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Ankole

Agent Library

The Agent Library decides which working methods and extensions an Agent can use. The Console separates them into three types:

These are trusted components that are already installed in this instance. The Agent Library is not a public marketplace. Enabling an item here does not download unknown code from the internet.

Understand the three capability types

Type Purpose When a change applies
Agent Plugin Groups related Skills, MCP capabilities, and workspace templates The Agent’s next turn
Skill Instructions and resources for one repeatable kind of work The Agent’s next turn
Control Plane Plugin Adds chat adapters, identity sources, settings, or services to the control plane The next control-plane start

Agent Plugin: capabilities that share one package

An Ankole Agent Plugin is a superset of an OpenAI Plugin.

An OpenAI Plugin can group one or more Skills, an MCP server, and optional UI in one package. Ankole keeps this structure and adds a workspace template.

An Agent Plugin can therefore provide working methods, execution tools, and the initial environment for a task. It is more than one prompt.

Enabling an Agent Plugin in the Console makes the package available to the Agent. You can still enable or disable each member Skill.

Workspace templates prepare complex tasks

The workspace-template/ directory belongs to an Agent Plugin. When Ankole creates a Background Agent Job, it can copy this template into the new Job workspace.

A template can provide AGENTS.md, directories, research methods, validation scripts, Playbooks, and other task files. The Job receives a durable workspace that it can update and recover.

Ankole’s state-of-the-art Deep Research is a representative example. The main Agent first confirms the research request and then creates a Background Agent Job with the deep-research workspace template.

The template provides the research workflow, evidence directories, analysis methods, and validation tools. The Job can collect sources, revise its analysis, and create the final report in one workspace.

Enabling an Agent Plugin with a workspace template does not change an existing conversation or create a Job. Ankole initializes a new Job workspace only when a task selects that template.

Skill: one repeatable working method

Ankole Skills conform to the official Agent Skills specification.

Each Skill contains at least one SKILL.md file with YAML frontmatter. It can also contain scripts/, references/, and assets/.

The Agent first sees the name and description. It loads the full instructions and required resources only after a task matches.

A Skill explains how to complete a kind of work. When the workflow needs live data, authentication, or a controlled action, the Skill can guide the Agent through MCP tools supplied by the Skill or Agent Plugin.

Ankole extension: select the Skill execution surface

Ankole adds ankole-runtime to the standard frontmatter:

---
name: my-skill
description: Use for tasks that meet these conditions.
ankole-runtime: any
---
Value Where the Skill is available Use it when
any Main Agent and Background Agent Jobs Both execution surfaces can safely complete the work; this is also the default when the field is absent
main Main Agent conversations only The Skill must ask the user, confirm a choice, or create and manage a Background Agent Job
background_job Background Agent Jobs only The work is long-running, depends on the Job workspace, or processes files, browser work, or data in one Job

This field controls where the Skill is visible. It does not create a Background Agent Job.

The Deep Research entry Skill uses main because it confirms the request in the original conversation and creates the Job. The research Skills can then run inside the Background Agent Job.

Control Plane Plugin: extend the management platform

A Control Plane Plugin is not an OpenAI Plugin and does not enter the Agent’s working context. It extends the Ankole control plane.

A Control Plane Plugin can provide Channel Providers, identity sources, system settings, and supervised services. These components change the startup structure, so an enable or disable action applies only at the next control-plane start.

Manage Agent Plugins and Skills

Set instance defaults

  1. Open Agent Library in the Console.
  2. Set the scope to Global defaults.
  3. Find the capability under Agent Plugins or Skills.
  4. Enable or disable its default.

The global default applies to new Agents and to Agents that do not have an override. A turn that has already started does not change. The Agent reads the new capability set on its next turn.

Enable common, low-risk capabilities by default and narrow them for exceptions.

A capability that applies to a small role, needs special credentials, or has material risk is easier to manage when it is disabled by default and enabled only where needed.

Override one Agent

  1. At the top of Agent Library, change the scope to the target Agent.
  2. Find the Agent Plugin or Skill.
  3. Select Follow global, Enabled, or Disabled.

Follow global removes the exception. Later changes to the instance default then apply to this Agent. An explicit enabled or disabled value remains as that Agent’s override.

An Agent Plugin can contain several Skills. Disabling the parent makes its Skills unavailable but does not rewrite each Skill setting. When you enable the parent again, the Skills return to their own effective states.

Review Skill experience

While it uses a Skill, an Agent can retain Agent-specific cautions, such as an internal-system convention or a verified operating detail. This Skill experience appears with the Skill whenever that Agent reads it.

Review it from the Agent Plugin detail page or Knowledge → Skill experience. For a manual note, state the situation first and then the caution.

Do not copy a general rule into every Agent’s experience. Change the Skill source when the rule applies to all Agents.

Manage Control Plane Plugins

Enable or disable

Channel Providers, identity sources, and similar platform capabilities come from Control Plane Plugins:

  1. Open the Control Plane Plugins tab.
  2. Find the Plugin and set it to Enabled next start.
  3. Save and restart the control plane.
  4. Return to Agent Library and confirm that it is Active now.
  5. Configure the Channel Provider, identity source, or setting that the Plugin provides.

Docker Compose:

docker compose restart control-plane

Kubernetes:

kubectl -n ankole rollout restart deployment/ankole-control-plane

Disabling a Control Plane Plugin also applies on the next start. It can make an existing Channel Provider or identity source unavailable. Confirm that no active configuration depends on it before you disable it.

Troubleshoot

Agent Plugins and Skills

  • A capability is missing: confirm that the deployment package contains it. The library can show only installed components.
  • A Skill is enabled but unavailable to the Agent: check whether its parent Agent Plugin is disabled, and start a new turn.
  • A Skill appears only in some tasks: inspect ankole-runtime. A main Skill does not enter a Background Agent Job, and a background_job Skill does not enter a normal main-Agent conversation.
  • Some Agents ignore a global change: they can have per-Agent overrides. Select each Agent scope and inspect the setting.
  • A Background Agent Job cannot select a workspace template: confirm that the Agent Plugin is enabled for the Agent and that the Plugin contains workspace-template/.

Control Plane Plugins

  • A Control Plane Plugin says Enabled next start: the setting is saved, but the control plane has not restarted.
  • The control plane does not start after a restart: read the startup log and correct the Plugin configuration or dependency before starting it again.
  • The Channel Provider is still missing: confirm that the Plugin is Active now, and then inspect its Channel Provider configuration.

See Develop Skills and Control Plane Plugins for both extension paths.