Agents & tools · Glossary term
What is Skill Catalog?
The compact model-visible inventory of eligible skills, usually containing routing metadata such as name, description, and an internal source identifier rather than every skill body.
Why does Skill Catalog matter?
A catalog lets an agent discover relevant procedures without loading every installed package into the working context.
Skill Catalog in practice
Validate packages first, apply an explicit duplicate-name policy, measure the serialized catalog budget, and retain diagnostics for entries that were shortened, omitted, or shadowed.
What is the common confusion about Skill Catalog?
A catalog entry means the skill is discoverable. It does not mean the body is active or its tools are authorized.
Learn Skill Catalog in the course
Start with
- Skill Discovery and Progressive Disclosure
A skill becomes useful before its body is loaded. Its name and description earn a place in the catalog; its deeper files earn context only when the task reaches them.
Taught in Phase 13: Tools & Protocols.
Related terms
- Skill DiscoveryA runtime pipeline that searches configured roots, identifies candidate skill directories, validates their package contract, attaches…
- Skill InvocationThe runtime-mediated process in which an eligible human, model, application, or other skill selects a skill and causes its instructions to…
- Progressive DisclosureSupplying a person or model with the minimum useful context first, then revealing deeper detail when the task or evidence requires it.
- Token BudgetAn explicit allocation of token capacity across instructions, evidence, history, tool results, reasoning or working space, and output.
- Agent SkillA discoverable directory of procedural instructions whose entry point is `SKILL.md`, with optional references, scripts, and assets that a…
- Skill BundleThe complete installable skill directory, including `SKILL.md` and every reference, script, asset, fixture, or companion file required by…
Sources
More terms in Agents & tools
- Agent
- Agent Harness
- Agent Memory
- Agent State
- Agent Skill
- Approval Gate
- Checkpoint
- Compensating Action
- Delegation
- Durable Execution
- Function Calling
- Human-in-the-Loop (HITL)
- MCP (Model Context Protocol)
- Multi Round-Trip Request (MRTR)
- Orchestration
- Planning
- ReAct
- Sandbox
- Skill Bundle
- Skill Discovery
- Skill Invocation
- Stateless MCP
- Structured Output
- Swarm
- Termination Condition
- Tool Contract
This entry comes from glossary/terms.md on GitHub. Browse all 250 glossary terms.