A skill is a reusable package of instructions that teaches the agent how to do something well: review a pull request, draft a sales email, triage your inbox, format a research report. Instead of re-explaining a workflow every time, you install a skill once and the agent knows how to handle it.
What a skill is
Each skill is a small bundle centered on a SKILL.md file containing:
- a name and description, and
- markdown instructions (and optionally supporting files or scripts) that guide the agent.
When a skill is active, its instructions are added to the agent's context for that turn, so the agent follows your preferred process.
Where skills come from
Skills come from Skillopedia, an open, crowd-sourced catalog of skills for AI agents (think Wikipedia for agent know-how). You can browse and search it right inside Agentastic, install with one click, or contribute your own. You can also import a skill from a GitHub repository.
How skills activate
Skills can run two ways:
- Manually: attach a skill to a single request with the
/skill:tag, e.g./skill:pr-review. - Automatically: Agentastic matches skills to your situation using auto-match rules (the app you're in, the website, keywords in your prompt) and activates the best matches for you. See Auto-Match Rules.
Skills vs. commands vs. tools
- A skill shapes how the agent does a task (instructions and process).
- A tool gives the agent a capability (web, files, shell, an API).
- A command (the Commands tab in Skills) is a custom shortcut you invoke directly.
They work together: a skill might tell the agent to use the web and file tools in a particular sequence.
Get started
- Install & Manage: browse Skillopedia, install, edit, and remove skills
- Auto-Match Rules: control when skills fire automatically