What is an Agent Skill? ðŸ§
A skill is a structured set of instructions that gives AI agents specialized knowledge and capabilities for specific tasks. Think of skills as teaching your agent new abilities that it can use whenever relevant.
An Open Standard
Agent Skills is an open specification released by Anthropic in December 2025. The same skill file works across multiple AI platforms including Claude, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, and VS Code. See all supported platforms.
How Skills Work
Agent Skills are markdown documents (SKILL.md files) that contain detailed instructions, examples, and guidelines for AI agents to follow. When you add a skill to your platform (like Claude Projects, Copilot instructions, or Codex skills directory), it becomes part of the agent's context and influences how it responds to related requests.
Key Concept
Skills don't give agents new tools or API access. Instead, they provide structured knowledge and best practices that help the agent produce better, more consistent results for specific use cases.
What's Inside a Skill?
A typical SKILL.md file contains:
- Purpose - What the skill helps the agent do
- When to Use - Triggers that activate the skill
- Instructions - Step-by-step guidance for the agent
- Examples - Sample inputs and outputs
- Best Practices - Tips for optimal results
- Edge Cases - How to handle unusual situations
Benefits of Using Skills
Consistency
Get predictable, repeatable results for common tasks without re-explaining requirements each time.
Portability
Write once, use everywhere. The same skill works across Claude, Codex, Copilot, and other platforms.
Expertise
Leverage domain expertise encoded by others who've refined their prompts over time.
Efficiency
Skip the trial-and-error of prompt engineering and get great results immediately.
Shareability
Share your optimized workflows with teammates or the community.
Official vs Community Skills
Official Skills are created and maintained by platform providers like Anthropic, OpenAI, and GitHub. They're thoroughly tested and represent best practices for common use cases like document creation, code generation, and more.
Community Skills are created by developers and power users who've found effective ways to use AI agents for specific tasks. These may be more specialized or experimental. (Want to understand the difference between skills and agents?)
Finding Skills
Browse our directory to find both official and community skills for your projects. All skills follow the same open standard format, so you can use them with any compatible platform.