VS Code Agent Skills Setup
January 10, 2025·1 min read
Agent Skills is an open standard from Anthropic for defining reusable instructions that AI coding assistants can load automatically.
The Standard
Skills live in .github/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md with YAML frontmatter:
---
name: my-skill
description: When to use this skill
license: MIT
metadata:
author: username
version: "1.0"
---
# Skill Title
Instructions, rules, and context for the AI...Skills Created
1. aks-cluster-management
Location: .github/skills/aks-cluster-management/SKILL.md
Purpose: Start, stop, and manage AKS clusters for cost optimization.
Contains:
- Cluster inventory (names, resource groups, VM sizes)
- Start/stop commands for all clusters
- Crossplane webhook cleanup before stopping hub
- Cost information
2. arm-portal-governance
Location: .github/skills/arm-portal-governance/SKILL.md
Purpose: Rules and constraints for GitOps infrastructure changes.
Contains:
- Critical rules (never/always do)
- Architecture overview
- Provisioning flow diagram
- Environment approval requirements
- Repository structure
Creating New Skills
- Create
.github/skills/<name>/SKILL.mdwith frontmatter - Add the skill content
- Copy the content into
.claude/CLAUDE.mdfor Claude Code compatibility
References
- agentskills.io - The spec
- Anthropic announcement - Agent Skills in VS Code