skills-assist

Name: skills-assist
Availability: InStock
Author: Microsoft

Explain Agent Skills authoring, specification, compatibility, and troubleshooting guidance.

10|11|Updated Feb 22, 2026

Search Tags:#troubleshooting #specification #compatibility #skills #agents #authoring #amplifier

Ready to run

npx skills add https://github.com/microsoft/amplifier-bundle-skills --skill skills-assist

💬 Prompt for ChatGPT / Claude Chat▼

Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: skills-assist
Source: https://github.com/microsoft/amplifier-bundle-skills/tree/main/skills/skills-assist
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/microsoft/amplifier-bundle-skills --skill skills-assist

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

💡 This Skill includes references (resource) components.

What problem does it solve?

This Skill solves skills-authoring and skills-spec confusion by giving you an authoritative consultant for creating, modifying, troubleshooting, and choosing between skills and agents.

Core Features & Use Cases

Skill authoring guidance: Helps write correct SKILL.md frontmatter, body instructions, and companion-file patterns.
Spec and compatibility answers: Explains the Agent Skills spec, enhanced format features, and cross-harness portability concerns.
Troubleshooting and architecture decisions: Helps diagnose loading or invocation issues and decide when a skill should become an agent.
Use case: If you need to design a new skill, verify Claude Code compatibility, or understand whether to use context fork, user-invocable, or allowed-tools, this Skill provides the relevant guidance.

Quick Start

Ask the skills-assist skill how to write, debug, or port a skill for your use case.

Frequently Asked Questions about skills-assist

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema

How do I author an Agent Skill and write correct SKILL.md frontmatter?▼

Agent Skill authoring requires writing correct SKILL.md frontmatter, body instructions, and companion-file patterns. You can get authoritative guidance on structuring these elements to ensure your skill loads and invokes correctly across harnesses.

What is the difference between context fork, user-invocable, and allowed-tools in skill design?▼

Skill design involves choosing between context fork, user-invocable, and allowed-tools configurations. These enhanced format features dictate how the skill interacts with the agent runtime, affecting portability and invocation behavior across different harnesses.

How do I troubleshoot Agent Skills loading or invocation issues?▼

Troubleshooting Agent Skills loading or invocation issues involves diagnosing SKILL.md structure, frontmatter syntax, and compatibility configurations. You can reference spec lookup and compatibility check materials to resolve these runtime failures.

When should I use an Agent Skill versus creating an Agent?▼

Choosing between skills and agents depends on your architecture decisions and task complexity. Skills provide portable, cross-harness instructions, while agents offer broader autonomous capabilities for complex workflows requiring independent decision-making.

Does my Agent Skill design support cross-harness portability?▼

Cross-harness portability for Agent Skills depends on adhering to the Agent Skills specification and avoiding harness-specific enhancements. You can verify your skill's compatibility by checking spec compliance and enhanced format feature usage.

Why is my SKILL.md file not loading correctly in Claude Code?▼

SKILL.md loading failures in Claude Code often stem from incorrect frontmatter syntax or unsupported enhanced format features. Diagnose the issue by checking specification compatibility and validating your companion-file patterns.