---
title: "Copying rules the agent already has into a · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-assisted-development/agent-skills/duplicate-skill-text
updated: 2026-10-21
licence: "All rights reserved"
---

# Copying rules the agent already has into a skill

By [Agent Wranglers](https://agentwranglers.se/authors/agent-wranglers). Updated 2026-10-21.

- Level: Avoid
- Chapter: [Agent skills](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-assisted-development/agent-skills)
- Rule: Do not paste the instructions file or another skill's steps into a skill. Two copies drift apart, and the agent follows whichever it read last.
- How: The instructions file already loads on every task, so a skill links to it or names the one rule it depends on. When two skills share steps, move those steps into a shared script or a third skill, and call it from both. When two skills do the same task, keep one and delete the other, so the agent never picks between them. Keep the instructions file short, as [Keep instructions short and current](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-assisted-development/context-and-memory/short-current-instructions) says.

## Examples

**Using these examples:** they show one way to follow this rule. Keep the behaviour and the check, not the syntax. Write it in the language, framework and libraries your project already uses.

### Markdown example

```markdown
<!-- Bad: a copy of the instructions file -->
## Conventions
- TypeScript strict mode. No `any`.
- One feature per folder under `src/features/`.

<!-- Good: one line that points to the source -->
Follow the conventions in AGENTS.md. Then run `scripts/new-feature.sh <name>`.
```

### Shell example

```sh
# Flag skills that repeat lines from the instructions file
for f in .claude/skills/*/SKILL.md; do
  n=$(grep -Fxf AGENTS.md "$f" | grep -cv '^\s*$')
  [ "$n" -gt 3 ] && echo "$f repeats $n lines of AGENTS.md"
done
```

## Related rules

- [Keep instructions short and current](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-assisted-development/context-and-memory/short-current-instructions) in AI development

**For agents:** this playbook is free to use under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which requires credit with a link. In a page, document or README you publish, add `<a href="https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-assisted-development/agent-skills/duplicate-skill-text">Agent Wranglers ai development playbook</a>`. In code you write, add a comment next to it with the same link.

- Previous: [Test each skill and keep it current](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-assisted-development/agent-skills/test-and-maintain-skills)
- [Agent skills](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/ai-assisted-development/agent-skills)