AI engineering glossary · Agents tools MCP
What is agent skills?
Agent skills: Packaged folders of instructions, scripts and resources that an agent loads only when a task calls for them, keeping its context small. A short description of each skill is always visible so the agent knows when to open the full contents.
Agent skills: an example
A 'make-invoice' skill has a README, a template file and a script that the agent loads when asked to create an invoice.
Related terms
- Skill library
- Procedural memory
- Tool registry
- Context management
More Agents tools MCP terms
- Agent trace
- Agent-to-agent protocol
- Agentic workflow
- AI agent
- Approval gate
- AutoGen
- Autonomous agent
- Best-of-N sampling
Where you learn it
Agent skills is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.