Skills Overview
A skill is a reusable system prompt preset that you can apply to any agent. Skills encode domain expertise, writing styles, analysis frameworks, or behavioral patterns that you want multiple agents to share. They are LLM-agnostic — any agent on any provider or model can use any skill.
Think of skills as plug-in modules for agents: the "Security Analyst" skill makes any agent think and respond like a security analyst. The "SEO Writer" skill makes any agent produce SEO-optimized content.
What a Skill Contains
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
name | Display name |
description | What this skill makes the agent do |
category | Category for browsing |
system_prompt | Text merged into the agent's system prompt — the only field used at runtime |
example_prompts | Sample user messages that work well with this skill |
tags | Topic tags for browsing |
version | Skill version |
is_builtin | True for platform-provided skills |
Only system_prompt is applied when an agent runs. A skill never changes the agent's model or temperature.
Skills vs. Agent System Prompts
| Skill | Agent System Prompt | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Reusable across many agents | Specific to one agent |
| Ownership | Shared with the project | Belongs to the agent |
| Content | Behavioral framework, style, methodology | Task-specific instructions |
| Merging | Appended to agent's own prompt | Is the base prompt |
| Update effect | Update skill → all agents using it benefit | Update agent → only that agent changes |
Use skills for: Cross-cutting concerns that apply to many agents (writing style, analysis framework, output format standards)
Use agent prompts for: The specific task this particular agent does (write SEO blog posts about SaaS, analyze security logs from Splunk)
The Three-Layer Prompt Stack
When an agent with a skill runs, the LLM receives a combined system prompt:
Layer 1: Agent system prompt
"You are a technical content writer specializing in developer tools..."
Layer 2: Skill system prompt addition
[SEO Content Writer skill]
"Optimize content for search: include the primary keyword in the title
and first paragraph. Use H2 headings containing keyword variants..."
Layer 3: RAG retrieved context (if configured)
"--- Retrieved Context ---
[Relevant documentation chunks]
--- End Retrieved Context ---"
The model sees all three layers as one combined system message.
Skill Categories
TARX ships ~48 built-in skills across 18 categories. A representative sample:
| Category | Example skills |
|---|---|
| Content / Marketing | SEO Writer, Technical Docs Writer, Email Copywriter, Social Media Writer |
| Research / Data | Research Analyst, Data Analyst, Market Research |
| Developer / DevOps | Code Reviewer, Python Developer, DevOps Advisor |
| Cybersecurity | Security Analyst, Threat Triage |
| Customer Success / Sales | Customer Support Agent, Sales Outreach |
| Finance / Legal / HR | Financial Analyst, Contract Reviewer, Recruiting Assistant |
Other categories include design, operations, project management, product, education, and social. See Built-in Skills for the full catalog.
Next Steps
- Built-in Skills — Available built-in skills with descriptions
- Creating Skills — Building custom skills for your project