Skills Overview

Skills provide infinite extensibility for the Agent. Each Skill consists of a description file (SKILL.md), execution scripts (optional), and resources (optional), describing how to accomplish specific types of tasks.

The difference between Skills and Tools: Tools are atomic operations implemented in code (e.g., file read/write, command execution), while Skills are high-level workflows based on description files that can combine multiple Tools to complete complex tasks.

Getting Skills

CowAgent offers multiple ways to acquire skills:

• Cow Skill Hub — Browse and install community skills via /skill list --remote
• GitHub — Install directly from GitHub repositories, with batch install support
• ClawHub — Install ClawHub skills via /skill install clawhub:name
• URL — Install from zip archives or SKILL.md links
• Conversational creation — Let the Agent create skills through natural language conversation

See Install Skills and Skill Management Commands for details. You can also create skills through conversation.

Skill Loading Priority

1. Workspace skills (highest): ~/cow/skills/
2. Project built-in skills (lowest): skills/

Skills with the same name are overridden by priority.

Skill File Structure

skills/
├── my-skill/
│   ├── SKILL.md          # Skill description (frontmatter + instructions)
│   ├── scripts/          # Execution scripts (optional)
│   └── resources/        # Additional resources (optional)

SKILL.md Format

---
name: my-skill
description: Brief description of the skill
metadata:
  emoji: 🔧
  requires:
    bins: ["curl"]
    env: ["MY_API_KEY"]
  primaryEnv: "MY_API_KEY"
---

# My Skill

Detailed instructions...