Visual Studio Code's Harald Kirschner explains how to customize AI agents using Agent Skills, detailing their structure, implementation, and benefits for developers.

Customizing AI Agents in VS Code with Agent Skills

Presenters: Harald Kirschner, James Montemagno, Tim Rogers

Overview

This video introduces Agent Skills in Visual Studio Code, a new approach for developers to tailor AI agents without overloading the context window. Agent Skills are managed using simple Markdown files and complement existing custom instructions to deliver relevant knowledge to the AI agent as needed.

What Are Agent Skills?

• Agent Skills allow developers to extend and customize AI agent behavior in VS Code.
• Skills are maintained as Markdown files and reside within the VS Code environment.
• This approach helps limit the information fed into the context window, improving AI efficiency and relevance.

Key Topics Covered

• Location of Agent Skills in VS Code: Explains where skills are stored and accessed within the editor.
• Enabling and Structuring Skills: Walks through the process of enabling skills and the recommended structure for the Markdown files used.
• Complementing Custom Instructions: Shows how skills augment custom instructions to help the AI agent load the right knowledge at the right time.

Benefits for Developers

• Fine-grained control over AI agent knowledge and functionality.
• Simpler management through Markdown files.
• Enhanced flexibility in customizing your developer environment without context window overload.

Additional Resources

• VS Code on (https://x.com/code), Bluesky, YouTube, LinkedIn, GitHub

For those interested in bringing smarter, more efficient AI assistance into their Visual Studio Code workflow, Agent Skills is an important new feature to explore.