Instruction files (Tips Tip #1, Tip #2, Tip #5) tell the AI how to behave in general. But what about specific tasks you do repeatedly — deploying, writing release notes, running a particular code review checklist?
That’s what Agent Skills are for. A skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file containing step-by-step instructions for a specific task. The agent loads it only when relevant — keeping your context lean.
Skills are an open standard (agentskills.io) created by Anthropic and now supported by Copilot CLI, Claude Code, and OpenCode. You write a skill once and it works across agents.
The format is simple: YAML frontmatter with name and description, then markdown instructions. The agent reads descriptions at startup and decides when to load the full instructions. You can also invoke a skill directly with /skill-name.
Think of instruction files as who you are, and skills as what you know how to do.
💡 Try this: Identify a task you do repeatedly (e.g. “create a PR with our template”). Write a SKILL.md for it in .claude/skills/your-task/.
(.claude/skills/your-task/SKILL.md is supported by Copilot CLI, OpenCode and Claude Code, see next tip!)
🟢 Yes — we have skills in our team
🟡 I have tried it
🔴 Nope, not yet
⚪ Nope, I have heard agents don’t use them …
Have you tried writing a skill? Or found a good one to share?