---
title: "Write Skill Cards People Can Trust"
description: "A skill card records the owner, intended use, risks, outputs, and references for an AI agent skill."
---

A scan report tells reviewers what automated checks found. A signature tells users whether the artifact changed. A skill card tells humans what they are accepting.

The **Skills Card** is the per-skill release record described below. Authors can generate one by running the `Skill Card.md` skill published at [NVIDIA/Trustworthy-AI](https://github.com/NVIDIA/Trustworthy-AI/blob/main/Skill%20Card.md), which walks through each section interactively. The card should be completed before a skill is broadly shared, especially when the skill can run tools, call APIs, write files, or influence production workflows.

## What a Skill Card Should Answer

| Section | Question it answers |
|---|---|
| Description | What does this skill do in one sentence? |
| Owner | Who is accountable for this skill? |
| License or terms | What rules govern use and redistribution? |
| Use case | Who should use it, and for what purpose? |
| Deployment geography | Where is the skill intended to be used? |
| Risks and mitigations | What could go wrong, and how is that risk reduced? |
| References | What docs, papers, reports, or model cards support this skill? |
| Skill output | What does the skill produce, and in what format? |
| Skill version | Which release or signing identifier does this card describe? |
| Ethical considerations | What governance or misuse considerations should users keep in mind? |

## Minimum Useful Card

Use this as the minimum release template:

```markdown
# Skill Card

## Description

[Skill name] [does one concrete thing] for [target user or workflow].

This skill is [ready for commercial/non-commercial use | for research and development only | for demonstration purposes and not for production usage].

## Owner

[Team or person accountable for maintenance and review]

## License/Terms of Use

[License or terms link]

## Use Case

[Who should use this skill and for what task]

## Deployment Geography for Use

[Global, regional, or country-specific deployment scope]

## Known Risks and Mitigations

Risk: [Plain-language risk]

Mitigation: [Control, limitation, review step, or monitoring plan]

## References

- [Reference documentation, paper, model card, or related technical source]
- [Scan report or CI evidence]

## Skill Output

Output type(s): [Analysis, API calls, code, files, or other]

Output format: [Markdown, JSON, string, SARIF, files, etc.]

Output parameters: [Shape, dimensions, schema, or file naming rules]

Other properties: [Limits, retention, side effects, or validation notes]

## Skill Version

[Version, release tag, or signing identifier]

## Ethical Considerations

[Relevant policy, human review expectation, misuse concern, or industry-specific constraint]
```

## Connect the Card to the Release

The card should point to the same evidence reviewers used:

- SkillSpector scan report or CI job
- Source repository and release tag
- Signing identifier or `skill.oms.sig` location
- Any model cards or dependency documentation behind the skill
- Known limitations and accepted risks

## Good Risk Statements

Avoid vague risks like "model may be wrong." Make risks actionable:

| Weak | Stronger |
|---|---|
| The skill could make mistakes. | The skill may generate incorrect remediation steps; users must review proposed code changes before execution. |
| The skill uses APIs. | The skill sends package names to OSV.dev for vulnerability lookup; no source code or secrets should be transmitted. |
| The skill writes files. | The skill may overwrite generated reports in the configured output directory; it must not write outside that directory. |

## Approval Rule

A skill card is complete when a reviewer can understand the skill's purpose, owner, output, risks, and release evidence without opening the source code first.

