tools-only Pydantic AI Skills
A standardized, composable framework for building and managing Agent Skills within the Pydantic AI ecosystem.
What are Agent Skills?
Agent Skills are modular collections of instructions, scripts, and resources that extend AI agents with specialized capabilities. Instead of hardcoding features, skills are discovered and loaded on-demand, keeping your agent's context lean and focused.
Key Features
- Progressive Discovery: Load skills only when needed, reducing token usage
- Modular Design: Self-contained skill directories with instructions and resources
- Script Execution: Include Python scripts that agents can execute
- Resource Management: Support for documentation and data files
- Type-Safe: Built on Pydantic AI's type-safe foundation
- Simple Integration: Drop-in toolset for Pydantic AI agents
Quick Example
from pydantic_ai import Agent, RunContext
from pydantic_ai_skills import SkillsToolset
# Initialize Skills Toolset with skill directories
skills_toolset = SkillsToolset(directories=["./skills"])
# Create agent with skills
agent = Agent(
model='openai:gpt-5.2',
instructions="You are a helpful research assistant.",
toolsets=[skills_toolset]
)
# Add skills instructions to agent
@agent.instructions
async def add_skills(ctx: RunContext) -> str | None:
"""Add skills instructions to the agent's context."""
return await skills_toolset.get_instructions(ctx)
# Use agent - skills tools are automatically available
result = await agent.run(
"What are the last 3 papers on arXiv about machine learning?"
)
print(result.output)
How It Works
- Discovery: The toolset scans specified directories for skills (folders with
SKILL.mdfiles) - Registration: Skills are registered as tools on your agent
- Progressive Loading: Agents can:
- List all available skills with
list_skills() - Load detailed instructions with
load_skill(name) - Read additional resources with
read_skill_resource(skill_name, resource_name) - Execute scripts with
run_skill_script(skill_name, script_name, args)
- List all available skills with
Benefits
- Cleaner Prompts: Keep agent instructions focused instead of concatenating every possible feature
- Scalability: Add new capabilities by creating new skill folders
- Maintainability: Update skills independently without touching agent code
- Reusability: Share skills across multiple agents and projects
- Efficiency: Reduce token usage by loading skills only when needed
- Testability: Test and debug skills in isolation
Security considerations
We strongly recommend that you use Skills only from trusted sources: those you created yourself or obtained from trusted sources. Skills provide AI Agents with new capabilities through instructions and code, and while this makes them powerful, it also means a malicious Skill can direct agents to invoke tools or execute code in ways that don't match the Skill's stated purpose.
!!! warning
If you must use a Skill from an untrusted or unknown source, exercise extreme caution and thoroughly audit it before use. Depending on what access agents have when executing the Skill, malicious Skills could lead to data exfiltration, unauthorized system access, or other security risks.
Next Steps
- Installation - Get started with pydantic-ai-skills
- Quick Start - Build your first skill-enabled agent
- Creating Skills - Learn how to create custom skills
- Programmatic Skills - Create skills in Python code
- API Reference - Detailed API documentation
References
This package is inspired by:
⚠️ Only use skills from trusted sources. Since skills provide agents with new capabilities through instructions and executable code, malicious skills could direct agents to invoke tools unexpectedly or access sensitive data. Always audit skills before use. See Security & Deployment for detailed guidance