Teach Devin your way of working with Skills

After a few sessions, the limit is no longer how you phrase a task. It is how much Devin already knows about how your team works. Skills are how you teach it once instead of in every prompt.

Read the steps as text

1. Write it. A SKILL.md file with the procedure, in your repository or on the Customize page.
2. Devin finds it. Each repository is scanned for skills as it is cloned.
3. It gets used. You call it with @skills:name, or Devin picks it when it is relevant.

1. Write it. A SKILL.md file with the procedure, in your repository or on the Customize page.
2. Devin finds it. Each repository is scanned for skills as it is cloned.
3. It gets used. You call it with @skills:name, or Devin picks it when it is relevant.

What a skill is

A skill is a SKILL.md file that teaches Devin a reusable procedure for any repeatable workflow, such as testing, deployment or code review. Skills follow the open Agent Skills standard, so the same file can work in other AI coding tools as well.

Where skills live

There are two places to write one:

• In a repository. The recommended location is .agents/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md. Because the file is in your repo, it is versioned and reviewed like any other code.
• In the web app. The Customize page lets you create skills for yourself, your organization or your enterprise.

Devin scans each repository for skill files as it is cloned, so it sees the version on the branch it is working on. Skills from plugins installed for your organization are available when the session starts.

How a skill gets used

By name. Put @skills:<skill-name> in your prompt. You can pass arguments after the name:

@skills:deploy staging

Automatically. Devin may use a relevant skill on its own. If you want a skill to run only when someone asks for it, the skill file can turn automatic use off.

A skill can also set its own tool rules. It can list tools Devin may use without asking, and it can deny a tool outright.

Playbooks are moving to Skills

A playbook, in the docs’ words, “is like a custom system prompt for a repeated task.” Playbooks are now moving to Skills:

• New accounts start with Skills and have no Playbooks, from October 24, 2026.
• When an existing account moves, each playbook becomes a skill with the same instructions.
• The docs say to use Skills for new work.

Knowledge is deprecated

The docs state: “Knowledge is deprecated and will be removed in a future update.” Existing Knowledge is being migrated to Skills automatically. The rollout is gradual and needs no action from you. No removal date has been published.

What to put in a skill

You want Devin to know…	Write
Coding standards and “how we do things here”	A skill
The steps for a recurring job	A skill
Anything you used to put in a playbook or in Knowledge	A skill

The sign that you need one is simple. If you paste the same paragraph into a third prompt, write it down as a skill.