Skill

Artifact tools published

Also known as: Agent Skill, Capability Module, Reusable Capability

Definition

A packaged, reusable capability that can be loaded into an AI agent or coding assistant to provide specialized knowledge, workflows, or tool access for a specific domain or task. Skills encapsulate prompts, tool configurations, and behavioral instructions that extend an agent's capabilities without modifying its core implementation.

What this is NOT

  • Not the same as a plugin (plugins add tools; skills add knowledge and workflows)
  • Not a prompt template (skills include context, not just text patterns)
  • Not hardcoded behavior (skills are loadable and swappable)
  • Not the same as fine-tuning (skills work at runtime, not training time)

Alternative Interpretations

Different communities use this term differently:

claude-code

A markdown file containing specialized instructions, tool configurations, and workflows that can be invoked via slash commands to handle specific task types (e.g., /playwright for browser automation).

Sources: Claude Code documentation, OpenCode skill system

ai-agents-general

A modular capability that can be composed with other skills to create agents with specific competencies, similar to plugins but focused on behavioral patterns rather than tool access.

Sources: Various agent framework documentation

Examples

  • A Playwright skill that provides browser automation patterns and tool configurations
  • A database migration skill with SQL patterns and safety checks
  • A code review skill with style guidelines and review checklists
  • An n8n skill with workflow patterns and node configuration guidance

Counterexamples

Things that might seem like Skill but are not:

  • A tool definition (tools are atomic; skills compose multiple capabilities)
  • A system prompt (skills are modular and loadable; system prompts are static)
  • A fine-tuned model (skills work at inference time, not training time)

Relations

  • overlapsWith plugin (Both extend agent capabilities, but skills focus on knowledge/workflow while plugins focus on tool access)
  • requires context-file (Skills are often defined in context files like markdown)
  • usedBy agent (Agents load skills to gain specialized capabilities)

See Also

Implementations

Tools and frameworks that implement this concept: