Lesson 1 of 5 · ~12 min

What skills are (and aren’t)

What a skill is

A skill is a plain-text instruction file named SKILL.md. It tells your AI agent:

• When to activate — using trigger phrases you’d say naturally
• What to produce — headings, tables, sections
• How to work through the task — step-by-step workflow

AgentCarousel groups skills by business function (Finance, HR, Customer Service, Operations, …) — not by model features.

What a skill is not

• Not a separate app or bot. Cursor, Copilot, Codex, etc. run the model; the skill is the playbook.
• Not an integration. You paste or attach input. It doesn’t log into your systems by itself.
• Not guaranteed correct. Always review output before decisions, customer-facing text, or compliance.