Agent Skills, Custom Instructions, and Commands

Personal repository and reference for AI agent configuration files.

Installation

make install

Skills

Skills are task-specific capabilities that agents load on-demand.

Activation behavior:

• Progressive loading: Agent loads skill metadata at startup, full content when needed
• Autonomous: Agent decides when to activate based on task
• Context injection: Full SKILL.md content injected after activation, files from scripts/, references/, assets/ are read as needed

Directory structure:

skills/skill-name/
├── SKILL.md          # Required (frontmatter + instructions)
├── scripts/          # Optional (executable scripts)
├── references/       # Optional (additional docs)
└── assets/           # Optional (configs, templates)

Format: Markdown with frontmatter.

---
name: <skill-name>                   # Must match directory name
description: <one-line description>  # When to use this skill
---

Detailed instructions in Markdown.

Directories used by different agents:

Agent	Directories
GitHub Copilot (VS Code & CLI)	~/.copilot/skills/, ~/.claude/skills/ (user)<br>.github/skills/, .claude/skills/ (project)
Gemini CLI	~/.gemini/skills/ (user)<br>.gemini/skills/ (project)
Kiro CLI (Amazon Q)	Requires skill:// resource in custom agent configuration file

References:

• Agent Skills Specification
• GitHub Copilot (VS Code & CLI): About Agent Skills - GitHub Copilot
• Gemini CLI: Agent Skills - Gemini CLI
• Kiro CLI (Amazon Q): Custom Agents - Kiro CLI

Custom Instructions

Instructions that are automatically injected into context.

Activation behavior:

• Always injected: Loaded automatically without user action

Format:

• Markdown
• Copilot instructions with optional frontmatter (description, name, applyTo)

Directories used by different agents:

Agent	Directories
GitHub Copilot (VS Code)	~/.config/Code/User/profiles/Default/*.instructions.md<sup>1</sup> (user)<br>.github/copilot-instructions.md, .github/instructions/*.instructions.md, AGENTS.md (project)
GitHub Copilot (CLI)	~/.copilot/copilot-instructions.md (user)<br>.github/copilot-instructions.md, .github/instructions/*.instructions.md, AGENTS.md (project)
Gemini CLI <sup>2</sup>	~/.gemini/GEMINI.md (user)<br>GEMINI.md (project, root and subdirectories)
Kiro CLI (Amazon Q)	~/.kiro/steering/ (user)<br>.kiro/steering/, AGENTS.md (project)

¹ On macOS, replace ~/.config/Code/User/ with ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/<br> ² Gemini CLI can be configured to read AGENTS.md.

References:

• GitHub Copilot Repository Custom Instructions
• GitHub Copilot Personal Instructions
• Use custom instructions in VS Code
• Gemini CLI GEMINI.md
• Kiro Steering
• AGENTS.md Specification

Custom Agents

Specialized personas with specific tools and instructions.

Activation behavior:

• Explicit switching: User selects agent from UI or command
• Auto-delegation (Gemini CLI only): Main agent delegates tasks to sub-agents
• Workflow transitions (GitHub Copilot only): Handoffs between agents

Agent	Locations	Format	Notes
GitHub Copilot (VS Code)	~/.config/Code/User/profiles/Default/agents/<sup>1</sup> (user)<br>.github/agents/*.agent.md (project)	Markdown with YAML frontmatter<br>Properties: name, description, tools, model, handoffs, target	Supports handoffs for workflow transitions.
GitHub Copilot (CLI)	~/.copilot/agents/ (user)<br>.github/agents/*.agent.md (project)	Same format	Access via /agent command or --agent flag.
Gemini CLI	~/.gemini/agents/*.md (user)<br>.gemini/agents/*.md (project)	Markdown with YAML frontmatter<br>Properties: name, description, kind, tools, model, temperature, max_turns, timeout_mins	Experimental feature. Requires enableAgents: true in settings.
Kiro CLI	~/.kiro/agents/*.json (user)<br>.kiro/agents/*.json (project)	JSON<br>Properties: name, description, prompt, tools, resources, mcpServers, model, keyboardShortcut, welcomeMessage	Switch via /agent swap <name> or keyboard shortcuts. Supports file:// URIs for prompt. Local agents override global with same name

¹ On macOS, replace ~/.config/Code/User/ with ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/

References:

• GitHub Copilot: About agents, Custom agents in VS Code
• GitHub Copilot (GitHub.com & CLI): Creating custom agents, About Copilot CLI
• Gemini CLI: Sub-agents
• Kiro CLI: Custom Agents

Custom Commands

Reusable prompts invoked on-demand.

Activation behavior:

• Manual invocation: User runs command explicitly
• On-demand: Not automatically injected
• Parameterized: Accept arguments at invocation time

Agent	Locations	Format	Notes
GitHub Copilot (VS Code)	~/.config/Code/User/profiles/Default/<sup>1</sup> (user)<br>.github/prompts/*.prompt.md (project)	Markdown with YAML frontmatter<br>Properties: name, description, agent, tools, model, argument-hint	Invocation: /prompt-name in Chat or Command Palette. Supports variables: ${workspaceFolder}, ${file}, ${selection}, ${input:var:placeholder}. Can reference other files with Markdown links
GitHub Copilot (CLI)	N/A	N/A	N/A
Gemini CLI	~/.gemini/commands/*.toml (user)<br>.gemini/commands/*.toml (project)	TOML<br>Properties: description, prompt	Invocation: /command-name args. Supports {{args}} placeholders, !{shell} execution, @{file} injection. Subdirectories create namespaced commands with : separator
Kiro CLI	N/A	N/A	N/A

¹ On macOS, replace ~/.config/Code/User/ with ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/

References:

• GitHub Copilot (VS Code): Prompt Files - GitHub Copilot
• Gemini CLI: Custom Commands - Gemini CLI