RSS 中文
⌕

Chapter 29 | Deep Dive into SKILL.md: Progressive Disclosure

20 MIN READ | UPDATED: 2026-06-07

🎯 Learning Objectives

By the end of this episode, you will be able to:

  1. Deeply understand the modular and layered design of SKILL.md and its importance in complex scenarios.
  2. Master the principles of the Progressive Disclosure mechanism in LLM skill management.
  3. Analyze the bidirectional message communication workflow between the LLM and SKILL.md, understanding how it efficiently utilizes context.
  4. Design and optimize complex SKILL.md files to effectively avoid LLM context overflow, improving performance and cost-effectiveness.

📖 Core Concepts Explained

29.1 What is Progressive Disclosure?

In UI/UX, progressive disclosure means showing only the information necessary for the current task to avoid overwhelming the user. In Skills Engineering, it means showing only the instructions necessary for the current step to avoid overwhelming the LLM's context.

29.2 The Layered Structure of a Skill

A well-designed Skill follows this hierarchy:

  1. Global Registry: A list of all available skills (minimal metadata).
  2. Skill Activation: When a skill is triggered, its high-level instructions are loaded.
  3. Task-Specific Context: Detailed resources (like API schemas or logic flowcharts) are only loaded when the Agent explicitly asks for them.

29.3 Bidirectional Communication

The Agent doesn't just "read" the Skill; it "interacts" with it:

  • Agent -> Skill: "I am starting the migration task. Give me the checklist."
  • Skill -> Agent: "Here are the 5 steps you must follow..."
  • Agent -> Skill: "I've completed step 1. What's the specific regex for step 2?"

🔧 Tools & Skills

Component Role in Progressive Disclosure
description The entry point; keeps the global registry lean.
resources/ External files (YAML, JSON) that are loaded on-demand.
examples/ Few-shot examples that are only shown when the agent is uncertain.

📝 Key Takeaways

  1. Context is Currency: Don't waste it by loading everything at once.
  2. On-Demand Loading: Treat your SKILL.md like a library, not a single long document.
  3. Scalability: Progressive disclosure allows you to have hundreds of specialized skills without degrading the performance of the main orchestrator.