Skills and rules are both markdown files. They live in the same panel and follow a similar format, but they work in different ways.

Rules

A rule is meant to apply across different kinds of work on your site. When the agent reads your instructions, it should follow that rule whether it's building a page, updating content, or reviewing the site.

Rules work best for standards you want to keep consistent across your site:

• Brand voice and tone requirements
• Class naming conventions
• Accessibility standards
• SEO and AEO defaults
• Required disclaimers or legal language

Rules can still include conditions and exceptions. An accessibility rule, for example, might give different guidance for decorative and descriptive image alt text. It remains a rule because the agent should refer to it across different kinds of work.

Skills

A skill becomes relevant when the agent is doing the kind of work it describes.

A design system skill might come into play when the agent is building a section on your site. A product writing skill might apply when it is creating that type of content for you.

Skills work best for guidance tied to a task or workflow:

• Design system guidance when choosing components and variables
• CMS structure guidance when creating or updating collection items
• Build patterns for creating specific pages or sections
• Writing guidance for creating specific content types
• Audit or review steps when checking existing site content

Skills can do more than list steps. A skill might help the agent identify the task, choose the right workflow, and use the guidance or resources that task requires.

Using both together

You can use skills and rules to support the same workflow without having them do the same job.

For example, a landing page skill might tell the agent which components, variants, and variables to use. At the same time, your rules can still guide class naming, accessibility, and brand voice.

The topic alone does not decide the type. You might use a brand voice rule for everything the agent writes, while a product page skill explains the structure and requirements for one specific content type.

References

Agent Instructions can include inline references that connect an instruction to a real resource on your Webflow site, such as a component, variable, style, page, or CMS collection.

Instead of describing a component and hoping the agent finds the right one, you can point directly to it. That gives the agent clearer context about what you mean.

References can also make instructions easier to maintain because the agent can use the connected resource instead of relying only on a written name or description.

Quick demo (no sound) → Updating a plain text variable name to a reference to an existing site variable.

Ways to create instructions

Once you know whether you need a skill or a rule, you have a few ways to create it:

• Write it yourself: Add the instruction directly in the Instructions panel when you already know what the agent should follow.
• Start from a template: The Instructions panel includes built-in templates for common instruction types such as brand voice, design system, naming, SEO, and accessibility.
• Draft with AI: Some accounts plans include an option to draft a skill or rule with the Webflow AI Assistant. Start with a prompt, then review and refine the result in the editor. See Create and manage AI agent instructions for details.
• Use an MCP-connected agent: Ask an agent you already use, such as Claude, to inspect your site and help draft an instruction based on existing components, variables, content, or other patterns.

For the latter, try something like:

Look at my site's components, design tokens, and class naming patterns. Based on what you find, draft a design system skill that documents what to reuse and how, so future edits stay consistent with the rest of the site.

Whichever approach you use, review the result before relying on it. The instruction should reflect your actual standards, not assumptions the authoring tool made.

Site Admins and Designers can create, edit, and delete Agent Instructions. Marketers and Content Editors can read them, while Reviewers cannot access them.

Not sure where to start? Use the guided activity attached to this course. It walks you through inspecting your site, reviewing a plan before anything's built, and saving a real skill or rule, so you don't have to figure out the right prompt on your own.

Ready to continue?

Click Complete & continue to see how skills and rules are created and managed in Webflow.