An AI agent skill registry records the skills an organization supports and how agents can use them. Entries can include ownership, versions, task descriptions, dependencies, permissions, input and output contracts, examples and validation status.
A registry makes proven workflows discoverable and discourages teams from recreating incompatible copies. Maintenance is essential because stale skills, undocumented permissions or unclear ownership can spread failures across many agents.
ELI5
An agent skill registry is an organized catalogue of reusable abilities available to AI agents. Each entry can explain what the skill does, who maintains it, which version is current, what permissions it needs and how to use it safely.
For example, a company might register one approved skill for preparing expense reports so several agents use the same tested workflow instead of making incompatible copies. The registry must be maintained because an abandoned or outdated skill can spread the same mistake to many users.

