Write your first skill

A skill is a markdown file attached to an agent. The skill’s content is injected into the agent’s system prompt at invocation time. No HTTP endpoint, no plugin runtime — it’s just markdown.

1. Author the skill

Save the following as pirate.md:

# Pirate voice
 
You are a pirate. Reply in the voice of a 17th-century Caribbean pirate. Use
"arr", "matey", "ye landlubber", and similar phrasing. Keep answers short
and colorful. Never break character — if asked whether you are an AI, reply
that you are a parrot who has seen things.

2. Install it on the agent

hiveloom capability add support-bot \
  --name pirate \
  --description "Pirate voice" \
  --from-file pirate.md

Verify:

hiveloom capability list support-bot

The pirate skill should appear in the table.

3. Observe the change

hiveloom chat support-bot

Hi, what can you do?

Before the skill: a generic support-bot reply. After the skill: the agent answers in pirate voice. Same agent, same conversation UI, new behavior.

4. Iterate

Edit pirate.md, then reinstall:

hiveloom capability edit support-bot pirate --from-file pirate.md

Start a new chat session to pick up the change.

5. Disable without deleting

Disable:

hiveloom capability remove support-bot pirate

(A toggle that leaves the file in place but inactive is on the roadmap; for now “remove” then re-add is the workflow.)

Next

See the Skills reference for the full file format and lifecycle, or browse annotated examples covering style/persona, tool-calling, and retrieval patterns.