Certainly! Here’s a five-paragraph summary of the video, with spelling and grammar errors corrected:

The video discusses the concept of “agent skills” in Visual Studio Code (VS Code), focusing on what they are and why they matter. Harold explains that agent skills are a simple and effective way to customize AI agents within VS Code. At their core, agent skills are markdown files (skill.md) placed in a specific folder, containing a description that tells the agent when to use that skill. This allows the agent to dynamically load relevant skills based on the context, making the system both flexible and easy to reason about. Additional files, such as scripts, documentation, or images, can be included in the skill folder, allowing for deeper functionality and progressive disclosure as needed.

Tim elaborates on the practical benefits of agent skills, particularly in relation to the context window—the limited amount of information that can be sent to the AI model at one time. Traditionally, users would overload custom instructions with all sorts of information, which could clutter the context window and reduce efficiency. Agent skills solve this by allowing users to package specialized routines, advice, or workflows into discrete units that are only loaded when relevant. This helps maintain a cleaner, more focused context window and improves the agent’s performance on specific tasks.

The conversation highlights the distinction between custom instructions and agent skills. Custom instructions are best suited for information that is universally relevant to every interaction with the agent, such as general coding guidelines. In contrast, agent skills are ideal for more specialized or situational knowledge, like CSS techniques or design review advice, which are only needed in certain contexts. This separation allows users to better organize their guidance to the agent and avoid overwhelming it with unnecessary information.

The speakers also address the evolving nature of these features. Currently, agent skills are available in the “Insiders” version of VS Code, while the stable (blue icon) version still uses an older system called “claw skills.” The team expects agent skills to be integrated into the stable release soon, making them more accessible to all users. To use agent skills, users need to enable the relevant setting and organize their skills within the appropriate folders, which the agent will then reference as needed.

Finally, the video provides a practical example of converting a helpful prompt about front-end design into an agent skill. This prompt, originally from a blog post, advises against generic design choices like overused fonts and gradients, which AI models tend to favor. By turning this advice into a skill, users can ensure the agent applies it only when relevant, such as during design reviews, rather than including it in general instructions. This modular approach helps keep the agent’s guidance targeted and contextually appropriate, illustrating the power and flexibility of agent skills in VS Code.