GuideApril 7, 20264 min readFoxl Team

73 Skills and Counting

A general-purpose AI agent is only as useful as the tools it can reach. Foxl ships with 21 built-in tools (browser, terminal, file I/O, git, screenshots, etc.) and extends them with 73 skills - higher-level capabilities defined in simple Markdown files.

What is a skill?

A skill is a SKILL.md file that tells the agent how to accomplish a specific task. It can include instructions, constraints, API patterns, and optional scripts. When the agent receives a prompt that matches a skill's trigger, it loads that skill's context into its system prompt.

For example, the browser-tool skill provides browser and browser_extension tools that let the agent control your real Chrome browser. The xlsx skill teaches the agent to read, write, and manipulate spreadsheets with formulas and charts.

Categories of skills

Browser automation - web scraping, form filling, screenshot capture
Development - code search, git operations, test runners, Docker management
Communication - Slack, Telegram, Signal, email via IMAP/SMTP
Data - spreadsheets, CSV processing, database queries
Productivity - calendar integration, morning briefings, task management
Research - web search, parallel agent research, document summarization

Skill syncing

Skills are hosted in a public repository. Foxl syncs them automatically - clone on first run, pull updates on subsequent launches. Skills you modify locally are preserved during sync (the sync detects local changes and skips overwriting them).

Production builds bundle all 73 skills into the app package, so the agent works immediately after install even without internet access. Network sync adds new skills and updates existing ones.

Building your own

Creating a skill is as simple as writing a Markdown file. The frontmatter defines metadata (name, description, trigger patterns, tools provided), and the body contains instructions the agent follows. No framework code, no compilation, no deployment.

See the skills documentation for the full specification and examples.

Engineering

Why We Migrated foxl.ai from React SPA to Next.js SSG

For two months, Google couldn't index our landing page. The fix: swap Vite CSR for Next.js static export. Here's what we learned about Cloudflare Workers constraints, JSON-LD sitelinks, and why "we'll add SSR later" is a trap.

5 min read

Release

Foxl v0.2.27: Trimming the Sidebar, the Skill Library, and the Tray

Integrations is third-party only again. The skill library is ~60% smaller (19 of 35 enabled by default). Git is no longer a built-in tool — exec covers it. The system tray dropdown drops five toggles nobody used and gains a recents list and 7-day usage. Credits in the sidebar avatar popover, OAuth-style install modals for Slack and Microsoft 365.

6 min read

Release

Foxl v0.2.23: Notifications That Actually Do Something

Action buttons on every banner, body-click deep-links that land on the exact agent session or conversation, and a fix for "Install Now" silently doing nothing on macOS. Plus a settings test picker that exercises the real pipeline, not a shortcut.

6 min read

All posts Foxl v0.2.0: DB-Backed Agents, Smarter Scheduling

What is a skill?

Categories of skills

Skill syncing

Building your own

Read next

Why We Migrated foxl.ai from React SPA to Next.js SSG

Foxl v0.2.27: Trimming the Sidebar, the Skill Library, and the Tray

Foxl v0.2.23: Notifications That Actually Do Something

What is a skill?

Categories of skills

Skill syncing

Building your own