Agent Skill Guide

The A2A-Ask CLI includes a SKILL.md file that teaches AI coding assistants (GitHub Copilot CLI, Claude Code, VS Code Copilot, Cursor, etc.) how to use the tool effectively.

What is a Skill?

A skill is a structured document that gives AI assistants domain knowledge about a tool — its commands, workflows, decision trees, and error handling. When installed, the AI assistant can:

  • Discover A2A agents and understand their capabilities
  • Send messages and interpret responses
  • Handle multi-turn conversations automatically
  • Manage authentication requirements
  • Stream responses and poll for status
  • Handle errors and edge cases

Installing the Skill

GitHub Copilot CLI (personal)

mkdir -p ~/.copilot/skills/a2a-ask-cli
cp skill/SKILL.md ~/.copilot/skills/a2a-ask-cli/SKILL.md

GitHub Copilot CLI (project)

mkdir -p .github/skills/a2a-ask-cli
cp skill/SKILL.md .github/skills/a2a-ask-cli/SKILL.md
git add .github/skills/
git commit -m "Add A2A-Ask CLI agent skill"

Claude Code (personal)

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/a2a-ask-cli
cp skill/SKILL.md ~/.claude/skills/a2a-ask-cli/SKILL.md

Claude Code (project)

mkdir -p .claude/skills/a2a-ask-cli
cp skill/SKILL.md .claude/skills/a2a-ask-cli/SKILL.md

VS Code / Cursor (project)

mkdir -p .github/skills/a2a-ask-cli
cp skill/SKILL.md .github/skills/a2a-ask-cli/SKILL.md

From the SpecWorks Plugins Marketplace

The skill is also available via the SpecWorks plugins repository:

# Using GitHub Copilot CLI plugin system
copilot plugins add spec-works

After installing, restart your agent session to pick up the new skill.

What the Skill Teaches

The SKILL.md covers:

  1. Agent Discovery — How to fetch and interpret agent cards
  2. Message Sending — Text, file, and structured data messages
  3. Streaming — Real-time status updates and partial results
  4. Multi-Turn Conversations — Following up with --task-id
  5. Task Management — Polling, listing, and canceling tasks
  6. Authentication — Decision tree for API keys, bearer tokens, OAuth2
  7. Error Handling — Common errors and recovery strategies
  8. A2A Protocol Reference — Task states, protocol versions, key concepts

View the Full Skill

The complete SKILL.md is available in the skill/ folder of the repository.

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