About Skills
Skills are reusable knowledge packages that extend the agent with domain-specific expertise — deployment guides, debugging playbooks, framework best practices, and more. Each skill is a self-containedSKILL.md file that provides specialized instructions the agent can draw on during conversations.
Skills follow the agentskills.io specification, ensuring compatibility across AI tools.
Skills are available as a Public Beta opt-in from the Settings page in VSCode 0.789.0+. They are also being rolled out server-side for Community (Vanguard) tier users.
Creating a Skill
Each skill lives in its own named directory containing aSKILL.md file:
SKILL.md Format
EachSKILL.md file must include YAML frontmatter with a name and description, followed by markdown content with instructions:
Frontmatter Fields
Skill Name Requirements
Skill names must:- Be 1–64 characters long
- Use only lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens
- Not start or end with a hyphen
- Not contain consecutive hyphens
- Match the directory name containing the
SKILL.mdfile
python-testing, api-design, deploy-guide
Invalid names: Python-Testing, api_design, -deploy, my--skill
Skill Modes
Skills can operate in one of three modes:
Use Auto for skills you always want available (e.g., project conventions). Use Manual for specialized skills you only need occasionally (e.g., deployment playbooks). Set skills to Disabled to temporarily deactivate them without removing the files.
Skill Locations
Skills are discovered from multiple locations in order of precedence:
When multiple skills with the same name exist in different locations, the skill from the higher-precedence location is used.
Getting Started
1
Create the skills directory
2
Create the SKILL.md file
Create
.augment/skills/my-skill/SKILL.md:3
Use the skill
The skill will be discovered automatically. Use the
/ slash menu to invoke manual skills, or set the mode to Auto for always-on skills.Best Practices
- Focus each skill on a single domain — keep skills modular and specific
- Include concrete examples — provide code samples and commands
- Write clear descriptions — help the agent understand when to apply each skill
- Version control workspace skills — commit
.augment/skills/to share with your team - Use Auto sparingly — only for skills that are relevant to every conversation
See Also
- agentskills.io Specification — Official skill format specification
- Skills in Auggie CLI — Using skills with the CLI
- Custom Commands — Create reusable slash commands