Skills

Skills are markdown files with YAML frontmatter that give agents operational instructions. There are two independent skill systems.

Two Skill Systems

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Slop Skills

Four required skills loaded at startup. Slop's system prompt includes a one-liner for each; the full content is available via slop_read_skill(name).

See Start Here for the entry-point skill.

Skill List

How They Load

Skills are validated and cached at startup in apps/bots/slop/src/skills/index.ts. The hub also keeps mirrored copies in src/config/skills/slop/ for docs and skill browsing:

const REQUIRED_SLOP_SKILLS = ['Start Here', 'Member Profiles', 'DB Operations', 'Event Scheduling'];

// Loaded once, cached globally
function loadSkillsContextFromLocalStrict(): string {
  // Reads each .md file from skills/ directory
  // Validates all 4 required skills exist
  // Returns formatted string: "- **SkillName**: description" per skill
}

The cached context is injected into every system prompt under the [SKILLS] section. At runtime, the LLM can call slop_read_skill(name) to load the full markdown content of any skill.

Skill Frontmatter Format

---
name: Start Here
skill_group: slop
description: "Slop Discord runtime orientation. Start here for every thread."
when_to_use: First skill for every Slop thread/mention.
when_not_to_use: Not for agent or MCP workflows.
success_criteria: Slop retrieves before claiming, cites sources, stays concise.
---

---

Agent Skills

Two skills for external agents connecting via MCP.

See Agent for the main operating policy.

Skill List

How They Load

Agent skills live in src/config/skills/agents/ and are served by the skill service:

// src/services/skills/skillService.ts
const BUNDLED_AGENT_SKILLS_DIR = path.join(process.cwd(), 'src/config/skills/agents');
const AGENT_SKILL_ORDER = ['agent.md', 'mcp-quickstart.md'];

// Read via API or MCP tool
export function readSkill(name: string): Skill | null {
  // Searches agent skills, then slop skills, then user skills
  // Returns { name, description, skillGroup, content, fileName }
}

MCP clients call ls_read_skill("agent") to load the operating policy, then ls_read_skill("mcp-quickstart") for setup details.

---

Skill Service

The hub's skill service (src/services/skills/skillService.ts) manages three sources:

const BUNDLED_AGENT_SKILLS_DIR = 'src/config/skills/agents';      // 2 agent skills
const BUNDLED_SLOP_SKILLS_DIR  = 'src/config/skills/slop';          // 4 mirrored slop skills
const USER_SKILLS_DIR          = '~/.latent-space-hub/skills';     // up to 10 user skills

API endpoints:

All skills appear in the docs sidebar under their respective sections (Slop Skills / Agent Skills).