MD files skills agents once it clicks through an LD lens it makes total sense Sharing everything as I figure it out AITools VibeCode LXD BuildingWithAI AIForLearning

Okay, so I finally understand the differences between an MD file and a skill and an agent and it actually makes so much more sense when I look at it through an L&D lens. So let me break it down. What's an MD file? So an MD file is just a text file called markdown, hence the MD. Plain text with a little formatting baked in, the pound signs mean it's a header, asterisks make something bold, that's it. I think of it like a facilitator's guide. So when someone reads it properly, it looks clean and intentional. If you crack it open, that raw file, you're just seeing all the behind-the-scenes markup. Same content, two completely different experiences depending on where you open it. In a browser on Notion, gorgeous, like a published RISE course. In the terminal, raw, all the symbols just hanging out like open in a storyline file in Notepad. Technically readable, spiritually distressing. In VS Code, you can actually toggle between both views and that's one thing that really made it land for me, seeing sort of like, you know, before-after if you will. Okay, so here's where it gets good. An MD file is just a document, a facilitator guide sitting in a folder. A skill is an MD file written specifically to teach an AI how to do a task. I have one that tells Claude exactly how to build a PowerPoint, the steps, the rules, all of it. It's a job aid written for a robot. I'm petting my dog right now, of course, of course. So this makes decisions, it takes action, produces the output. So I'm working on a client deliverable, I need a formatted Word doc, Claude reads the skill, follows the process, hands me back the output. I didn't have to explain from the very beginning, you know. So the skill is the job aid I gave my new hire on day one. Claude is the new hire doing the job. And now I'm building my own skills, little instructions manuals for like how I work, which vary on brand for an instructional designer. Okay, follow me if you're building with AI too. I share everything as I figure it out, or I try to.