Skills

A file-based agent discovers skills from its skills/ directory and bundles them at build time. Skills are reusable procedures or reference material that the agent can load when relevant, instead of putting every detail into the always-on prompt.

Use this page for the file-based convention. For code-defined skills, see Agent skills. For the SKILL.md package format, see Workspace skills.

Quickstart

The simplest skill is one markdown file under skills/. The filename becomes the skill name, and description tells the agent when to load it.

src/mastra/agents/weather/skills/temperature-units.md

---
description: Use when reporting temperatures or comparing forecast units.
---

Always report temperatures in Celsius and Fahrenheit. Include the user's preferred unit first when known.

Skills vs tools vs instructions

Need	Use	Why
Always-on identity, tone, or rules	instructions.md	The model should see the guidance every turn.
Callable action with inputs and outputs	tools/	The model needs to execute code, call APIs, or perform side effects.
Detailed reference or procedure loaded when relevant	skills/	The model only needs the full guidance for specific tasks.

Skill formats

Mastra supports three file-based skill formats:

Format	Use it when
TypeScript/JavaScript module	You want to default-export a createSkill() result from code.
Packaged SKILL.md directory	The skill has instructions plus supporting files under references/.
Flat markdown file	The skill is one markdown file with frontmatter and instructions.

For packaged skills, description is required in SKILL.md frontmatter. Flat markdown skills also require description in frontmatter. Write when to use the skill, not only what the skill contains.

What gets loaded

File-based Agents skills are read at build time and added to the generated bundle. The deployed agent doesn't need to read those skill files from disk at runtime.

For packaged skills, Mastra reads:

• SKILL.md for metadata and instructions.
• Files directly under references/ as supporting reference content.

Reference files are keyed by filename. Symlinked files and directories under references/ are skipped during discovery.

Precedence with config

Discovered skills merge with any skills in config.ts. On a name collision, config.skills wins and a warning is logged.

If config.skills is a function, discovered skills are ignored with a warning because function-valued skills can't be statically merged.