diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f5748b8..e9b3020 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [0.8.1] - 2026-05-25
+
+### Fixed
+
+- **skills plugin**: guard skill cache with `sync.RWMutex` so parallel tool calls no longer crash with `fatal error: concurrent map writes` ([#53](https://github.com/thinktwiceco/agent-forge/issues/53))
+
 ## [0.8.0] - 2026-05-25
 - [f9fe70a](http://github.com/thinktwiceco/agent-forge/commit/f9fe70ad04f1272d7e7d17d510c7cca041f5ed66) - chore(release): prepare release v0.8.0
 
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index a3df0a6..6f4eebd 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.8.0
+0.8.1
diff --git a/src/plugins/skills/plugin.go b/src/plugins/skills/plugin.go
index 87c1e94..3796f15 100644
--- a/src/plugins/skills/plugin.go
+++ b/src/plugins/skills/plugin.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"path/filepath"
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
+	"sync"
 
 	agentforge "github.com/thinktwiceco/agent-forge/src"
 	"github.com/thinktwiceco/agent-forge/src/agents"
@@ -50,6 +51,7 @@ type Skill struct {
 // skills, and inspect references on demand.
 type SkillsPlugin struct {
 	dir    string
+	mu     sync.RWMutex
 	skills map[string]*Skill
 }
 
@@ -90,6 +92,9 @@ func (p *SkillsPlugin) Hooks() map[core.Event]core.AgentHookFn {
 // SystemPrompt implements core.PromptProvider.
 // Returns a prompt section listing all discovered skills.
 func (p *SkillsPlugin) SystemPrompt() string {
+	p.mu.RLock()
+	defer p.mu.RUnlock()
+
 	if len(p.skills) == 0 {
 		return ""
 	}
@@ -130,6 +135,9 @@ func (p *SkillsPlugin) Tools() []llms.Tool {
 
 // loadSkills scans skills/ for SKILL.md-based skill packages.
 func (p *SkillsPlugin) loadSkills() error {
+	p.mu.Lock()
+	defer p.mu.Unlock()
+
 	p.skills = make(map[string]*Skill)
 
 	entries, err := os.ReadDir(p.dir)
@@ -167,6 +175,10 @@ func (p *SkillsPlugin) getSkill(name string) (*Skill, error) {
 	if err := p.loadSkills(); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+
+	p.mu.RLock()
+	defer p.mu.RUnlock()
+
 	skill, exists := p.skills[name]
 	if !exists {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("skill '%s' not found", name)
diff --git a/src/plugins/skills/skills_test.go b/src/plugins/skills/skills_test.go
index 0d0fa5d..70f5531 100644
--- a/src/plugins/skills/skills_test.go
+++ b/src/plugins/skills/skills_test.go
@@ -526,6 +526,48 @@ func TestSkillToolInstallRemoteSkill(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestGetSkill_ConcurrentNoRace(t *testing.T) {
+	root := t.TempDir()
+	skillDir := filepath.Join(root, "skills", "concurrent-skill")
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(filepath.Join(skillDir, "references"), 0755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	writeTestSkill(t, skillDir, "concurrent-skill", "Concurrent access test", "Use when testing parallel skill lookups.")
+	if err := os.WriteFile(filepath.Join(skillDir, "references", "notes.md"), []byte("reference body"), 0644); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	plugin := NewSkillsPlugin(root)
+	tool := newSkillTool(plugin)
+
+	const workers = 32
+	var wg sync.WaitGroup
+	wg.Add(workers)
+	for i := 0; i < workers; i++ {
+		go func() {
+			defer wg.Done()
+			skill, err := plugin.getSkill("concurrent-skill")
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Error(err)
+				return
+			}
+			if skill.Name != "concurrent-skill" {
+				t.Errorf("unexpected skill name: %q", skill.Name)
+			}
+
+			refResp := tool.Call(nil, map[string]any{
+				"action":        "load_skill_reference",
+				"name":          "concurrent-skill",
+				"referencePath": "notes.md",
+			})
+			if !refResp.Success() || !strings.Contains(refResp.Data(), "reference body") {
+				t.Errorf("load_skill_reference response: success=%v data=%q err=%q", refResp.Success(), refResp.Data(), refResp.Error())
+			}
+		}()
+	}
+	wg.Wait()
+}
+
 func writeTestSkill(t *testing.T, dir, name, description, usage string) {
 	t.Helper()
 	if err := os.MkdirAll(dir, 0755); err != nil {
diff --git a/src/plugins/skills/tools.go b/src/plugins/skills/tools.go
index 7e4adfe..d45893a 100644
--- a/src/plugins/skills/tools.go
+++ b/src/plugins/skills/tools.go
@@ -142,6 +142,10 @@ func (p *SkillsPlugin) handleListSkills() llms.ToolReturn {
 	if err := p.loadSkills(); err != nil {
 		return core.NewErrorResponse(fmt.Sprintf("failed to load skills: %v", err))
 	}
+
+	p.mu.RLock()
+	defer p.mu.RUnlock()
+
 	if len(p.skills) == 0 {
 		return core.NewEphemeralResponse("No skills found under skills/.")
 	}