diff --git a/docs/ai/skills.md b/docs/ai/skills.md index 50d0860..3acfa93 100644 --- a/docs/ai/skills.md +++ b/docs/ai/skills.md @@ -11,9 +11,54 @@ You are here: [AI Docs Home](index.md) > Skills Library - Next Steps ## Skills vs Agents vs Instructions -- Skills are reusable workflows you load for specific tasks. -- Agents are full modes/personas that control behavior end-to-end. -- Instructions are always-on repo rules that auto-apply by file pattern. + +**Short answer:** + +- **Skills** = reusable tools or playbooks the AI can call when needed. Like a toolbox for a generalist. +- **Custom agents** (your /assets/agents/ folders) = specialized AI teammates with their own personality, expertise, and decision-making style. Like building a team of experts. +- **Instructions** = always-on repo rules that auto-apply by file pattern. + +You can get pretty far with just the default agent (the generalist one) + skills, but custom agents unlock a completely different level: turning one smart generalist into a full specialized team. + +### Why people actually create and use custom agents + +Here’s what changes in practice: + +**True specialization & expertise** +- A default agent + “use the React skill” still thinks like a generalist. +- A custom @react-architect agent has deep, baked-in knowledge (your exact component patterns, state management preferences, accessibility rules, performance gotchas). It doesn’t forget or need reminding. + +**Different thinking styles / risk levels** +- @rapid-prototype agent → fast, experimental, okay with temporary hacks +- @production-safety agent → extremely conservative, asks for confirmation on big changes, always checks security/performance first +- @security-auditor agent → thinks about threats, OWASP, secrets scanning before writing a single line +You can’t get this reliably just by prompting the default agent every time. + +**Multi-agent orchestration (the real 2026 power move)** +Tools like Windsurf Cascade, Claude Code Subagents, VS Code Agents, RooCode, Cline, and even Cursor (via agent handoffs) let agents delegate to each other: +Planner Agent → Backend Agent → Frontend Agent → Tester Agent → Reviewer Agent +This is way smoother and more reliable than one default agent trying to do everything. + +**Convenient UX** +You just type @security review this or switch to the agent in the sidebar. No long prompt every session. + +**Consistency across sessions & team members** +The custom agent always behaves the same way. No “mood” variation like the default agent sometimes has. + +**Curated tool/skill usage** +You can restrict or prioritize certain skills for that agent only (e.g. the security agent only gets vulnerability-scanning skills and is blocked from deploying). + +**Real-world analogy** + +Default agent + skills = One extremely capable senior developer with a huge toolbox. You still have to guide them a lot. +Custom agents = You built a small specialized team (architect, frontend wizard, security lead, QA expert). You just assign the right person to the task. + +Most power users and big teams in 2026 do both: + +- A rich library of skills (your /assets/skills/) +- Several custom agents (your /assets/agents/) that know exactly which skills to use and how. + +That’s exactly why having separate /agents/ and /skills/ folders in your repo is such a smart setup. ## What Skills Are Skills are reusable instructions and workflows that guide the assistant through specialized tasks.