One SKILL.md, every AI agent: I packaged my open-source security scanner as a portable skill
AI agents are turning into the most impatient users your tools will ever have. They don't read READMEs top to bottom, they don't hunt for flags, and they will guess wrong unless you tell them exactly what to do. The industry's answer in 2026 is the skill : a single SKILL.md file — YAML frontmatter plus instructions — that any compatible agent can load. I maintain AttackSurfaceX , an open-source…
As AI agents become more demanding, the demand for clear instructions grows. The skill is a solution to this issue, a single SKILL.md file containing instructions that can be loaded by any compatible AI agent. AttackSurfaceX, an open-source (MIT) security scanner, was packaged as a skill to make it easily accessible and usable. The skill consists of a YAML frontmatter section and instructions, allowing any AI agent to load it and run the scanner.
The first decision made when creating the skill was to prioritize authorization over other aspects. This gate ensures that the scanner is only used on authorized targets, preventing it from scanning unauthorized systems. The skill also lists what it cannot do, such as exploitation, fuzzing, or raising scan rates.
Next, the skill encodes the tool's doctrine, explaining its philosophy and behavior. AttackSurfaceX is built in such a way that it cannot send state-changing requests. By describing this doctrine in the skill, users understand the tool's limitations and will not attempt to circumvent them. The skill also translates the scanner's output into plain language, providing users with clear and actionable information.
The fourth decision was to deduplicate findings before presenting them to the user. The scanner sometimes produces duplicate reports, so the skill merges these findings to avoid redundancy. This decision improves the user experience by providing clean and concise information.
The skill can be used across various agents, including local coding agents and cloud/desktop agents. It is compatible with skillsmp, skillsllm, and lobehub, which distribute the skill format. To use the skill, simply install it with the pipx command and invoke it using a slash command or let the agent load it automatically when the task matches its description.
By making the skill accessible and easy to use, AttackSurfaceX ensures that AI agents can perform security scans in a safe and controlled manner. This approach to packaging tools as skills ensures that the agents can utilize the tools effectively and without causing any harm.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
