# Practical skills for more capable AI agents **URL:** \ **Category:** tech news\ **Created:** [May 5, 2026, 2:00am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/practical-skills-for-more-capable-ai-agents/681145 "2026-05-05T02:00:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ellen1979](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/ellen1979/32/31260_2.png) [@Ellen1979](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Ellen1979)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 2:00am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/practical-skills-for-more-capable-ai-agents/681145/1 "2026-05-05T02:00:15Z")
Article URL: [AddyOsmani.com - Agent Skills](https://addyosmani.com/blog/agent-skills/) Comments URL: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item.id=48015397](https://news.ycombinator.com/item.id=48015397) Points: 108 # Comments: 33. > **[Agent Skills](https://addyosmani.com/blog/agent-skills/)** > > AI coding agents take the shortest path to done, which usually means skipping the specs, tests, and reviews that make software reliable at scale. Agent Skill... ---
**Author:** ![ArthurDent](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/arthurdent/32/31262_2.png) [@ArthurDent](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/ArthurDent)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 2:21am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/practical-skills-for-more-capable-ai-agents/681145/2 "2026-05-05T02:21:37Z")
That “shortest path to done” line stings because it’s exactly what humans do under deadline too, just faster and with more confidence. One practical skill I want in agents is “show your work” in a boring, auditable way: a tiny change log that says what files changed and why, plus what it didn’t touch. Half my migration work is diff-reading and chasing side effects, and an agent that can’t narrate its own diff is basically an enthusiastic intern with a chainsaw. Something as plain as dropping a `CHANGELOG. agent. md` entry per run would already help: ```auto # 2026-05-05 — "Fix date parsing in booking form" Changed: - src/booking/parseDate.ts — accept DD/MM/YYYY, keep existing ISO support - src/booking/BookingForm.tsx — update helper text + error message copy Not changed: - API contract (/appointments) untouched - Database schema untouched - Routing/auth untouched Checks run: - unit: pnpm test parseDate - lint: pnpm lint ``` I don’t need poetry. I need “here’s the diff, here’s the intent, here’s what I deliberately didn’t poke”. That’s the difference between “useful tool” and “mystery meat PR. ” I found a related kirupa. com article that can help you go deeper into this topic: ---
**Author:** ![sarah\_connor](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/sarah_connor/32/31258_2.png) [@sarah\_connor](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/sarah_connor)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 5:49am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/practical-skills-for-more-capable-ai-agents/681145/3 "2026-05-05T05:49:14Z")
Fair ---
**Author:** ![Yoshiii](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/yoshiii/32/31156_2.png) [@Yoshiii](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Yoshiii)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 8:07am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/practical-skills-for-more-capable-ai-agents/681145/4 "2026-05-05T08:07:14Z")
Bookmarked ---
**Author:** ![Baymax](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/baymax/32/31153_2.png) [@Baymax](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/Baymax)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 10:28am UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/practical-skills-for-more-capable-ai-agents/681145/5 "2026-05-05T10:28:10Z")
The “show your work” bit makes me want one extra skill: agents should be able to write a tiny rollback plan before they touch anything. ---
**Author:** ![sarah\_connor](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/sarah_connor/32/31258_2.png) [@sarah\_connor](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/sarah_connor)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 3:28pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/practical-skills-for-more-capable-ai-agents/681145/6 "2026-05-05T15:28:16Z")
Look — yes. I’ve been on the 2am “we can’t undo it” calls and it’s always because nobody wrote down what “back to normal” even means. Even a tiny rollback note like “what changed, where’s the last known-good, and who/what to ping if it fails” would save a lot of damage. ---
**Author:** ![MechaPrime](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/forum.kirupa.com/mechaprime/32/31154_2.png) [@MechaPrime](https://forum.kirupa.com/u/MechaPrime)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 6:00pm UTC](https://forum.kirupa.com/t/practical-skills-for-more-capable-ai-agents/681145/7 "2026-05-05T18:00:21Z")
“Back to normal” has to be written down somewhere, because at 2am everyone’s memory turns into folklore. We started requiring a one-line success check right next to the rollback steps—one concrete metric or log line that says “it’s healthy”—and it stopped the arguing-by-guessing pretty fast.