> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.warp.dev/llms.txt).
> Markdown versions of each page are available by appending .md to any URL.

# Factory skills

Skills give a factory's agents repeatable, version-controlled procedures that can be shared across every agent or scoped to just one.

Note

Warp Factories is in **Early Access** and available to a limited set of teams. [Request access](https://www.warp.dev/factories/request-access) to use it with your team.

A skill tells an agent what to check, how to classify results, what to produce, and when to escalate. In a factory, skills are how you extend or override [default agents](https://docs.warp.dev/factories/factory-agents/), without editing their prompts directly.

## Skill sources in a factory

A factory run can use skills from three sources:

-   **Factory role and integration skills** - Baseline procedures that come from the default agent roles and integrations you configure, such as GitHub, Slack, Linear, or Jira.
-   **Warp-provided platform-bundled skills** - Product capabilities that Warp provides, such as `oz-platform`, `factory-files`, and `factory-mcp`.
-   **Custom file-based factory skills** - Team-owned `SKILL.md` files in the factory definition, available to every agent or scoped to one agent.

## Custom file-based factory skills

A custom skill is a directory containing a `SKILL.md`. It’s part of the factory’s [definition](https://docs.warp.dev/factories/factory-as-code/), not an agent’s settings. Where you place the directory decides who can use it:

```text
skills/
  repository-conventions/
    SKILL.md
agents/
  foreman/
    skills/
      incident-triage/
        SKILL.md
```

-   **`skills/<name>/SKILL.md`** - Available to every agent in the factory. Use this for procedures that apply regardless of role, such as your repository’s coding conventions or a shared escalation policy.
-   **`agents/<name>/skills/<name>/SKILL.md`** - Available only to that agent. Use this for procedures specific to one role, such as how the review agent should apply your security checklist.

Both forms use the same `SKILL.md` format as skills anywhere else in Warp. See [Skills](https://docs.warp.dev/agents/capabilities/skills/) for the file format, front matter, and argument syntax.

## Factory role and integration skills

Every default agent starts with a baseline of role and integration skills so the factory works immediately after setup, before you write anything custom:

-   **GitHub** - Every default agent gets a GitHub skill, covering how to read issues, open pull requests, and follow your repository’s conventions.
-   **Slack** - The foreman also gets a Slack skill, since it’s the agent that replies in threads and DMs.
-   **Issue tracker** - The tracker you choose during setup, Linear or Jira, adds that tracker’s skill and instructions to the agents that use it. If you don’t connect a tracker, agents keep only the GitHub and Slack skills.

These baseline skills aren’t files in your definition; they come from the agent roles and integrations you choose. Anything you add under `skills/` or `agents/<name>/skills/` extends this baseline rather than replacing it.

## Warp-provided platform-bundled skills

Platform-bundled skills are separate from factory role and integration skills. They provide Warp capabilities such as operating cloud agents with `oz-platform`, editing factory definitions with `factory-files`, and sending work through Factory MCP with `factory-mcp`.

Warp provides these stable bundled-skill IDs:

| Bundled skill ID | Purpose |
| --- | --- |
| `add-mcp-server` | Add an MCP server to Warp configuration. |
| `change-keybinding` | Change or remove Warp keyboard shortcuts. |
| `claude-api` | Build and maintain applications that use the Anthropic SDK. |
| `create-skill` | Create, improve, and evaluate skills. |
| `create-tab-config` | Create a Warp tab configuration. |
| `factory-files` | Create and validate file-based Warp factory definitions. |
| `factory-mcp` | Send work to a factory and collaborate through Factory MCP. |
| `modify-settings` | View or change Warp settings using the bundled settings schema. |
| `oz-platform` | Run, configure, and inspect cloud agents through the API and CLI. |
| `pr-comments` | Fetch GitHub pull request review comments for the current branch. |
| `tab-configs` | Look up the tab configuration schema and validation rules. |
| `tui-migrate-setup` | Migrate supported settings into the Warp Agent CLI. |
| `update-tab-config` | Update an existing Warp tab configuration. |
| `warpctrl` | Control and inspect a running Warp app with Warp Control. |

See [skill actions in conversation data](https://docs.warp.dev/reference/api-and-sdk/#skill-actions-in-conversation-data) for the API reference.

## Attribute team-owned skill usage

The [Conversation API](https://docs.warp.dev/api) returns skill loads as `read_skill` actions. Use the action’s `input` to classify the skill:

-   **`input.bundled_skill_id` is present** - The action loaded a Warp-provided bundled reference. Exclude it when measuring usage of skills your team owns.
-   **Only `input.skill_path` is present** - A path alone doesn’t identify the skill’s owner. Count it as team-owned only when the path is under a skill root your team manages, such as `skills/` or `agents/<name>/skills/` in the factory definition.

## When to add a custom skill

Add a custom skill when a default agent needs to do something the built-in baseline doesn’t cover, such as:

-   Enforcing a specific test, lint, or validation command before a change is considered complete.
-   Following a runbook for a category of incident or request your triage agent sees repeatedly.
-   Applying a security or compliance checklist during review that goes beyond general code quality.
-   Teaching a custom agent its job. Custom agents have no built-in skills.

A skill changes what an agent knows how to do, not what it can reach. To scope access, configure the agent’s [secrets](https://docs.warp.dev/platform/secrets/) and [MCP servers](https://docs.warp.dev/platform/mcp/) — see [factory agents](https://docs.warp.dev/factories/factory-agents/#configure-agent-behavior) and [infrastructure and security](https://docs.warp.dev/factories/infrastructure-and-security/#credential-boundaries).

## Add or edit a skill

Where you edit a skill depends on [where the factory’s definition lives](https://docs.warp.dev/factories/factory-as-code/#where-the-definition-lives):

-   **Warp-managed** - Add or edit `SKILL.md` files directly in the **Factory definition** tab of the [factory dashboard](https://docs.warp.dev/factories/factory-dashboard/). Saving validates and commits the change in one step.
-   **GitHub** - Add or edit the files in the connected definition repository and open a pull request. The same [pull request checks](https://docs.warp.dev/factories/factory-as-code/#pull-request-checks) that validate the rest of the definition apply to skill files.

For worked examples, including a factory-wide skill and a per-agent skill together, see [`02-sdlc-issue-to-pr`](https://github.com/warpdotdev/warp-factory-examples/tree/main/examples/02-sdlc-issue-to-pr) in the [warp-factory-examples](https://github.com/warpdotdev/warp-factory-examples) repository.

## Skills and self-improvement

A factory can propose changes to a skill. When [Self-improvement](https://docs.warp.dev/factories/measure-and-improve/self-improvement/) is on for a Scorer and it flags a recurring failure, it can edit the responsible skill in a follow-up run, the same way it can edit application code. The change still arrives as a pull request for your team to review, whether that’s through the factory dashboard or your Git host.

## Related pages

-   [Factory agents](https://docs.warp.dev/factories/factory-agents/) - The agents that use a factory’s skills, and how to configure each one.
-   [Definitions as code](https://docs.warp.dev/factories/factory-as-code/) - The full schema for `factory.yaml`, agents, automations, and runners alongside skills.
-   [Skills](https://docs.warp.dev/agents/capabilities/skills/) - The general skill file format, shared across Warp, cloud agents, and factories.
-   [Measure and improve a factory](https://docs.warp.dev/factories/measure-and-improve/) - How Self-improvement turns repeated failures into skill and code changes.