> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tembo.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Agent Skills

> Guide how agents approach sessions with custom skills in your repository.

Skills are instructions that live in your repository and guide how agents approach work. They help agents follow multi-step processes like research, planning, implementation, and review instead of doing everything in a single pass.

## How it works

Place skills in the dotfile directory for your coding agent at the root of your repository:

* `.claude/` for Claude Code
* `.codex/` for Codex
* `.opencode/` for OpenCode
* `.cursor/` for Cursor

The agent picks up these skills when working on sessions in that repo. You need to instruct the agent to use a skill, either in the session description or after a PR is opened via the [feedback loop](/features/feedback-loop):

```
@tembo Use the implementation skill for this session
```

```
@tembo Now use the code-review skill to review your changes
```

## Example

A skill that guides the agent through a structured implementation flow:

```markdown theme={null}
# Implementation Skill

1. Research the codebase to understand existing patterns
2. Create a plan with specific files and changes
3. Implement the plan following project conventions
4. Run tests and fix any failures
5. Self-review the diff before opening a PR
```

## What skills are good for

* Enforcing a research-then-implement workflow
* Requiring test coverage before opening a PR
* Defining code review checklists the agent runs against its own output
* Setting quality thresholds for different session types

## What's coming

We're building first-party skill support and planning mode so Tembo can handle work in staged steps:

**Research → Plan → Implement → Review → Iterate**

This will improve PR quality on larger sessions, where today the agent may need a few iterations before the output is merge-ready. [Rule files](/features/rule-files) and skills in dotfile directories are the best way to guide agents today.

## Tembo Managed Skills

You can also create and manage skills directly in Tembo.

Open **Settings** → **Skills** to:

* Add a new skill
* Give it a name and description
* Write the main instructions in `SKILL.md`
* Add extra reference files if needed
* Edit or delete existing skills

Tembo managed skills are stored in your workspace settings and loaded into sessions automatically when Tembo runs an agent.