title: "What Are AI Skills? Complete Guide to SKILL.md & .cursorrules" description: "Understand AI Skills — reusable instruction sets that teach AI coding assistants your standards." slug: "ai-skills-overview" category: "skills" updatedAt: "2026-03-05T00:00:00.000Z" ogImage: "/og/docs-skills.png" faqs:

q: "What is the difference between MCP servers and AI Skills?" a: "MCP servers give AI access to tools (databases, APIs). Skills tell AI how to behave and follow your coding standards."
q: "Can I use Skills and MCP together?" a: "Yes! They complement each other. MCP provides tools, Skills teach the AI how to use them according to your project standards."

AI Skills & Rules

2026

Updated Mar 5, 20266 min read

skills

overview

SKILL.md

cursorrules

What Are AI Skills?

Overview

AI Skills are reusable instruction sets that teach AI coding assistants your exact coding standards, patterns, and best practices. They act as persistent configuration — ensuring your AI follows your conventions without you having to repeat instructions every time.

Skills go by different names in different tools:

| Tool | Skills Format | Location | |------|---------------|----------| | Claude Code | SKILL.md | .claude/skills/ | | Cursor | .cursorrules / .mdc | .cursor/rules/ | | Windsurf | Rules | .windsurf/rules/ | | Amazon Kiro | Specs & Hooks | .kiro/ | | Gemini CLI | GEMINI.md | .gemini/ | | VS Code | Instructions | .github/copilot-instructions.md |

How Skills Work

Skills are read by your AI coding assistant and used to guide its behavior. Unlike MCP servers (which give AI access to tools), Skills tell the AI how to write code according to your project's conventions.

Skills vs MCP: The Two Pillars

┌─────────────────────┐    ┌─────────────────────┐
│     MCP Servers      │    │     AI Skills        │
│                      │    │                      │
│  Give AI ACCESS      │    │  Give AI BEHAVIOR    │
│  to tools            │    │  guidelines          │
│                      │    │                      │
│  • Databases         │    │  • Coding standards  │
│  • APIs              │    │  • Architecture      │
│  • File systems      │    │  • Testing patterns  │
│  • GitHub            │    │  • Security rules    │
└─────────────────────┘    └─────────────────────┘

Getting Started

Choose your tool below for specific setup instructions:

SKILL.md for Claude Code — Create and use Skills in Claude Code
.cursorrules for Cursor — Master Cursor rules
Windsurf AI Rules — Configure Windsurf IDE
Kiro Specs & Hooks — Amazon Kiro guide
Gemini & Codex CLI Skills — CLI coding standards

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