Anthropic Publishes Official Skills Guide — How It Compares to Soul Spec
name: sprint-planner description: Manages Linear project workflows. Use when user mentions "sprint" or "create tasks". **Progressive Disclosure** in three levels minimizes token usage: 1. **Frontma...

Source: DEV Community
name: sprint-planner description: Manages Linear project workflows. Use when user mentions "sprint" or "create tasks". **Progressive Disclosure** in three levels minimizes token usage: 1. **Frontmatter** — always in system prompt (decides when to trigger) 2. **SKILL.md body** — loaded when relevant (actual instructions) 3. **Linked files** — explored only when needed (detailed references) ## What Soul Spec Does Soul Spec defines an agent's **identity**: my-agent/ ├── soul.json # Metadata (name, description, tags) ├── SOUL.md # Personality, tone, principles ├── IDENTITY.md # Basic information └── USER.md # User context If Skills answer "how to do it," Soul Spec answers "who does it." ## Comparison | | Skills (SKILL.md) | Soul Spec (soul.json) | |---|---|---| | **Purpose** | Workflow knowledge | Persona & identity | | **Core question** | "How to do it?" | "Who am I?" | | **Trigger** | On user request | Always active | | **Multiple** | Many skills at once | One persona | | **MCP** | D