What Are Agent Skills?

Last updated 2026-06-06

Agent skills are packaged, reusable capabilities (code, prompts, tool definitions, and workflows) that give an agent the ability to perform a specific kind of task. Skill repos are libraries of these capabilities that builders can compose.

Why It Matters

Skills turn agent development from bespoke engineering into composition. An onchain agent doesn't need a custom-built swap integration if a maintained skill library already provides one. For the agent economy, skills are the unit of capability, and increasingly the unit of monetization.

How It Works

▸A skill bundles everything needed for a capability: tool/function definitions, instructions, and supporting code.
▸Agent frameworks load skills at build time or runtime, exposing them to the model as callable tools.
▸Onchain skill libraries (like GOAT or Solana Agent Kit) wrap protocol interactions (swaps, staking, minting, transfers) into ready-to-use actions.
▸Well-designed skills declare their permission requirements so deployers can scope risk.

Key Components

•Tool definitions (what the agent can call)
•Instructions and prompt context
•Implementation code (SDK wrappers, API calls)
•Permission requirements
•Documentation and examples

Examples

▸GOAT SDK: cross-chain onchain action skills for any agent framework.
▸Solana Agent Kit: Solana-native protocol skills.
▸Custom skill: 'summarize new governance proposals from protocol X and post to Discord.'