acquiring-skills
Acquiring New Skills
This skill teaches you how to safely discover and install skills from external sources.
SAFETY - READ THIS FIRST
Skills can contain:
- Markdown files (.md) - Risk: prompt injection, misleading instructions
- Scripts (Python, TypeScript, Bash) - Risk: malicious code execution
Trusted Sources (no user approval needed for download)
https://github.com/letta-ai/skills- Letta's community skillshttps://github.com/anthropics/skills- Anthropic's official skills
Untrusted Sources (ALWAYS verify with user)
For ANY source other than letta-ai or anthropics:
- Ask the user before downloading
- Explain where the skill comes from
- Get explicit approval
Script Safety
Even for skills from trusted sources, ALWAYS:
- Read and inspect any scripts before executing them
- Understand what the script does
- Be wary of network calls, file operations, or system commands
When to Use This Skill
DO use when:
- User asks for something where a skill likely exists (e.g., "help me test this webapp", "generate a PDF report")
- You think "there's probably a skill that would bootstrap my understanding"
- User explicitly asks about available skills or extending capabilities
DON'T use for:
- General coding tasks you can already handle
- Simple bug fixes or feature implementations
- Tasks where you have sufficient knowledge
Ask Before Searching (Interactive Mode)
If you recognize a task that might have an associated skill, ask the user first:
"This sounds like something where a community skill might help (e.g., webapp testing with Playwright). Would you like me to look for available skills in the Letta or Anthropic repositories? This might take a minute, or I can start coding right away if you prefer."
The user may prefer to start immediately rather than wait for skill discovery.
Only proceed with skill acquisition if the user agrees.
Skill Repositories
| Repository | Description |
|---|---|
| https://github.com/letta-ai/skills | Community skills for Letta agents |
| https://github.com/anthropics/skills | Anthropic's official Agent Skills |
Browse these repositories to discover available skills. Check the README for skill listings.
Installation Locations
| Location | Path | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
| Agent-scoped | ~/.letta/agents/<agent-id>/skills/<skill>/ |
Skills for a single agent (default for agent-specific capabilities) |
| Global | ~/.letta/skills/<skill>/ |
General-purpose skills useful across projects |
| Project | .skills/<skill>/ |
Project-specific skills |
Rule: Default to agent-scoped for changes that should apply only to the current agent. Use project for repo-specific skills. Use global only if all agents should inherit the skill.
How to Download Skills
Skills are directories containing SKILL.md and optionally scripts/, references/, examples/.
Method: Clone to /tmp, then copy
# 1. Clone the repo (shallow)
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/anthropics/skills /tmp/skills-temp
# 2. Copy the skill to your skills directory
# For agent-scoped (recommended default):
cp -r /tmp/skills-temp/skills/webapp-testing ~/.letta/agents/<agent-id>/skills/
# For global:
# cp -r /tmp/skills-temp/skills/webapp-testing ~/.letta/skills/
# For project:
# cp -r /tmp/skills-temp/skills/webapp-testing .skills/
# 3. Cleanup
rm -rf /tmp/skills-temp
Alternative: rsync (preserves permissions)
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/anthropics/skills /tmp/skills-temp
rsync -av /tmp/skills-temp/skills/webapp-testing/ ~/.letta/agents/<agent-id>/skills/webapp-testing/
rm -rf /tmp/skills-temp
Registering New Skills
After downloading a skill, it will be automatically discovered on the next message. Skills are discovered from ~/.letta/skills/, .skills/, and agent-scoped ~/.letta/agents/<agent-id>/skills/ directories.
Complete Example
User asks: "Can you help me test my React app's UI?"
- Recognize opportunity: Browser/webapp testing - likely has a skill
- Ask user: "Would you like me to look for webapp testing skills, or start coding right away?"
- If user agrees, find skill: Check anthropics/skills for webapp-testing
- Download (trusted source):
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/anthropics/skills /tmp/skills-temp cp -r /tmp/skills-temp/skills/webapp-testing ~/.letta/agents/<agent-id>/skills/ rm -rf /tmp/skills-temp - Inspect scripts: Read any .py or .ts files before using them
- Invoke:
Skill(skill: "webapp-testing") - Use: Follow the skill's instructions for the user's task
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