Skills

A skill is a reusable prompt package that injects specific domain knowledge, procedures, and scripts into an agent. Skills are Google ADK–compatible: load local skills through ADK’s SkillToolset, and connect cloud skill spaces through VeADK’s VeSkillRegistry.

Local skills

Load a local skill directory with ADK’s load_skill_from_dir and pass it as a standard toolset to the agent:

from google.adk.skills import load_skill_from_dir
from google.adk.tools.skill_toolset import SkillToolset
from veadk import Agent

skill = load_skill_from_dir("/abs/path/to/skills/kb-skill")
agent = Agent(tools=[SkillToolset(skills=[skill])])

Skill loading, prompt injection, and tool exposure are all handled by ADK; the tools visible to the model include list_skills, load_skill, load_skill_resource, and run_skill_script. If a skill runs scripts from scripts/, configure a suitable code_executor on the SkillToolset or the agent when constructing SkillToolset directly through the ADK API.

When skills are loaded through Harness, CLI-generated agent code, or the AgentKit session capability service, VeADK automatically configures a local code executor for SkillToolset, so skill scripts run without additional configuration.

Cloud skill spaces

Connect a cloud skill space through VeSkillRegistry, then hand it to SkillToolset:

from google.adk.tools.skill_toolset import SkillToolset
from veadk import Agent
from veadk.skills import VeSkillRegistry

registry = VeSkillRegistry(skill_source_id=skill_space_id)
agent = Agent(tools=[SkillToolset(registry=registry)])

This does not download every skill up front: search_skills fetches the remote skill list in real time, and get_skill downloads and loads a specific skill on demand; when the remote version changes, the new version is re-downloaded.

Harness skills center

Harness can load both Skill Hub skills and AgentKit skills-center spaces. A plain name or slug in skills identifies a Skill Hub skill; the space: prefix identifies a skills-center space ID. The skills center requires Volcengine credentials that can read the space and its object-storage content. For local runs, set VOLCENGINE_ACCESS_KEY and VOLCENGINE_SECRET_KEY, plus VOLCENGINE_SESSION_TOKEN for temporary credentials. On VeFaaS, the bound IAM role can provide temporary credentials instead.

cd my-harness
veadk harness add \
  --skills "data-visualization-cloud,space:ss-example"

The resulting harness.yaml stores the sources as a list:

skills:
  - data-visualization-cloud
  - space:ss-example

Harness downloads and loads the base skills during startup. space:ss-example loads every skill in that space and combines them with Skill Hub skills in one SkillToolset. You can also add a space for one invocation:

veadk harness invoke \
  --name research-agent \
  --message "Prepare a research report" \
  --skills "space:ss-example"

Invocation-level --skills adds skills on top of the base Harness configuration without changing harness.yaml. If any skill cannot be downloaded, lacks a valid SKILL.md, or violates the ADK skill format, Harness stops that load instead of continuing with a partial skill set.

Skill directory layout

A local skill is a directory containing a SKILL.md file, and may include references/, assets/, and scripts/ subdirectories:

skills/
└── kb-skill/
    ├── SKILL.md
    ├── references/
    ├── assets/
    └── scripts/

SKILL.md must declare name and description in frontmatter, and the directory name must match name:

SKILL.md

---
name: kb-skill
description: A skill that queries the knowledge base and composes an answer.
---

Body...

Legacy local entry (deprecated)

VeADK’s old Agent(skills=..., skills_mode="local") local entry still works but is deprecated; migrate to SkillToolset above. The skills_sandbox and aio_sandbox modes are unaffected and used as before:

Mode	Description
`local`	Deprecated. Loads local skills via VeADK’s old path; migrate to ADK `SkillToolset`.
`skills_sandbox`	Skill hosted in a cloud skill space, executed in a sandbox via the `execute_skills` tool.
`aio_sandbox`	All-in-one sandbox mode, for AgentKit-hosted tool runtimes.

Sandbox mode example:

from veadk import Agent
from veadk.tools.builtin_tools.execute_skills import execute_skills

agent = Agent(
    skills=[skill_space_id],
    skills_mode="skills_sandbox",
    tools=[execute_skills],
)

Overview

Get started

Core components

Observability

Extensions

Frontend

Security

Deployment

Local skills

Cloud skill spaces

Harness skills center

Skill directory layout

Legacy local entry (deprecated)

​Local skills

​Cloud skill spaces

​Harness skills center

​Skill directory layout

​Legacy local entry (deprecated)

Local skills

Cloud skill spaces

Harness skills center

Skill directory layout

Legacy local entry (deprecated)