Skills Directory Gate

A pre-task routing pattern where the LLM scans a directory of available skills or plugins before acting. If a skill matches the task, the LLM routes to it; otherwise, it falls back to general capabilities. Present in ~23% of tools (~12/52).

Mechanics (confidence: high)

The prompt lists available skills with descriptions and invocation syntax. The LLM must scan this list before every task execution, matching the task description to the most appropriate skill. This reduces cognitive load on prompt designers because skills can be maintained independently without modifying the core prompt.

Tools Using This Pattern (confidence: high)

Cline, RooCode, Claude Code, Manus Modules, Comet. Each maintains a curated list of skills that the LLM consults before task execution.

Co-occurrence (confidence: high)

The skills directory gate is a natural companion to multi-file-agent-architecture — skill definitions live in separate files, loaded on demand alongside the base prompt. It also complements plan-before-implement-gate, where skill matching happens during the analysis phase before planning begins.

Implications: The skills directory gate represents a middle ground between monolithic prompts and full multi-agent systems. It preserves a single-agent architecture while enabling modular, independently maintainable capabilities. As prompt catalogs grow, this pattern will become essential — no system prompt should define every possible behavior inline. The gate pattern enables prompt ecosystems where skills are developed, versioned, and shared independently.

See also: multi-file-agent-architecture, plan-before-implement-gate

Sources

• [raw/prompts/articles/taxonomy-synthesis-2026-07-16.md]