awesome-copilot/skills/cli-mastery/references/module-5-skills.md

Module 5: Skills System

What are skills?

• Specialized capability packages the AI can invoke
• Think of them as "expert modes" with domain-specific knowledge
• Managed via /skills command

Skill locations

Level	Location
User	~/.copilot/skills/<name>/SKILL.md or ~/.agents/skills/<name>/SKILL.md
Repo	.github/skills/<name>/SKILL.md
Org	Shared via org-level config

Creating a custom skill

1. Create the directory: mkdir -p ~/.copilot/skills/my-skill/ (or mkdir -p ~/.agents/skills/my-skill/)
2. Create SKILL.md with YAML frontmatter (name, description, optional tools)
3. Write detailed instructions for the AI's behavior
4. Verify with /skills

Skill design best practices

• Clear description — helps the AI match tasks to your skill automatically
• Focused scope — each skill should do ONE thing well
• Include instructions — specify exactly how the skill should operate
• Test thoroughly — use /skills to verify, then invoke and check results

Auto-matching

When you describe a task, the AI checks if any skill matches and suggests using it.