Why the Distinction Matters
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Why the Distinction Matters
Not everything should be an agent. Agents have tool access, which means they can take action. A skill that only needs to shape a response — a writing voice guide, a decision framework, a structured workflow checklist — doesn’t need tools. Keeping it as a skill means it’s cheaper to run, easier to reason about, and harder to misuse.
The progression is intentional:
- Start with a skill — pure instructions, no reach
- Add tools when the task requires action
- Connect agents when the task requires multiple stages
By the time you finish this course, you’ll have the instinct for which level a given problem needs.
The next module builds your first skill from scratch.