Document book/ directory as Agent Skills implementation

[Copilot]

The book/ directory implements a wiki-based skill system but lacked documentation connecting it to the Agent Skills paradigm.

Changes

• Created agent-skills.md: Technical essay (178 lines) analyzing how Brace's knowledge wiki maps to Agent Skills concepts

  • Architecture: discovery phase (skill catalog + README) → dynamic activation via ⟨wiki _.md⟩ syntax
  • Skill taxonomy: Interface (profile builder, Canvas integration), Content (domain knowledge), Pedagogy (Bloom quizzes), Meta (system context)
  • Comparison with traditional Agent Skills: file-based vs code-based storage, explicit vs implicit activation, live updates vs redeployment
  • Design lessons: self-documenting skills, progressive loading, non-technical authoring via GitBook

• Updated README.md: Added link to essay in Knowledge Authoring section

The essay positions each wiki page as a modular, on-demand skill that reshapes assistant behavior—transparent through command syntax, maintainable through version control, and accessible to non-technical course staff.

Warning

Firewall rules blocked me from connecting to one or more addresses (expand for details)

I tried to connect to the following addresses, but was blocked by firewall rules:

• docs.anthropic.com
  • Triggering command: /home/REDACTED/work/_temp/ghcca-node/node/bin/node /home/REDACTED/work/_temp/ghcca-node/node/bin/node --enable-source-maps /home/REDACTED/work/_temp/copilot-developer-action-main/dist/index.js (dns block)
• platform.claude.com
  • Triggering command: /home/REDACTED/work/_temp/ghcca-node/node/bin/node /home/REDACTED/work/_temp/ghcca-node/node/bin/node --enable-source-maps /home/REDACTED/work/_temp/copilot-developer-action-main/dist/index.js (dns block)

If you need me to access, download, or install something from one of these locations, you can either:

• Configure Actions setup steps to set up my environment, which run before the firewall is enabled
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Original prompt

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This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Relate our Book to Agent Skills</issue_title>
<issue_description>Someone should think through how the stuff in our book/ directory relates to the notion of Agent Skills from https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/agents-and-tools/agent-skills/overview</issue_description>

<agent_instructions>Let's write up a little essay in a top level md file, then link it from the main readme.</agent_instructions>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

• Fixes Relate our Book to Agent Skills #1

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