Skills

Skills are pre-built prompts that load agents, run workflows, or execute tasks inside your IDE. The BMad installer generates them from your installed modules at install time. If you later add, remove, or change modules, re-run the installer to keep skills in sync (see Troubleshooting).

Skills vs. Agent Menu Triggers

BMad offers two ways to start work, and they serve different purposes.

Mechanism	How you invoke it	What happens
Skill	Type the skill name (e.g. bmad-help) in your IDE	Directly loads an agent, runs a workflow, or executes a task
Agent menu trigger	Load an agent first, then type a short code (e.g. DS)	The agent interprets the code and starts the matching workflow while staying in character

Agent menu triggers require an active agent session. Use skills when you know which workflow you want. Use triggers when you are already working with an agent and want to switch tasks without leaving the conversation.

How Skills Are Generated

When you run npx bmad-method install, the installer reads the manifests for every selected module and writes one skill per agent, workflow, task, and tool. Each skill is a directory containing a SKILL.md file that instructs the AI to load the corresponding source file and follow its instructions.

The installer uses templates for each skill type:

Skill type	What the generated file does
Agent launcher	Loads the agent persona file, activates its menu, and stays in character
Workflow skill	Loads the workflow config and follows its steps
Task skill	Loads a standalone task file and follows its instructions
Tool skill	Loads a standalone tool file and follows its instructions

Re-running the installer

If you add or remove modules, run the installer again. It regenerates all skill files to match your current module selection.

Where Skill Files Live

The installer writes skill files into an IDE-specific directory inside your project. The exact path depends on which IDE you selected during installation.

IDE / CLI	Skills directory
Claude Code	.claude/skills/
Cursor	.cursor/skills/
Windsurf	.windsurf/skills/
Other IDEs	See the installer output for the target path

Each skill is a directory containing a SKILL.md file. For example, a Claude Code installation looks like:

.claude/skills/
├── bmad-help/
│   └── SKILL.md
├── bmad-create-prd/
│   └── SKILL.md
├── bmad-dev/
│   └── SKILL.md
└── ...

The directory name determines the skill name in your IDE. For example, the directory bmad-dev/ registers the skill bmad-dev.

How to Discover Your Skills

Type the skill name in your IDE to invoke it. Some platforms require you to enable skills in settings before they appear.

Run bmad-help for context-aware guidance on your next step.

Quick discovery

The generated skill directories in your project are the canonical list. Open them in your file explorer to see every skill with its description.

Skill Categories

Agent Skills

Agent skills load a specialized AI persona with a defined role, communication style, and menu of workflows. Once loaded, the agent stays in character and responds to menu triggers.

Example skill	Agent	Role
bmad-dev	Amelia (Developer)	Implements stories with strict adherence to specs
bmad-pm	John (Product Manager)	Creates and validates PRDs
bmad-architect	Winston (Architect)	Designs system architecture
bmad-sm	Bob (Scrum Master)	Manages sprints and stories

See Agents for the full list of default agents and their triggers.

Workflow Skills

Workflow skills run a structured, multi-step process without loading an agent persona first. They load a workflow configuration and follow its steps.

Example skill	Purpose
bmad-product-brief	Create a product brief — guided discovery when your concept is clear
bmad-prfaq	Working Backwards PRFAQ challenge to stress-test your product concept
bmad-create-prd	Create a Product Requirements Document
bmad-create-architecture	Design system architecture
bmad-create-epics-and-stories	Create epics and stories
bmad-dev-story	Implement a story
bmad-code-review	Run a code review
bmad-quick-dev	Unified quick flow — clarify intent, plan, implement, review, present

See Workflow Map for the complete workflow reference organized by phase.

Task and Tool Skills

Tasks and tools are standalone operations that do not require an agent or workflow context.

BMad-Help: Your Intelligent Guide

bmad-help is your primary interface for discovering what to do next. It inspects your project, understands natural language queries, and recommends the next required or optional step based on your installed modules.

Example

bmad-help
bmad-help I have a SaaS idea and know all the features. Where do I start?
bmad-help What are my options for UX design?

Other Core Tasks and Tools

The core module includes 11 built-in tools — reviews, compression, brainstorming, document management, and more. See Core Tools for the complete reference.

Naming Convention

All skills use the bmad- prefix followed by a descriptive name (e.g., bmad-dev, bmad-create-prd, bmad-help). See Modules for available modules.

Troubleshooting

Skills not appearing after install. Some platforms require skills to be explicitly enabled in settings. Check your IDE’s documentation or ask your AI assistant how to enable skills. You may also need to restart your IDE or reload the window.

Expected skills are missing. The installer only generates skills for modules you selected. Run npx bmad-method install again and verify your module selection. Check that the skill files exist in the expected directory.

Skills from a removed module still appear. The installer does not delete old skill files automatically. Remove the stale directories from your IDE’s skills directory, or delete the entire skills directory and re-run the installer for a clean set.