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A Skill is an on-demand instruction bundle: when the user’s request matches, the Agent calls the activate tool to pull the skill’s instructions into context, then follows them. Skills that aren’t activated don’t consume context. Use Skills to give the Agent a specialized workflow, template, or script — “analyze a Python project”, “fill a PDF form”, “code review” — instead of stuffing every prompt into the System Prompt.

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How Skills Compare to Plugins and MCP

See Runtimes and Extensions for the full picture.

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Installing Skills

Skills require the sandbox. box.enabled must be true and at least one backend (Docker / Nsjail / E2B) must be available — otherwise you can’t install, activate, or edit skills. See Sandbox Configuration.

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From LangBot Space (Preferred)

LangBot Space is the official LangBot marketplace, with a curated list of ready-to-use skills. In the WebUI Skills page, browse and install them with one click — no need to write a SKILL.md or prepare any resource files. This covers most cases. For custom workflows, use the option below.

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Create Your Own

WebUI — create, upload a zip, or import from GitHub on the Skills page. Sandbox + register_skill:
  1. Prepare the directory and SKILL.md under the sandbox /workspace
  2. Have the Agent call register_skill(path="/workspace/my-skill")
Both options write to the skill store managed by Box Runtime.

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Enabling in a Pipeline

Once a skill is installed, the pipeline extension config decides which skills the Agent can see:
  • Enable “all skills”, or
  • Bind only specific skills
Binding only affects the <available_skills> list (what the Agent can choose from). The full instructions are always injected only after activate is called.

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Writing a SKILL.md

A skill is a directory plus a SKILL.md. The frontmatter holds metadata; the body is what the Agent receives after activation:
LangBot currently reads these three fields: description is the Agent’s only signal for picking a skill. Make it concrete about what it does, when it applies, and what trigger words to watch for. For the full spec see agentskills.io. Other fields (license, metadata, …) can stay in the file for future compatibility but are not currently read. Skills with resources place scripts/, templates/, etc. next to SKILL.md. After activation the Agent accesses them at /workspace/.skills/{skill-name}/.

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Tools the Agent Sees

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Common Issues

Skills currently target the built-in Agent and depend on function calling plus a sandbox backend. External runners (Dify, n8n, Langflow, Coze, etc.) should use their platform’s equivalent mechanism.