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SDLC in the AI Era

Guide

Agent Skills guide

Teach an AI tool how you do a task, once. A skill is a folder with a text file called SKILL.md: a name, a description of when to use it, and step-by-step instructions.

What a skill is

Agent Skills is an open format, originally developed by Anthropic and released as an open standard. A tool first loads only each skill's name and description, and reads the full instructions when a task calls for them, so you can keep many skills available.[1]

The name uses lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens, up to 64 characters, and must match the folder name. The description should say what the skill does and when to use it.[2]

---
name: weekly-status-report
description: Drafts a weekly project status report from tracker exports and meeting notes. Use when asked for a status update, weekly report or stakeholder summary.
metadata:
  title: "Weekly status report"
---

# Weekly status report

## Steps
1. Ask for the tracker export and this week's notes if they are missing.
2. ...

## Before you finish
- Flag assumptions and anything a human must decide.

How to use one

On your role page, open a starter instruction and choose Copy instructions or Download .zip. Then pick the route for the tool you use.

Claude (web or desktop app)

  1. Make sure code execution is turned on in Settings › Capabilities.[4]
  2. Go to Customize › Skills, choose + › Create skill › Upload a skill.[4]
  3. Upload the .zip you downloaded. It contains the skill folder with its SKILL.md.[4]

Skills are available on Claude's Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans.[4]

Coding agents

Unzip the folder into the tool's skills folder:

  • Claude Code: ~/.claude/skills/ for all your projects, or .claude/skills/ in one repository. Ask for the task, or type /<name>.[3]
  • GitHub Copilot (cloud agent, CLI, and agent mode in VS Code and JetBrains IDEs): .github/skills/ in a repository, or ~/.copilot/skills/ for yourself.[5]
  • Codex and the ChatGPT desktop app: .agents/skills/ in a repository, or ~/.agents/skills/ for yourself.[6]

Any other AI chat

Our suggestion

Tools such as ChatGPT on the web or Microsoft 365 Copilot don't let you upload a standalone skill file, as far as their public documentation shows.[6] You can still use the instructions: choose Copy instructions, paste them at the start of a new chat, then add your material. For repeat use, save them in the tool's custom instructions or project settings if it has them.

Other tools that support the format document their own skills folder:

Read a skill before you install it.

A skill can pre-approve tools for itself through allowed-tools in its frontmatter, so check that field in any skill you didn't write.[3] The starter instructions on this site never use it.

Starter instructions by role

Our suggestion

Written for each role from its researched changes. Treat them as a starting point and adapt them to how your team works.

Product Manager / Owner
Business Analyst
UX/UI Designer
Software Architect
Software Developer / Engineer
QA Engineer / Tester
Security Engineer
DevOps / SRE Engineer
Data Engineer / Analyst
Project Manager
Scrum Master / Agile Coach
Engineering Manager

How this site uses the same idea

This site was built with Claude Code. Repeated work is packaged as reusable commands, such as /verify for checks and tests and /add-role for research, and every role page was checked by a separate fact-checking agent before publishing. Read how content is made.

Sources

  1. 1.Agent Skills: Overview(opens in new tab) · agentskills.io, accessed 14 September 2026
  2. 2.Agent Skills: Specification(opens in new tab) · agentskills.io, accessed 14 September 2026
  3. 3.Extend Claude with skills(opens in new tab) · Claude Code docs, accessed 14 September 2026
  4. 4.Use skills in Claude(opens in new tab) · Claude Help Center, accessed 14 September 2026
  5. 5.About agent skills(opens in new tab) · GitHub Docs, accessed 14 September 2026
  6. 6.Build skills(opens in new tab) · ChatGPT docs (OpenAI), accessed 14 September 2026
  7. 7.anthropics/skills(opens in new tab) · GitHub, accessed 14 September 2026
  8. 8.openai/skills: Skills Catalog for Codex(opens in new tab) · GitHub, accessed 14 September 2026