Minimal SKILL.md :
name: my-skill description: Does X when user needs Y.
My Skill
When to use
Use when the user needs to...
Instructions
- First step...
- Second step...
Documentation
Full documentation in docs/ . See docs/000-index.md for navigation.
By Topic
Topic Files Description
Overview 001 What Agent Skills are and their purpose
Concepts 002 Skill structure and functionality
Integration 003 How to add skills support to agents
Specification 004 Complete technical format reference
By Keyword
Keyword File
agent-skills docs/001-home.md
skill-structure docs/002-what-are-skills.md
progressive-disclosure docs/002-what-are-skills.md
skills-integration docs/003-integrate-skills.md
ai-agents docs/003-integrate-skills.md
skill-format docs/004-specification.md
directory-structure docs/004-specification.md
yaml-frontmatter docs/004-specification.md
validation docs/004-specification.md
Learning Path
-
Foundation: Read docs/001-home.md for overview
-
Concepts: Read docs/002-what-are-skills.md for structure
-
Integration: Read docs/003-integrate-skills.md for implementation
-
Reference: Consult docs/004-specification.md for technical details
Common Tasks
Create a new skill
→ docs/002-what-are-skills.md (structure and SKILL.md format) → docs/004-specification.md (frontmatter fields, naming rules)
Integrate skills into an agent
→ docs/003-integrate-skills.md (discovery, metadata, activation)
Validate skill format
→ docs/004-specification.md (validation rules, skills-ref tool)
Understand progressive disclosure
→ docs/002-what-are-skills.md (how skills manage context efficiently)