Skip to content

How to Use Agent Skills

Agent Skills provide modular, domain-specific knowledge and workflows that agents can invoke on-demand. This feature is inspired by Anthropic's Claude Code skills.

Prerequisites

  1. Environment: Skills are only supported in shell_local environment mode
  2. Context Manager: Must use env context manager for skill prompts to be injected
  3. openskills CLI: Install the openskills CLI tool: 
    npm i -g openskills

Quick Start

1. Create a Skill

Skills are stored in .agent/skills/<skill-name>/ directory. Each skill needs a SKILL.md file with YAML frontmatter:

.agent/skills/
└── my-skill/
    ├── SKILL.md           # Main skill file (required)
    └── references/        # Optional reference files
        └── guide.md

SKILL.md structure:

---
name: my-skill
description: A brief description of what this skill does and when to use it.
---

# My Skill Guide

Detailed instructions for the agent to follow when this skill is invoked.

## When to Use

- Use this skill when...
- This skill helps with...

## Instructions

1. Step one...
2. Step two...

## Reference Files

For more details, see [guide.md](./references/guide.md).

2. Configure the Agent

Create an agent config file (e.g., configs/agents/my_agent.yaml):

# @package _global_
defaults:
  - /tools/bash@toolkits.BashTool
  - _self_

agent:
  name: MyAgent
  instructions: You are a helpful assistant.

env:
  name: shell_local  # Required for skills

context_manager:
  name: env  # Required for skill prompts to be injected

enabled_skills:
  - my-skill
  - another-skill

3. Run the Agent

python scripts/cli_chat.py --config my_agent

How Skills Work

When an agent with enabled_skills starts:

  1. Skill Deployment: Skill folders are copied from .agent/skills/ to the workspace .agent/skills/ directory
  2. Prompt Injection: A skills system prompt is added to the agent's context listing available skills
  3. On-demand Reading: The agent can read skill content using openskills read <skill-name>

The agent sees a prompt like:

<!-- SKILLS_SYSTEM:START -->
<usage>
When users ask you to perform tasks, check if any of the available skills below
can help complete the task more effectively.

How to use skills:
- Invoke: read skill with bash command "openskills read <skill-name>"
- The skill content will load with detailed instructions
</usage>

<available_skills>
<skill>
<name>my-skill</name>
<description>A brief description of what this skill does.</description>
</skill>
</available_skills>
<!-- SKILLS_SYSTEM:END -->

References