# Cursor Skills Skills in [[Cursor.com|Cursor]] package domain-specific knowledge and workflows that an agent can pull in when it needs them. Each skill is a `SKILL.md` file. Cursor introduced them in v2.4 (January 2026) and treats the format as an open standard rather than a Cursor-only feature. ## How they differ from Rules [[Cursor Rules]] are always in context. Skills are loaded dynamically, only when the agent decides a skill is relevant to the task at hand. That keeps the context window clean while still giving the agent access to specialized capabilities it would otherwise need to be told about every time. ## What a skill can contain - Domain knowledge and instructions for a specific kind of task - Custom commands: reusable workflows triggered with `/` in the agent input - [[Cursor Hooks|Hooks]] that run before or after agent actions ## Notes - The `SKILL.md` convention is shared with [[Claude Code Skills]], part of a wider move toward portable agent skills. - Skills, subagents, rules, hooks, and MCP servers can be bundled together and shipped as a plugin. ## References - Skills documentation: https://cursor.com/docs/skills - Changelog v2.4: https://cursor.com/changelog/2-4 ## Related - [[Cursor.com]] - [[Cursor Rules]] - [[Cursor Hooks]] - [[Cursor Subagents]] - [[Claude Code Skills]] - [[Model Context Protocol (MCP)]] - [[AI Agents]]