Skills

Skills are reusable Markdown procedures for AI agents. They turn repeated instructions into durable project assets.

Instead of writing a long prompt every time you need a PRD, review, test plan, migration plan, or release note, you ask the agent to execute the relevant skill.

Included Skills

AIOS includes skills for the common development lifecycle:

Skill	Use It For
`product-discovery`	Interviewing the user and clarifying a raw product idea before writing formal requirements.
`prd-generator`	Turning product context into a structured PRD with testable acceptance criteria.
`architecture-design`	Producing architecture context and technical direction.
`ui-ux-design`	Designing user flows, screens, interface states, and accessibility before frontend work.
`adr-generator`	Recording one architecture decision, trade-off, and consequence.
`task-breakdown`	Splitting large work into small implementation tasks.
`implementation-planner`	Creating a short implementation plan before code changes.
`task-implementation`	Implementing one active task, validating acceptance criteria, and updating task status.
`backend-api-development`	Designing and implementing backend API work with contracts and validation.
`api-contract-design`	Drafting API contracts before frontend/backend implementation.
`database-migration`	Planning database migrations with safety checks and rollback notes.
`testing`	Designing test plans and validation evidence.
`code-review`	Reviewing diffs against requirements, risks, and tests.
`security-review`	Checking security risks before release.
`release-management`	Preparing release notes, changelog drafts, and rollout checks.
`context-management`	Choosing the minimum useful context for an agent request.

Where Skills Live

In a full setup, skills can be delivered in three modes:

Mode	Location	Best For
Portable	`.aios/skills/`	Any agent that can read Markdown files.
Native	`.agents/skills`, `.qwen/skills`, `.opencode/skills`, or `.agent/skills`	Agents that discover skills from local folders.
Both	Portable and native copies	Teams that want portability and native agent discovery.

Use portable mode when you want the project to contain every workflow asset. Use native mode when the agent supports skill auto-discovery and you want .aios/ to stay smaller.

Install Or List Skills

List supported agent targets and available skills:

aios agent list

Install selected skills:

aios agent install . --agents codex,qwen --skills core --skill-delivery native

Install all selected skills during project creation:

aios init demo-project --agents codex,qwen --skills all --skill-delivery both

How To Ask An Agent To Use A Skill

Use direct, file-based instructions:

Read AGENTS.md, docs/context/context-map.md, and .aios/skills/code-review/SKILL.md.
Review the current diff against docs/tasks/003-implement-login-api.md.
Write findings first, then validation evidence and residual risks.

The important part is not the exact wording. The important part is that the agent knows which procedure to follow, which task to evaluate, and where to write the result.

Skill Safety Rules

Use one skill at a time unless the task explicitly requires a larger workflow.
Keep the active task small enough to review.
Give the agent the relevant docs, not the whole repository.
Record output in the expected docs folder when the skill produces an artifact.
Human review still owns product, architecture, security, and dependency decisions.

Skills Folder - Full catalog of all skills
Prompts Folder - Numbered prompts that invoke skills
Commands Folder - Named prompts that invoke skills
Templates Folder - Document formats used by skills
AI Agent Simulation - How to prompt the agent through skills