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Signed-off-by: Matt Bruce <matt.bruce1@toyota.com>
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Matt Bruce 2026-02-22 22:08:03 -06:00
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@ -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.