OpenMAIC Agent Workbench Built-in Skills: Complete Catalog and Developer Guide

The OpenMAIC Agent Workbench provides 22 built-in skills—including workshop-style, vocational training, and stage-design—that are defined in skills/agent-runtime/*/SKILL.md files and registered at runtime via the Agent Skills Registry in lib/workbench/agent-skills.ts.

The Agent Workbench in the THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC repository ships with a comprehensive set of built-in skills designed to execute high-level teaching strategies. These skills range from interactive workshop methods to curriculum planning tools, each declared through markdown metadata and loaded dynamically into the workbench's skill registry.

What Are Agent Workbench Built-in Skills?

Built-in skills are declarative teaching strategies that users invoke via the "/" slash command or the skill menu in the OpenMAIC interface. Each skill is defined by a SKILL.md file located in the skills/agent-runtime directory, containing frontmatter with name, title, and description fields. At runtime, the workbench scans this directory, parses every SKILL.md file, and registers the skill in the Agent Skills Registry with a source flag set to 'builtin'. This architecture allows the system to distinguish between core platform capabilities and user-generated extensions while providing consistent UI labeling across locales.

Built-in Skill Architecture

Understanding how OpenMAIC loads and renders skills requires examining three core components: the metadata files, the registry manager, and the UI helpers.

Skill Metadata Files

Each built-in skill originates from a markdown file following the path skills/agent-runtime/{skill-handle}/SKILL.md. These files contain YAML frontmatter that declaratively describes the skill's purpose. For example, the stage-design skill is defined in skills/agent-runtime/stage-design/SKILL.md with a human-readable title of "课堂设计" (Classroom Design).

Agent Skills Registry

The registry logic resides in lib/workbench/agent-skills.ts. When the workbench initializes, the useAgentSkills() hook triggers loadAgentSkills(), which executes a fetch('/api/agent/skills') request. The API aggregates all SKILL.md files from the skills/agent-runtime folder and populates the internal skillsCache. The registry manages loading states, error handling, and owner-scoped invalidation through the invalidateAgentSkills() function.

UI Rendering and Localization

Three helper functions in lib/workbench/agent-skills.ts transform raw metadata into user-facing strings:

• skillTitle(skill): Extracts the localized title from metadata.
• skillDisplayLabel(skill): Formats the display as title /handle.
• skillLabelForId(id, skills): Resolves a skill ID to its display label, used when parsing slash commands like /stage-design.

The Composer integration in lib/workbench/composer-skills.ts parses slash queries and maps them to registry entries, enabling real-time skill invocation during content creation.

Complete Catalog of Built-in Skills

The OpenMAIC repository currently maintains 22 built-in skills, each accessible via a unique handle. The following catalog reflects all SKILL.md files present in the skills/agent-runtime directory:

Pedagogical Strategy Skills

• workshop-style – 互动ワークショップ (Interactive Workshop): Hands-on sessions where learners act rather than watch.
• vocational – 职业实训 (Vocational Training): Technical training focused on real-world occupational tasks.
• understanding-by-design – 理解本位设计 (UbD): Backward-design framework prioritizing conceptual understanding.
• teacher-style-clone – 名师风格 (Master Teacher Style): Uses teacher video/lecture material to guide session flow.
• lecture-style: Systematic explanatory course delivery method.
• feynman-learning: Implements the Feynman technique for deep comprehension.
• learning-to-learn: Meta-learning skill set focused on learning methodologies.
• social-emotional-learning: SEL-focused instructional strategies.

Content Creation and Design Skills

• stage-design – 课堂设计 (Classroom Design): Baseline method for building single classroom stages.
• stage-dsl: Domain-specific language for defining stage-level metadata.
• slide-craft: Generates slide content from structured prompts.
• slide-dsl: DSL for slide-type page definitions.
• pptx-import: Imports PowerPoint decks directly into a stage.
• page-clone: Clones existing page templates.
• style-clone: Clones visual/style templates from existing material.
• pro-editing: Advanced editing capabilities for already-persisted stages.

Curriculum and Research Skills

• curriculum-planner: High-level curriculum planning and structuring.
• spiral-curriculum: Enables spiral curriculum planning methodologies.
• k12-core-literacy-planning: Specialized K-12 core literacy planning skill.
• deep-research: Conducts extensive research for content generation.
• deep-interactive: Interactive deep-dive skill for exploratory learning.
• fact-check: Validates factual claims within generated content.
• build-personal-skill: Generates personalized skills for individual users.

How to Access and Use Built-in Skills in Code

Developers interact with built-in skills through the React hooks and utilities exported from the workbench library. The following patterns demonstrate filtering for built-in skills, resolving labels, and invalidating the registry cache.

Listing Built-in Skills in a Component

import { useAgentSkills, skillLabelForId } from '@/lib/workbench/agent-skills';

function SkillList() {
  const { skills, loading, error } = useAgentSkills();
  
  if (loading) return <div>Loading skills…</div>;
  if (error) return <div>{error}</div>;

  return (
    <ul>
      {skills
        .filter(s => s.source === 'builtin')
        .map(s => (
          <li key={s.id}>{skillLabelForId(s.id, skills)}</li>
        ))}
    </ul>
  );
}

Resolving Slash Commands to UI Labels

function labelForSlash(handle: string) {
  const { skills } = useAgentSkills();
  return skillLabelForId(handle, skills);
}

// Usage: labelForSlash('stage-design') returns "课堂设计 /stage-design"

Invalidating the Skills Cache

When user authentication state changes or when new skills are deployed, force a registry refresh:

import { invalidateAgentSkills } from '@/lib/workbench/agent-skills';

// Forces a refetch from '/api/agent/skills' and updates skillsCache
await invalidateAgentSkills();

Summary

• OpenMAIC Agent Workbench includes 22 built-in skills stored as SKILL.md files under skills/agent-runtime.
• The Agent Skills Registry (lib/workbench/agent-skills.ts) loads these at runtime via useAgentSkills() and flags them with source: 'builtin'.
• UI helpers like skillLabelForId() and skillDisplayLabel() format skill metadata for display, supporting localization.
• Slash command parsing in lib/workbench/composer-skills.ts maps user inputs like /workshop-style to registered skill metadata.
• Skills cover pedagogical strategies (workshop-style, UbD, vocational), content tools (stage-design, PPTX import), and curriculum planning (spiral-curriculum, deep-research).

Frequently Asked Questions

Where are built-in skill definitions stored in the OpenMAIC repository?

Built-in skill definitions reside in the skills/agent-runtime directory, with each skill occupying its own subdirectory containing a SKILL.md file. For example, the stage-design skill is located at skills/agent-runtime/stage-design/SKILL.md. These markdown files contain YAML frontmatter specifying the skill's name, title, and description.

How does the Agent Workbench distinguish built-in skills from custom skills?

The registry in lib/workbench/agent-skills.ts assigns a source property to every loaded skill. Built-in skills receive source: 'builtin', while user-created or dynamically generated skills receive different source flags (such as 'personal'). This allows UI components to filter skill lists using skills.filter(s => s.source === 'builtin') to display only core platform capabilities.

What function converts skill IDs to human-readable labels?

The skillLabelForId(id, skills) function in lib/workbench/agent-skills.ts resolves a skill's unique handle (such as vocational or slide-craft) into a formatted display string. This utility respects locale-specific copy keys and combines the skill's title with its handle (e.g., "职业实训 /vocational") for clear UI presentation.

How are slash commands like /stage-design parsed into skill invocations?

The Composer skills logic in lib/workbench/composer-skills.ts intercepts slash queries, extracts the skill handle (the text following /), and queries the Agent Skills Registry for a matching entry. Once found, the system maps the query parameters to the skill's execution context, enabling users to trigger complex teaching strategies directly from the chat input or command palette.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}