docs: clarify skill injection behavior and add migration guide

[VascoSch92]

Summary

Address documentation gaps identified in OpenHands/software-agent-sdk#2981 regarding skill injection semantics.

Problem

The current documentation shows 3 "loading methods" but the SDK actually implements 4 distinct injection behaviors based on skill format (is_agentskills_format) and trigger configuration. Users have no way to know that:

• Legacy skills with trigger=None inject full content into <REPO_CONTEXT> on every turn
• AgentSkills format uses progressive disclosure (description only, agent reads on demand)
• The same Skill() constructor produces fundamentally different runtime behavior depending on format

Changes

1. New "Skill Injection Behavior" section - Clear table at the top showing where content appears:

   Skill Format	Trigger	Where Content Appears	Model Mediated?
   AgentSkills (SKILL.md)	Any	<available_skills> (description only)	✅ Yes
   AgentSkills (SKILL.md)	Has triggers	<available_skills> + auto-inject	✅ Yes
   Legacy (inline/*.md)	None	<REPO_CONTEXT> (full content, every turn)	❌ No
   Legacy (inline/*.md)	Has triggers	<available_skills> + auto-inject	✅ Yes

2. Warning callout - Token usage warning for legacy trigger=None skills

3. Prompt Structure section - Shows XML structure of where skills appear in prompts

4. Warning on inline skills - Added warning to the "Inline Skill (Code-defined)" example

5. Improved load_skills_from_dir() docs - Table explaining injection behavior for each return value

6. New "Migrating from Legacy to AgentSkills Format" section - Before/after examples with benefits comparison

Related Issues

• Fixes documentation gap reported in [documentation gap + design question]AgentContext skill loading semantics differ silently between AgentSkills and legacy formats software-agent-sdk#2981

---

This PR was created by an AI agent (OpenHands) on behalf of the user.

@VascoSch92 can click here to continue refining the PR

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[all-hands-bot]

🟢 Good taste - Clear documentation improvement that addresses a real gap.

[RISK ASSESSMENT]

• [Overall PR] ⚠️ Risk Assessment: 🟢 LOW

Documentation-only change with no code modifications. The added content clarifies skill injection behavior with clear tables, appropriate warnings, and a helpful migration guide. Well-structured and addresses the gap identified in OpenHands/software-agent-sdk#2981.

VERDICT:
✅ Worth merging: Solid documentation improvement with clear, actionable guidance.

KEY INSIGHT:
The skill injection behavior table and prompt structure examples make previously implicit system behavior explicit and understandable.

[all-hands-bot]

🟢 Good taste - Excellent documentation improvement that addresses a real gap.

[RISK ASSESSMENT]

• [Overall PR] ⚠️ Risk Assessment: 🟢 LOW

Documentation-only change with no code modifications. The added content clarifies skill injection behavior with clear tables, appropriate warnings, helpful XML examples showing prompt structure, and a practical migration guide. Well-structured and directly addresses the documentation gap identified in OpenHands/software-agent-sdk#2981.

Key improvements:

• Clear table at the top showing where content appears (progressive disclosure vs. full injection)
• Token usage warnings for legacy trigger=None skills
• Visual prompt structure showing <REPO_CONTEXT> vs <available_skills> vs <EXTRA_INFO>
• Practical before/after migration examples with benefits comparison
• Enhanced load_skills_from_dir() docs with injection behavior table

VERDICT:
✅ Worth merging: Solid documentation improvement with clear, actionable guidance.

KEY INSIGHT:
Documents the critical but previously undocumented fact that legacy skills with trigger=None inject full content into every turn, potentially consuming significant tokens.

[xingyaoww]

@OpenHands #483 (review)

Please check if this review has considered going to the original codebase to find corresponding coding snippets.

If not, please modify the custom code review guideline in this repo (https://docs.openhands.dev/openhands/usage/use-cases/code-review#customization) so that we tell the code review agent to look through the original codebase and provide evidence as links to the original code for each change in the documentation.

When you are done modifying the custom code review guideline and have pushed it to this PR, re-request the review from all-hands-bot.

[openhands-ai]

I'm on it! xingyaoww can track my progress at all-hands.dev

[xingyaoww]

The all-hands-bot review did not go to the original codebase to find corresponding coding snippets. Both reviews (IDs 4196374014 and 4196396963) approved with general assessments like "looks good" and "solid documentation improvement" without citing any specific source files or lines from software-agent-sdk.

I've updated the code review guideline at .agents/skills/code-review.md in commit d5c5b8e to explicitly require source code evidence. The key additions:

1. Mandatory evidence statement: "Every review comment and every approval MUST include evidence from the source code."
2. Inline comment format: Shows how to cite specific source files with GitHub permalinks (✅ Verified / 🔴 Incorrect patterns)
3. Source Verification table template: A structured table for the overall review body listing each documentation claim, whether it was verified, and the source evidence link
4. Unverified claim flagging: Instructions to explicitly flag claims that couldn't be verified against source
5. GitHub base URLs added to the repository mapping table for easy permalink construction

I've also re-requested review from all-hands-bot so it will re-review with the updated guidelines.

---

This comment was generated by an AI agent (OpenHands).

[openhands-ai]

Summary of Work

Was the request completely addressed?

The reviewer (@xingyaoww) had three specific instructions:

• Check if the all-hands-bot review considered going to the original codebase — Confirmed it did NOT. Both reviews (IDs 4196374014 and 4196396963) approved with general "looks good" assessments without citing any source files or lines from software-agent-sdk.

• Modify the custom code review guideline to tell the code review agent to look through the original codebase and provide evidence as links to the original code for each documentation change — Updated .agents/skills/code-review.md with a new "Providing evidence in review comments (Required)" subsection containing:

  • Mandatory evidence requirement statement
  • Inline comment format examples with ✅ Verified / 🔴 Incorrect patterns and GitHub permalinks
  • Source Verification table template for the overall review body
  • ⚠️ Unverified flagging instructions
  • GitHub base URLs added to the repository mapping table

• Push to the PR and re-request review from all-hands-bot — Committed (d5c5b8e), pushed to fix/skills-documentation-improvements, re-requested review from all-hands-bot, and left an explanatory comment on the PR.

Are the changes concise?

Yes. Only one file was modified (.agents/skills/code-review.md) with 54 insertions and 10 deletions (the deletions were the original lines that were expanded with the new evidence requirements). No extraneous changes were made.

[all-hands-bot]

🟢 Good taste - Clear documentation improvement that accurately describes skill injection behavior.

[RISK ASSESSMENT]

• [Overall PR] ⚠️ Risk Assessment: 🟢 LOW

Documentation-only change with no code modifications. All technical claims verified against SDK source code.

Source Verification

Every documentation claim has been verified against the SDK source code (commit afae3e354821022fcd17065e3b559d624c545125):

Documentation Claim	Verified?	Source Evidence
is_agentskills_format field exists on Skill class	✅	skill.py#L155-L164
Legacy skills with trigger=None inject full content into <REPO_CONTEXT> every turn	✅	agent_context.py#L188-L189, template
AgentSkills format uses progressive disclosure (description only, agent reads on demand)	✅	skill.py#L108-L114, agent_context.py#L186-L187
Skills with triggers appear in <available_skills> and auto-inject on match	✅	agent_context.py#L197-L198, user message suffix
Triggered content appears in <EXTRA_INFO> in user messages	✅	skill_knowledge_info.j2#L2
load_skills_from_dir() returns tuple of (repo_skills, knowledge_skills, agent_skills)	✅	skill.py#L657, docstring#L670-L673
<REPO_CONTEXT> structure for repo skills	✅	system_message_suffix.j2#L6-L22
<SKILLS> / <available_skills> structure	✅	system_message_suffix.j2#L24-L31, to_prompt function

VERDICT:
✅ Worth merging: Accurate documentation that addresses a real gap identified in OpenHands/software-agent-sdk#2981. All technical claims verified against source code.

KEY INSIGHT:
This PR finally documents the critical distinction between legacy trigger=None behavior (full content, every turn) and AgentSkills progressive disclosure (description only, invoke on demand) — a gap that has caused user confusion about token usage.

[xingyaoww]

Thank you!

seems there's an issue

[xingyaoww]

Updated in 64c974b to remove the transport-level wording entirely.

The docs now say legacy trigger=None skills are:

• added to <REPO_CONTEXT> in the initial SystemPromptEvent
• retained as part of the conversation context for subsequent LLM calls
• included in LLM context for each turn, affecting token usage

I also added the wording preference to AGENTS.md and .agents/skills/code-review.md so future docs/reviews avoid phrases like “sent with each request” unless explicitly discussing API transport.

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This comment was generated by an AI agent (OpenHands) on behalf of the user.