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[This article is prerelease documentation and is subject to change.]
Skills are reusable capabilities that extend what your agent can do. Unlike tools, which connect to external services, skills are self-contained sets of instructions and logic that you can create, share, and reuse across agents.
Note
This article reflects the new agent experience in Microsoft Copilot Studio, which is currently available as a production-ready preview. Learn about the two experiences in Classic vs. new agent experience.
- Production-ready previews are subject to supplemental terms of use.
- Some capabilities available in the classic experience aren't yet available in the new experience.
- Agents created in the new experience can't be converted to the classic experience.
What are skills?
A skill is a capability defined by a name, a description, and a set of instructions (written in Markdown). Skills tell the agent how to handle specific types of tasks or scenarios. The orchestration runtime invokes a skill when a user's request matches the skill's purpose. Think of skills as specialized "roles" or "modes" that your agent can activate when needed.
Why use skills?
- Reusability: Create a skill once and add it to multiple agents.
- Modularity: Break complex agent behavior into focused, manageable pieces.
- Shareability: Export skills as Markdown files or as packages and share them with others.
- Clarity: Each skill has a clear purpose, making it easier to understand and maintain agent behavior.
How skills differ from other agent components
| Component | Purpose | Managed by |
|---|---|---|
| Instructions | General agent behavior and personality | Identity configuration |
| Knowledge | Data the agent can reference | Knowledge sources |
| Tools | Actions via external services | Connectors, APIs, MCP servers |
| Skills | Reusable task-specific capabilities | Skill files or packages (Markdown-based) |
How the agent uses skills
The orchestration runtime decides when to activate a skill based on the user's message and the skill's description. When the runtime activates a skill, the skill's instructions guide your agent's behavior for that specific task. Skills can work alongside tools and knowledge. For example, a skill might instruct your agent to use a specific tool in a particular way. Well-written skill descriptions help the orchestrator invoke the right skill at the right time.
Skill files and packages
Skills have a standard format—a YAML front matter (name, description) and instructions—which makes them portable and easy to share as Markdown files. You can author them in Copilot Studio, or use your favorite text editor and upload them to your agent.
A skill package includes the following elements in a ZIP file:
- A
SKILL.mdfile containing YAML front matter (name, description) and Markdown instructions. - Optional supporting files, such as scripts, templates, and reference documents.
You can also add an existing skill to your agent by uploading the skill package ZIP file. This standard format makes skills portable and easy to share.