Our review
Defines a standardized format for creating reusable AI agent skills, including metadata, instructions, and associated resources.
Strengths
- Modular structure facilitating reuse and sharing
- Progressive disclosure to save context
- Includes scripts, templates, and references alongside instructions
Limitations
- Requires initial setup for each skill
- Context overhead can be significant if many skills are loaded
- Relies on agent system for correct interpretation
Use this format to package repetitive or complex tasks that the agent should execute reliably.
Avoid for one-off or very simple tasks where a direct instruction is sufficient.
Security analysis
SafeThe file is purely documentation describing the SKILL format and does not instruct any tool usage or execution of commands.
No concerns found
Examples
Create a new skill for code review. Include metadata, instructions for reviewing code, and a checklist template in the assets folder.Activate the web-research skill to find the latest pricing information on AWS EC2 instances.English | 한국어
SKILL
A skill is essentially a folder containing a SKILL.md file. This file contains metadata (at minimum, a name and description) and instructions that tell an agent how to perform a specific task. Skills may also include scripts, templates, and reference materials.
my-skill/
├── SKILL.md # Required: instructions + metadata
├── scripts/ # Optional: executable code
├── references/ # Optional: documentation
└── assets/ # Optional: templates, resources
How SKILL Works
Skills use Progressive Disclosure to efficiently manage context.
- Discovery: The agent loads only the name and description of each available skill at startup. This is the minimum information needed to determine when a skill might be relevant.
- Activation: When a task matches a skill's description, the agent reads the full instructions from the SKILL.md file into context.
- Execution: The agent follows the instructions, loading referenced files or executing bundled code as needed.
SKILL.md Format
All skills start with a SKILL.md file containing YAML frontmatter and Markdown instructions.
---
name: web-research
description: Perform comprehensive research through web search and analysis
allowed-tools: WebFetch, Grep
license: MIT
---
# instructions
When using this Skill...
## Step 1: Search
...
Required Fields
name: kebab-case format (e.g.,web-research)description: What the Skill does and when to use it
Optional Fields
license: Skill licensecompatibility: Compatibility informationallowed-tools: Tool patterns the Skill can usemetadata: Custom key-value pairs
Next.js App Router Expert
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README Generator
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Creates professional and comprehensive README.md files for your projects.
API Documentation Writer
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Generates comprehensive API documentation in OpenAPI/Swagger format.