Agents as users
Skills
Skills are a procedural layer between memory, which stores facts, and tools, which expose capabilities, describing how capabilities should be composed for a recurring task and loaded only when relevant.
Control sits with the agent
When to use it
Any recurring procedure an agent performs, and any domain where an agent would otherwise invent an interface it cannot see.
What it prevents
Invented syntax, where an agent composes a command that reads correctly and does not exist.
Skill loadedmatched this task
Quarterly board pack
In contextName and description only, until it matched
Now loadedThe order of sections, the tone, the sign-off
Not loadedForty other skills, still just names
Between memory, which holds facts, and tools, which act.
Who ships it
- The Agent Skills open standard agentskills.io
Related patterns: Durable briefs · Machine-readable context