AI Skill (.skill)
What is a AI Skill (.skill)?
An AI Skill — standardized as a SKILL.md file — is a structured, portable package of instructions, scripts, and resources that teaches an AI agent how to perform a specific task. Think of it as a specialist's résumé or an onboarding manual: the AI agent stays a generalist until it reads a skill file, at which point it becomes a focused expert for that particular job.The format was introduced by Anthropic for Claude Code in October 2025 and published as an open standard on December 18, 2025 at agentskills.io. Within weeks, OpenAI adopted a structurally identical format for ChatGPT and Codex, Microsoft integrated it into VS Code and GitHub Copilot, and platforms like Cursor, Vercel, and Cloudflare added native support.
Related:
External links:
- https://platform.claude.com/cookbook/skills-notebooks-01-skills-introduction — platform.claude.com
- Create documents, analyze data, automate workflows with Claude's Excel, PowerPoint, PDF skills.
- https://resources.anthropic.com/hubfs/The-Complete-Guide-to-Building-Skill-for-Claude.pdf — resources.anthropic.com
- Overview - Agent Skills — agentskills.io
- A simple, open format for giving agents new capabilities and expertise.
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- Public repository for Agent Skills. Contribute to anthropics/skills development by creating an account on GitHub.
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