The article presents AGENTS.md as something distinct from Skills, but it is actually a simplified instance of the same concept. Their AGENTS.md approach tells the AI where to find instructions for performing a task. That’s a Skill.

I expect the benefit is from better Skill design, specifically, minimizing the number of steps and decisions between the AI’s starting state and the correct information. Fewer transitions -> fewer chances for error to compound.

Yea, I am now separating them based on

1. Those I force into the system prompt using rules based systems and "context"

2. Those I let the agent lookup or discover

I also limit what gets into message parts, moving some of the larger token consumers to the system prompt so they only show once, most notable read/write_file