AGENTS.md Is Not Enough: Build Skills, Don't Download Them

An opinionated look at agentic engineering with Angular, based on everyday work in enterprise codebases.
My favorite tools and skills for designing interfaces, building Signal Forms, and refactoring legacy code.
The takeaway: use existing skills as starting points, then build the skills your work actually needs.

Transcript

1. • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene AGENTS.md Is Not Enough: Build Skills, Don't Download Them https://LXT.dev Alexander Thalhammer Alexander Thalhammer · ANGULARarchitects.io/blog/
2. • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene Thanks for sticking around! You won't regret it <3 Alexander Thalhammer 2
3. • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene I suck at marketing. Alexander Thalhammer 3
4. Agentic architect and team lead • Textmasterformat bearbeiten Agentic architect. Team lead. • Zweite Ebene My team: my beloved agents. Alexander Thalhammer 4
5. Vibe coding vs. agentic engineering • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene Vibe coding Agentic engineering Accept output without understanding it Apply your expertise to direct and review it Judge by whether it seems to work Verify correctness and own the result Alexander Thalhammer 5
6. What is an agent? • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene Agent = LLM + harness Alexander Thalhammer 6
7. My take: 80% LLM, 20% harness • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene 80% 20% LLM Alexander Thalhammer Harness 7
8. Zoom in on the harness • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene 80% LLM 10% Tool 10% What I add Claude Code · Codex · Antigravity Cursor · OpenCode · Copilot Alexander Thalhammer 8
9. What I add to the harness • Textmasterformat bearbeiten Share What I add • Zweite Ebene Examples 4% Instructions (always in context) AGENTS.md (CLAUDE.md if all-in Anthropic) 4% Documentation & Guardrails README.md(s) & Angular Coding Style Guide 2% Agent Skills Reusable workflows / procedures / scripts Alexander Thalhammer 9
10. Hi, I'm LXT Alex T. • Textmasterformat bearbeiten No GDE, no MVP … for a reason! • Zweite Ebene Angular Software Tree Besides my work, I talk about and teach agentic engineering. And I have opinions, so no politics J Alexander Thalhammer 10
11. Things I hate • Dictators •• Textmasterformat Monopolies bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene • Windows • iOS • React • VS Code • Using Google models • Using local models (even worse!) • Using Git through the terminal. Even worse: using agents through the terminal. Alexander Thalhammer 11
12. Things I love • Democracy •• Textmasterformat Open source bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene • Linux & macOS (well, not so sure about that anymore lately) • Android & Pixel Phones • Angular & TypeScript • JetBrains (well, not so sure about that anymore lately) • Using frontier models (I want the best!) • My agentic app: T3 Code (again, the best & open source à free to use & customize) Alexander Thalhammer 12
13. Which model would you choose for research? • Zweite Ebene • Textmasterformat bearbeiten GPT-6 Astra BTW: no Astra in Cursor, so RIP Cursor Alexander Thalhammer 13
14. Which model to create a presentation? • Zweite Ebene • Textmasterformat bearbeiten GPT-6 Astra Alexander Thalhammer 14
15. Which model to fix annoying issues on your computer? • Zweite Ebene • Textmasterformat bearbeiten GPT-6 Astra Alexander Thalhammer 15
16. Which model to implement into your Angular codebase? • Zweite Ebene • Textmasterformat bearbeiten Fable 5.1 And nothing else! Alexander Thalhammer 16
17. What about the other models? • Model Textmasterformat bearbeiten Why it interests me • Zweite Ebene Muse Spark 1.3 Roughly Opus 5.0 level; free via OpenCode for a limited time Kimi K3 Top open-weight; roughly Opus 4.8; substantial hosting requirements GLM-5.3-Flash My pick for flash (aka dumb) models: quality, price, and speed Alexander Thalhammer 17
18. Fable for frontend. Astra for the rest. high-quality •Mergeable, Textmasterformat bearbeitenfrontend code, especially Angular • Zweite Ebene Fable 5.1 Everything else GPT-6 Astra Alexander Thalhammer 18
19. My app of choice: T3 Code T3 Code • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene • Claude Code for Anthropic models • OpenCode for multiple providers • Cursor for the VS Code / Cursor IDE workflow • T3 Code brings my supported subscriptions together Microsoft route: T3 Code à OpenCode à GitHub Copilot à Fable Alexander Thalhammer 19
20. Instructions that improve with experience AGENTS.md (and CLAUDE.md) • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene • Start with the Angular CLI’s generated instructions. • Fix a problem and capture the lesson. • Update the instructions for next time. Continuous improvement Alexander Thalhammer 20
21. Architecture and code conventions • Textmasterformat bearbeiten •How your • Zweite Ebene architecture works •What your Angular code should look like Start with the Angular coding style guide, or better, use my extended version. Alexander Thalhammer 21
22. Won't all this bloat my context? 1 million tokens • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene Fable 5.1 · 10,000 tokens = 1% of that window Progressive disclosure: load relevant guidance when needed. Task Guidance to load Write CSS CSS / SCSS style guide Build signal forms My ng-forms skill Alexander Thalhammer 22
24. The hype around loops • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene Alexander Thalhammer 24
25. • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene I want to ship high-quality code and tell you the truth about it Alexander Thalhammer 25
26. Okay, I also have a workshop Yes, I also offer a workshop. • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene Based on experience shipping features in large enterprise codebases. Alexander Thalhammer 26
27. • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene My agentic engineering workshop Alexander Thalhammer 27
28. Are my subscriptions too expensive? One monthly chore: bookkeeping • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene • Collect invoices from email, websites, and Google Drive photos • Reconcile invoices with monthly bank statements • Do the bookkeeping 4 hours + €200 saved / month My subscriptions: roughly €500 / month Alexander Thalhammer 28
29. My top pick skills: the right questions • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene Skill When I use it brainstorming, from obra's Superpowers To create a spec (what) or a plan (how), when I don't yet know exactly what I want grill-with-style, my adaptation of Matt Pocock's grill-me Same, when I already know what I want Alexander Thalhammer 29
30. Frontend design by Anthropic frontend-design • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene by Anthropic Useful design help when your team can't afford a UX designer. I still want a real designer. And a real engineer. Alexander Thalhammer 30
31. ng-forms: build Signal Forms ng-forms • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene Build Signal Forms. Guidance for the reactive forms you still maintain or want to migrate. Alexander Thalhammer 31
32. ng-refactor: modernize existing Angular code To refactor dusty, huge, complex, legacy components • Textmasterformat bearbeiten into• smaller, Zweite Ebene typed, signal-based (modern Angular) ones. Analyse → Declutter → Update → Modernize Type → Refactor → Review Verify and review each step with your test suite. Delegate official Angular migrations to ng-migrate skill. Alexander Thalhammer 32
33. • Textmasterformat bearbeiten Use• existing (like mine) skills as starting points. Zweite Ebene Build the skills your work actually needs create-a-skill skill My guidance, extending Matt Pocock and Minko Gechev Alexander Thalhammer 33
34. • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene Let's check the results of our agents. Alexander Thalhammer 34
35. Thank you for your attention And board the agentic train! • Textmasterformat bearbeiten • Zweite Ebene Slides LXT.dev Follow me x.com/LX_T Skills github.com/L-X-T/ng-agentic-skills Angular Coding Style Guide …/ng-agentic-skills/blob/main/style-guide/style-guide.md Alexander Thalhammer 35