Agent skills
Packaged, versioned expertise an agent loads on demand — a playbook containing process, standards and examples for one class of task. Skills make competence reusable and reviewable instead of trapped in prompts.
Expertise that lives in a file, not a prompt
A skill packages the process, standards and worked examples for one class of task into something you can read, diff, version and share. The alternative is expertise smeared across a system prompt that nobody dares edit — which is how organisations end up with one enormous prompt that everybody fears and no one understands.
Loaded on demand, not always resident
The point of packaging competence is that it can stay out of the context window until it is relevant. An agent scans short summaries, recognises that a task matches, and loads the full playbook only then. This is what allows one agent to be credibly good at many things without carrying all of them at once.
What belongs in one
The procedure, the standard the output is held to, the traps that cost someone a day, and examples of good and bad. What does not belong is anything that changes per run — that is input, not skill. A good test: if the file would be useful to a new human colleague, it is a skill; if it only makes sense for one ticket, it is not.
In AGNT
AGNT skills are files you can diff, share and install from the marketplace; agents activate them when the task matches.
Agent skills — common questions
How is a skill different from a system prompt?
The system prompt defines who the agent is and always applies. A skill is task-specific expertise loaded only when the work calls for it, which keeps the standing context small.
Can skills be shared between agents or teams?
Yes — that is much of the point. AGNT skills are files, installable from the marketplace and reviewable in version control like any other artefact.
Do skills work with any model?
They are plain text instructions, so they are portable across providers. Stronger models follow long procedures more faithfully, but nothing about a skill is vendor-specific.