# What Built-In Skills Does the OpenMAIC Agent System Provide? > Explore OpenMAIC's 22 built-in skills designed to automate educational workflows. Discover how to leverage these skills for curriculum design, content creation, and research. - Repository: [MAIC/OpenMAIC](https://github.com/THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC) - Tags: deep-dive - Published: 2026-09-11 --- **OpenMAIC ships with 22 built-in skills stored in `skills/agent-runtime` that users invoke via the `/skill-name` syntax to automate curriculum design, content generation, and educational research workflows.** The OpenMAIC agent system includes a native skill framework that eliminates boilerplate setup for common educational AI tasks. These **built-in skills** are automatically discoverable and executable through the agent's `read` tool, with each skill defined by a self-contained [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC/blob/main/SKILL.md) file and optional JSON constraints. Users trigger complex pedagogical workflows by referencing the skill handle—the folder name—prefixed with a forward slash. ## How OpenMAIC Built-In Skills Work Built-in skills reside in the `skills/agent-runtime` directory, where each subdirectory represents a unique skill handle. When a user includes `/skill-handle` in a prompt, the system resolves this token through the composer logic and loads the corresponding [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC/blob/main/SKILL.md) definition. The skill resolution pipeline is implemented in [`lib/workbench/composer-skills.ts`](https://github.com/THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC/blob/main/lib/workbench/composer-skills.ts), which handles: - **Token recognition** – Parsing `/skill-name` patterns in user input - **Insertion and deletion** – Managing skill references in the conversation context - **Rendering** – Displaying skill handles with appropriate UI indicators Unit tests in [`tests/workbench/composer-skills.test.ts`](https://github.com/THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC/blob/main/tests/workbench/composer-skills.test.ts) verify that built-in skill tokens are correctly identified and processed, while [`tests/workbench/workbench-i18n.test.ts`](https://github.com/THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC/blob/main/tests/workbench/workbench-i18n.test.ts) ensures skill names render properly across locales. ## Complete Catalog of Built-In Skills The OpenMAIC agent system provides 22 specialized skills organized by pedagogical function. ### Curriculum Planning and Pedagogical Frameworks These skills implement established educational methodologies and high-level planning workflows: - **`curriculum-planner`** – High-level curriculum planning across grades and subjects, suitable for academic coordinators mapping multi-year instructional sequences. - **`k12-core-literacy-planning`** – Subject-specific unit planning for mathematics, science, languages, and humanities within K-12 frameworks. - **`understanding-by-design`** – Implements the Wiggins and McTighe "Understanding by Design" framework, focusing on backward design from learning outcomes. - **`spiral-curriculum`** – Generates spiral-curriculum sequences where concepts are revisited with increasing complexity. - **`learning-to-learn`** – Designs meta-learning activities that teach students cognitive strategies and self-regulated learning techniques. - **`feynman-learning`** – Applies the Feynman Technique, guiding students to explain concepts in simple terms to expose knowledge gaps. ### Instructional Delivery and Content Styles These skills generate content using specific instructional modalities or clone existing stylistic patterns: - **`lecture-style`** – Generates traditional lecture-style instructional narratives suitable for direct instruction models. - **`workshop-style`** – Provides a workshop-style lesson design workflow emphasizing hands-on activities and collaborative learning. - **`vocational`** – Generates vocational-training lesson plans tailored to technical and career education. - **`teacher-style-clone`** – Analyzes and clones a specific teacher's stylistic tone, vocabulary, and pedagogical approach for lesson creation. - **`style-clone`** – General-purpose style cloning for instructional text, applicable to institutional voice guidelines or specific genre requirements. - **`page-clone`** – Clones page-level structural templates for consistent layout reuse across lesson materials. ### Research and Validation These skills support evidence-based content development and accuracy verification: - **`deep-research`** – Conducts multi-step research and synthesis across sources, generating annotated bibliographies and literature reviews. - **`deep-interactive`** – Facilitates interactive deep-dive tutoring sessions using Socratic questioning and adaptive scaffolding. - **`fact-check`** – Performs automated fact-checking on supplied statements against trusted sources, flagging inaccuracies with corrections. ### Presentation and Media Generation These skills handle the creation of slide decks, staged flows, and multimedia imports: - **`slide-dsl`** – Domain-specific language for authoring slide-based presentations with structural constraints. - **`slide-craft`** – Crafting slide decks with content-aware defaults, including automatic layout suggestions and visual hierarchy optimization. - **`pptx-import`** – Imports PowerPoint (`.pptx`) files into lesson components, extracting content while preserving structural relationships. - **`stage-dsl`** – DSL for authoring staged instructional flows, defining prerequisite stages and progression gates. - **`stage-design`** – Guided stage-by-stage lesson design wizard that breaks complex topics into scaffolded learning phases. ### Authoring and Editing Utilities Supporting tools for content refinement and skill development: - **`pro-editing`** – Professional-grade editing and polishing of lesson drafts, including clarity improvements and pedagogical alignment checks. - **`build-personal-skill`** – Boilerplate generator for authoring user-defined skills, providing templates and validation schemas for extending the skill library. ## Skill Configuration and Constraints Advanced skills may include optional [`outline-constraints.json`](https://github.com/THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC/blob/main/outline-constraints.json) files alongside their [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC/blob/main/SKILL.md) definitions. These JSON files specify curriculum standards alignments, stage dependency graphs, content length limits, and assessment rubric structures. For example, [`skills/agent-runtime/curriculum-planner/outline-constraints.json`](https://github.com/THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC/blob/main/skills/agent-runtime/curriculum-planner/outline-constraints.json) likely defines the valid grade-level ranges and subject taxonomies available to that skill, while the narrative description and parameter schema reside in [`skills/agent-runtime/curriculum-planner/SKILL.md`](https://github.com/THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC/blob/main/skills/agent-runtime/curriculum-planner/SKILL.md). ## Summary OpenMAIC delivers a comprehensive built-in skill ecosystem for educational AI development: - **22 production-ready skills** covering curriculum planning, content generation, research, and media creation - **Zero-configuration deployment** via the `skills/agent-runtime` directory structure and native `read` tool integration - **Extensible architecture** supporting custom skill development through the `build-personal-skill` template - **Robust composer integration** with token recognition implemented in [`lib/workbench/composer-skills.ts`](https://github.com/THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC/blob/main/lib/workbench/composer-skills.ts) and validated by comprehensive test suites ## Frequently Asked Questions ### How do I invoke a built-in skill in the OpenMAIC agent system? Reference the skill by its folder name prefixed with a forward slash, such as `/curriculum-planner` or `/fact-check`. The composer logic in [`lib/workbench/composer-skills.ts`](https://github.com/THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC/blob/main/lib/workbench/composer-skills.ts) detects this token and loads the corresponding [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC/blob/main/SKILL.md) definition from `skills/agent-runtime/[skill-name]/`. ### Can I create custom skills in OpenMAIC? Yes. Use the **`build-personal-skill`** built-in skill to generate boilerplate templates for custom skill development. Custom skills follow the same directory structure as built-in versions, requiring a [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC/blob/main/SKILL.md) file and optional [`outline-constraints.json`](https://github.com/THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC/blob/main/outline-constraints.json) for complex validation rules. ### What is the difference between `slide-dsl` and `slide-craft`? **`slide-dsl`** provides a domain-specific language for precise programmatic control over slide structure and content, while **`slide-craft`** offers a higher-level wizard interface with content-aware defaults and automatic layout suggestions for rapid deck creation. ### Where are skill constraints defined in the OpenMAIC repository? Optional constraints reside in [`outline-constraints.json`](https://github.com/THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC/blob/main/outline-constraints.json) files within each skill's `skills/agent-runtime/[skill-name]/` directory. These files define validation rules for curriculum standards, stage dependencies, and content parameters, while the core skill description lives in [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/THU-MAIC/OpenMAIC/blob/main/SKILL.md).