Skills and Agents Activation Guide¶

This guide explains how to activate and use skills and agents in Claude Code plugins.

Agents¶

Agents are specialized AI assistants that handle complex, multi-step tasks autonomously. They are triggered automatically based on context or can be invoked manually.

Automatic Activation¶

Agents activate automatically when Claude detects relevant context in your request. Each agent has triggering conditions defined in its description field.

Example triggers:

Manual Activation via Task Tool¶

You can explicitly request an agent using the Task tool:

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Use the java-developer agent to optimize this code

Claude will invoke:

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{
  "subagent_type": "development:java-developer",
  "prompt": "Optimize this code..."
}

Agent Naming Convention¶

Agents are namespaced by plugin:

Skills¶

Skills are reusable capabilities that can be invoked via commands, automatically triggered, or called directly.

Activation Methods¶

1. Via Command Flag¶

Some commands support a --with-skills flag to use an associated skill:

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/commit --with-skills          # Uses professional-commit-workflow
/create-pr --with-skills       # Uses professional-pr-workflow

2. Automatic Triggering¶

Skills can activate automatically based on context:

3. Direct Invocation¶

User-invocable skills can be called directly:

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/markdown-syntax-formatter     # Direct skill invocation

Skill Naming Convention¶

Skills are namespaced by plugin:

Plugin-Specific Activation¶

Git Workflow Plugin¶

Skills:

Code Quality Plugin¶

Agents:

Development Plugin¶

Agent:

Core Plugin¶

Agents:

Skill:

Education Plugin¶

Agent:

Skill:

Obsidian Plugin¶

Skill:

Best Practices¶

When to Use Agents¶

• Complex, multi-step tasks requiring domain expertise
• Tasks that benefit from specialized knowledge
• When you need consistent, high-quality output in a specific domain

When to Use Skills¶

• Repetitive tasks that benefit from automation
• Tasks with well-defined inputs and outputs
• Performance-critical operations (skills are often faster)

Combining Agents and Skills¶

Agents and skills can work together:

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# Use java-developer agent for implementation
# Then use /commit --with-skills for fast, consistent commits

Troubleshooting¶

Agent Not Triggering¶

1. Check if the plugin is enabled in settings
2. Use explicit trigger phrases from agent description
3. Manually invoke via Task tool

Skill Not Available¶

1. Verify plugin is installed and enabled
2. Check if skill is user-invocable (not all skills are)
3. Use associated command with --with-skills flag

See Also¶

• Agent Format Reference
• Skill Format Reference
• Plugin Development Guide