Skills: extending what agents can do
What a skill is in AgentHere, the SKILL.md format, and how skills differ from the system prompt.
A skill is a Markdown playbook that's attached to an agent and teaches it a specific task. Skills are the main way to extend capabilities beyond the base system prompt.
Skill vs. system prompt
The system prompt sets the agent's general role. Skills are modular "abilities" you can turn on and off. Think of an agent as an employee: the prompt is their job title, skills are the procedures they've learned.
| System prompt | Skill | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Role and tone | A specific task |
| Count | One per agent | Several |
| Source | You write it | Yours or from the marketplace |
| Managed in | The configurator | Toggled individually |
The SKILL.md format
A skill is a SKILL.md file with YAML frontmatter and a playbook body:
---
name: meeting-summary
description: Turns meetings into structured notes
---
# Meeting notes
1. Collect the key decisions and commitments.
2. Call out owners and deadlines.
3. Return a table: item · owner · due date.The name must match ^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9\-]*[a-z0-9]$ — lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens. The
body is the step-by-step playbook the agent follows.
Resources and variables
A skill can include extra files (resources) and environment variables:
- Resources — reference docs, templates, knowledge bases (e.g. a product table for a meal-planning skill).
- Variables — secrets and settings (e.g. API keys) filled in at install time.
Two levels of skills
- Agent skills — added to a specific agent and edited right there.
- Marketplace skills — published separately, installable into any agent, with versions, ratings, and comments.
Installing ready skills is in Installing and using skills. Writing your own is in Creating and publishing a skill.