Ask HN: I still don't understand why AI agents need "skills" • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: I still don't understand why AI agents need "skills"

#11

Post by gutomec » Sun, Aug 02, 2026, 5:14 AM UTC

[flagged]

Re: Ask HN: I still don't understand why AI agents need "skills"

#12

Post by greazy » Sun, Aug 02, 2026, 5:38 AM UTC

getstowly wrote: post #10

kian wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how much do you make selling skills on marketplace, just curious? It seems like it'd be impossible to vet a skill without reading it, so the entire concept mystifies me just a little bit.

Usually only charge a few bucks because honestly, anyone can make them but those that buy get them because they don't want to spend the time on making them. You can sell them for $10 or $15, maybe more depending on the skill. Not always a lot but if you have a ton of them, you can make some serious cash.

Where are you selling them?

Re: Ask HN: I still don't understand why AI agents need "skills"

#13

Post by bad_username » Sun, Aug 02, 2026, 6:27 AM UTC

Skills is just lazy loading of well-organized Markdown docs. The "lazy" part is the core part.

Re: Ask HN: I still don't understand why AI agents need "skills"

#14

Post by toplinesoftsys » Sun, Aug 02, 2026, 6:50 AM UTC

Skill is a document that AI agent ignores, distorts and forgets immediately after reading it :)

Re: Ask HN: I still don't understand why AI agents need "skills"

#15

Post by alexhans » Sun, Aug 02, 2026, 7:53 AM UTC

Skills represent a pattern many of us converged to before it was named as such (very useful for comms): Progressive disclosure, determistic scripts bundled (not just markdowns). See past comment:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48132477

Don't underestimate the value of "Skill builder" skills too. Great UX