What is Agent Skills?
Agent Skills — An open specification for portable AI tool capabilities that work across 40+ AI coding assistants.
What are Agent Skills?
Agent Skills is an open specification that defines how AI coding tools discover and execute reusable capabilities. A skill is a set of instructions — typically a Markdown file with optional shell scripts — that any compatible AI tool can find in a project's .agents/skills/ directory and execute.
How do Agent Skills differ from MCP servers?
Skills and MCP servers are complementary:
| | Agent Skills | MCP Servers |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Markdown + shell scripts | Running process/service |
| Discovery | File-based (.agents/skills/) | Config-based (JSON) |
| Best for | Multi-step workflows, prompts | Real-time tool access (DB, API) |
| Execution | AI reads instructions and follows them | AI calls tools via protocol |
Which AI tools support Agent Skills?
Agent Skills work with Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, GitHub Copilot, and 40+ other tools that implement the specification. Skills are defined as plain files in a project directory, so any tool that reads project files can discover them.
How does Agent Shelf use Agent Skills?
Agent Shelf provides a publish skill that lets users publish agents directly from their coding environment. The skill detects agent files in a project, converts them to the Agent Shelf format, authenticates via GitHub, and publishes — all without leaving the editor.