Agent skills extend AI coding assistants with reusable knowledge

seedling · 2026-01-20

Agent skills are folders of instructions that AI coding assistants can discover and use. They package procedural knowledge into portable, version-controlled units.

The format uses SKILL.md files with YAML frontmatter and markdown instructions. Skills work across Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and other compatible agents.

Installing Skills

Use the skills CLI to add skills from GitHub repos:

# Install from a GitHub repository
npx skills add owner/repo

# List available skills without installing
npx skills add owner/repo --list

# Install specific skill to specific agent
npx skills add owner/repo --skill skill-name --agent claude-code

Installing the Digital Garden Skill

This garden's framework is available as an installable skill:

npx skills add christopherdebeer/garden --skill digital-garden

This teaches Claude Code the digital garden conventions:

Atomic notes with assertion titles
Wiki-links using [[slug]] syntax
Status levels (seedling → budding → evergreen)
File conventions and build workflow

Creating Skills

A minimal skill requires one file:

skill-name/
└── SKILL.md

The SKILL.md format:

---
name: skill-name
description: What this skill does and when to use it.
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: your-name
  version: "1.0.0"
---

# Skill Title

Instructions the agent follows when this skill activates.

See the specification at agentskills.io.