Local LLMs 207: Skills, Rules, Agents, and Subagents

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Once you use LLM tools for more than casual chat, you run into a problem: you keep repeating the same instructions. “Use this style.” “Check these files.” “Run this test.” “Prefer this source.” “Do not edit generated files.”

Skills, rules, agents, and subagents are different ways of making those instructions reusable.

Mental model: durable context for repeatable work

Think of these concepts as layers of reusable behavior:

Concept	Beginner meaning
Rule	A standing instruction or constraint
Skill	A reusable workflow with instructions, references, scripts, or assets
Agent	A model-driven worker with tools and a task
Subagent	A specialized helper agent delegated by a main agent
Project instructions	Repo-specific guidance for how work should be done
MCP tool	A live capability exposed to a model, such as reading issues or querying a database

Durable Context Hierarchy

Click an entity to see its role

Skills on Mohammad Movahedi

Local LLMs 207: Skills, Rules, Agents, and Subagents

Mental model: durable context for repeatable work

Durable Context Hierarchy