Architecture - Skills System

Skills provide workflow intelligence without hardcoding every domain behavior into the core engine.

Skill contract

A skill is a directory with SKILL.md frontmatter + instructions.

Required/important metadata:

• name
• description
• platforms (optional, filtered)
• deps (optional command checks)
• source / version / updated_at (for provenance)

Runtime behavior

• Skill catalog is surfaced in system prompt.
• Agent calls activate_skill only when needed.
• Platform/dependency filters hide incompatible skills from runtime catalog.

Source types

• builtin: shipped with MicroClaw data bootstrap.
• local: user-authored skill in local skills directory.
• remote: synchronized via sync_skills and normalized locally.

Why this boundary matters

Core framework should provide:

• discovery
• metadata parsing/validation
• activation APIs
• compatibility filtering

Core framework should not embed domain-specific business workflows. Those belong in skills.