---
title: "Agent Skills progressive loading"
canonical: "https://canmyagentuse.com/features/skill-progressive-loading"
contentKind: "feature"
locale: "en"
description: "Load skill metadata first and defer full instructions or resources until relevant. This is tracked as an independent compatibility claim."
llmSummary: "Agent Skills progressive loading is atomic and does not follow automatically from broader agent-skills support."
publishedAt: "2026-08-28T00:00:00.000Z"
updatedAt: "2026-08-28T00:00:00.000Z"
verifiedAt: "2026-08-28"
tags: ["runtime","agent-skills"]
---

# Agent Skills progressive loading

Agent Skills progressive loading is atomic and does not follow automatically from broader agent-skills support.

- HTML: https://canmyagentuse.com/features/skill-progressive-loading
- JSON: https://canmyagentuse.com/api/v1/features/skill-progressive-loading.json
- Markdown: https://canmyagentuse.com/features/skill-progressive-loading.md

Terminology basis: **Agent Skills specification** — https://agentskills.io/specification.

## Current support at a glance

Agent Skills progressive loading: 3 supported, 1 partial, 0 unsupported, 27 unreviewed across 31 cataloged products.

- Reviewed current products: 4 of 31
- Supported: 3
- Partial: 1
- Unsupported: 0
- Unreviewed: 27
- Not applicable: 0

Unknown or unreviewed means insufficient published evidence; it does not mean unsupported.

Load skill metadata first and defer full instructions or resources until relevant.

Support is recorded only when exact, dated evidence covers this behavior.

## Catalog context

- Category: [runtime](/categories/runtime.md)
- Specification: [agent-skills](/specs/agent-skills.md) — revision living
- Aliases: progressive disclosure
- Family: [Agent Skills](/features/agent-skills.md)
- Siblings: [Agent Skills core and discovery](/features/skills.md), [Agent Skills manual invocation](/features/skill-manual-invocation.md), [Agent Skills references and assets](/features/skill-references-assets.md), [Agent Skills scripts](/features/skill-scripts.md), [Project-scoped Agent Skills](/features/skill-project-scope.md), [User-scoped Agent Skills](/features/skill-user-scope.md)

## Compatibility assertions

Unknown means insufficient published evidence; it does not mean unsupported.

### ChatGPT (web)

- Harness: [ChatGPT](/harnesses/chatgpt-web.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Claude (web)

- Harness: [Claude](/harnesses/claude-web.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Gemini (web)

- Harness: [Gemini](/harnesses/gemini-web.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Copilot (web)

- Harness: [Copilot](/harnesses/copilot-web.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Grok (web)

- Harness: [Grok](/harnesses/grok-web.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Grok Bot (desktop)

- Harness: [Grok Bot](/harnesses/grok-bot-desktop.md)
- current: **Unknown**

### Perplexity (web)

- Harness: [Perplexity](/harnesses/perplexity-web.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Le Chat (web)

- Harness: [Le Chat](/harnesses/le-chat.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Devin (web)

- Harness: [Devin](/harnesses/devin-web.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Replit Agent (web)

- Harness: [Replit Agent](/harnesses/replit-agent.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### ChatGPT (desktop)

- Harness: [ChatGPT](/harnesses/chatgpt-desktop.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Claude (desktop)

- Harness: [Claude](/harnesses/claude-desktop.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Cursor (desktop)

- Harness: [Cursor](/harnesses/cursor.md)
- current: **Supported**
  - Target: dated-documentation — current Cursor Agent Skills documentation; observed 2026-08-28
  - Environment: local-default
  - Evidence: [Cursor — Agent Skills](https://prod.cursor.com/docs/skills) — documented; observed 2026-08-28
  - Qualification note 2: Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Cursor documents on-demand loading for skill resources, keeping the main `SKILL.md` focused and loading optional resources only when needed.
- preview: **Unknown**

### OpenWork Desktop (desktop)

- Harness: [OpenWork Desktop](/harnesses/openwork-desktop.md)
- current: **Unknown**

### Copilot Chat (desktop)

- Harness: [Copilot Chat](/harnesses/vscode-copilot.md)
- current: **Supported**
  - Target: dated-documentation — current VS Code Agent Skills documentation; observed 2026-08-28
  - Environment: local-default
  - Evidence: [Visual Studio Code — Use Agent Skills](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/agent-customization/agent-skills) — documented; observed 2026-08-28
  - Qualification note 4: Evidence checked 2026-08-28: VS Code documents three-level loading for skill metadata, the instruction body, and referenced resources.
- preview: **Unknown**

### Chrome WebMCP origin trial (desktop)

- Harness: [Chrome WebMCP origin trial](/harnesses/chrome-webmcp-preview.md)
- current: **Unknown**

### Windsurf (desktop)

- Harness: [Windsurf](/harnesses/windsurf.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Zed Agent (desktop)

- Harness: [Zed Agent](/harnesses/zed-agent.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Continue (desktop)

- Harness: [Continue](/harnesses/continue.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Cline (desktop)

- Harness: [Cline](/harnesses/cline.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### JetBrains AI (desktop)

- Harness: [JetBrains AI](/harnesses/jetbrains-ai.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Warp (desktop)

- Harness: [Warp](/harnesses/warp.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Claude CLI (cli)

- Harness: [Claude CLI](/harnesses/claude-cli.md)
- current: **Partial**
  - Target: dated-documentation — current Claude Code skills documentation; observed 2026-08-28
  - Environment: preview-enabled
  - Constraint (preview): the catalog's Claude Code Agent Skills core row remains qualified as beta
  - Evidence: [Anthropic — Extend Claude with skills](https://code.claude.com/docs/en/slash-commands) — documented; observed 2026-08-28
  - Qualification note 1: Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Claude Code keeps skill descriptions available for discovery, loads the full `SKILL.md` body only on invocation, and reads supporting files on demand.
- preview: **Unknown**

### ChatGPT CLI (cli)

- Harness: [ChatGPT CLI](/harnesses/chatgpt-cli.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Codex CLI (cli)

- Harness: [Codex CLI](/harnesses/codex-cli.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### OpenCode (cli)

- Harness: [OpenCode](/harnesses/opencode.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Gemini CLI (cli)

- Harness: [Gemini CLI](/harnesses/gemini-cli.md)
- current: **Supported**
  - Target: dated-documentation — current Gemini CLI Agent Skills documentation; observed 2026-08-28
  - Environment: local-default
  - Evidence: [Gemini CLI — Agent Skill best practices](https://geminicli.com/docs/cli/skills-best-practices/) — documented; observed 2026-08-28
  - Qualification note 3: Evidence checked 2026-08-28: Gemini CLI documents three loading levels: metadata always present, `SKILL.md` after activation, and bundled resources only as needed.
- preview: **Unknown**

### Aider (cli)

- Harness: [Aider](/harnesses/aider.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Goose (cli)

- Harness: [Goose](/harnesses/goose.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Copilot CLI (cli)

- Harness: [Copilot CLI](/harnesses/copilot-cli.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**

### Amp (cli)

- Harness: [Amp](/harnesses/amp-cli.md)
- current: **Unknown**
- preview: **Unknown**