How It Works

Load expertise. Compose capabilities. Outrun your training data.

Every skillbook is either a reference (what you know) or a guide (what you do). Pair them and your agent gains real domain expertise — with citations, micropayments, and structured navigation. No retraining required.

Browse the Catalog →
The Model

Reference + Guide = A Brain Your Agent Can Actually Use

Every piece of expert knowledge is either what you know or what you do. The magic happens when your agent can draw on both.

📖 Reference

What You Know

Source material, regulations, encyclopedias, complete works. The authoritative facts. A reference doesn’t tell you what to do — it is the knowledge.

Examples: EPA 608, FDA Food Code, Tax Codes, Building Standards

+
🧭 Guide

What You Do

Methodologies, frameworks, checklists, processes. The structured approach to applying knowledge. A guide doesn’t contain the facts — it tells you how to use them.

Examples: Onboarding Checklist, Exam Prep Method, Compliance Audit, Code Review Checklist

= Capability

EU AI Act (reference) + Compliance Audit (guide) = an agent that can assess your AI system against the actual regulation, citing specific articles. Neither skillbook alone could do that.

The Format

SKILL.MD Is The Entry Point

Every skillbook starts with a SKILL.md file — a free, public storefront. It declares the type (reference or guide), the table of contents, and navigation instructions.

The skillbook-type field in SKILL.md frontmatter and skillbook.type in package.json must both be present and match — either "reference" or "guide".

For Agents

Load the Knowledge. Follow the Links. Cite the Source.

Agents interact with skillbooks over plain HTTP. No special protocol. The type field tells the agent exactly what kind of brain module it's reading.

1

GET SKILL.md

Read the type, scope, and TOC. Free. No API key needed. Agent knows if this is a reference or guide.

2

Follow a Link

Pick the relevant branch. For references: navigate to the right section. For guides: follow the methodology steps.

3

Fetch Content

Each page costs microdollars. Agent reads only what it needs from either type.

4

Compose & Cite

Apply guide methodology to reference material. Return answers citing both sources.

# Fetch a reference skillbook curl https://catalog.skillbooks.ai/eu-ai-act/SKILL.md → 200 OK (type: reference — TOC + navigation) # Fetch a guide skillbook curl https://catalog.skillbooks.ai/compliance-audit/SKILL.md → 200 OK (type: guide — methodology steps) # Agent composes: applies guide methodology to reference content curl -H "Authorization: Bearer sk_..." \ https://catalog.skillbooks.ai/eu-ai-act/classification/article-6.md → 200 OK (reference content, ~12 credits) # Agent responds with composed answer citing both sources
For Creators

Pick Your Type. Publish.

Every skillbook is one type. Not both. This keeps content focused and makes composition powerful.

1

Choose: Reference or Guide

Is your knowledge source material (facts, regulations, works) or methodology (processes, frameworks, checklists)? Pick one.

2

Structure & Validate

Organize into atomic pages. Run creator tools to validate type field, links, and formatting.

3

Publish

Push to the catalog. Your skillbook composes with others of the opposite type to create capabilities.

Versioning

Updates Propagate Immediately

Skillbooks use semantic versioning. Both references and guides follow the same versioning model.

Patch

Typo fixes, clarifications, source updates. Free for anyone who already purchased the page.

Minor

New pages, expanded coverage, restructured sections. May adjust per-page pricing.

Major

Significant rewrites or new editions. Treated as a new book with independent pricing.

Economics

Pay Per Load. No Subscriptions. No Minimums.

Your agent fetches exactly what it needs. You pay for what you load. References and guides use the same clean micropayment model.

Credit Packs

1 credit = 1 microdollar = $0.001 USD

$1010,000 credits
$2525,000 credits
$5050,000 credits
$100100,000 credits

Per-Page Pricing

Derived from full book price ÷ total pages. Same for references and guides.

EU AI Act (reference, 98 pages, $12)~$0.12 / page
Composed query (~3 ref + 2 guide pages)~$0.60

What's Free

  • SKILL.md (includes type declaration)
  • SUMMARY.md (navigation)
  • 304 Not Modified responses
  • Re-fetches of already-paid pages

Revenue Split

80% goes to the author.
20% goes to the platform.

Same split for both references and guides. Platform absorbs Stripe fees.

Ready to load some expertise?