janestreet/agent_skills

What it is

Jane Street's repository collects skills for AI agents and chatbots. Each skill is a directory containing a SKILL.md file whose instructions define the agent's behavior. Right now the repository documents one skill, socratic-tutor, which turns an LLM into a strict personal tutor for a topic you choose. The skill uses a diagnostic, a level 0–5 skill map, one question at a time, spaced review, and a final assessment (README).

This is for people who already use a coding agent or chatbot and want a reusable, structured teaching prompt rather than an app or library.

How to use

The README gives two integration paths (How to use):

1. Coding agent that supports SKILL.md: copy the skill directory into your agent's skills folder, then ask the agent to use it, for example "teach me X".
2. Plain chatbot: paste the body of the skill's SKILL.md into the chat or into a custom/system prompt, followed by what you want it to do.

The result in both cases is a tutoring session that starts from the skill's diagnostic and proceeds through its level map and final assessment. The repository does not give an exact destination path for every agent's skills folder; use the folder your agent documents for skills.

Constraints

• The skill is a set of instructions, not executable software; it needs an LLM host (coding agent or chatbot) to run.
• Behavior depends on the host following a long structured prompt, including the one-question-at-a-time rule and the spaced review.
• The repository is MIT licensed (repository).

HotRepo's take

The project was recorded on HotRepo's new-project list for 2026-11-08, with 46 stars gained in a one-hour growth window and 177 stars at the end of the collection period. That is a short, single-window observation, not evidence of sustained adoption. What stands out technically is the delivery model: one Markdown instruction file that can be used either by an agent with a skills folder or by any chatbot through a pasted prompt. The repository's current weight rests on the socratic-tutor skill and the clarity of that format, not on a larger skill catalog.