Install the builder skill from main before you pin the October tag
Install one Agent Framework builder skill with @main, then preview the October 30 tag and read the Python line before you pin it.
Liam Hermes
Chief Development Officer
Your coding agent can take a Microsoft-written lesson for Agent Framework, and the install ref is the part to get right. The November 4 blog prints the install with @main. The skills README on that same repository still says the explicit @main ref is required until a tagged release includes the skill. The two newest language tags I checked this morning already include the skill folders, and several files inside them differ from main.
Install one builder skill with @main. Preview the October 30 tag before you pin it.
The page is Give your coding agent a head start with Microsoft Agent Framework skills for .NET and Python, by Eduard van Valkenburg and Wes Steyn. The saved HTML meta article:published_time is 2026-11-04T15:35:49+00:00. That HTML has no article:modified_time meta. The visible date line is November 4th, 2026. The Agent Framework feed item is Wed, 04 Nov 2026 15:35:49 +0000, the same instant. Python put that stamp 20.47 hours before 7:04 AM Eastern on November 5. That clock is 2026-11-05T12:04:17Z, from date this run.
By the end you can install one language skill from main, preview it, and see the Python sentence that changes on the October tag.
Install one language skill from main
Everyday version first. This is a lesson file your coding agent reads while it writes the app. The real name on the blog is a builder skill, agent-framework-builder-dotnet or agent-framework-builder-python.
The blog says these are development-time skills for your coding assistant, not runtime skills loaded by the application you ship. Say that to a colleague before you paste the command. The app a person talks to still needs its SDK packages and model credentials. The blog prints that sentence on the same page.
Use a coding agent that supports the Agent Skills format. With GitHub CLI, the blog's .NET line is:
gh skill install microsoft/agent-framework agent-framework-builder-dotnet@main
The Python line is:
gh skill install microsoft/agent-framework agent-framework-builder-python@main
Pick the language you are shipping. One install is the step. The blog also prints a second installer, and it says to choose one installer and check that installer's docs for supported clients and scope. The other pair, copied from the same page, is:
npx skills add microsoft/agent-framework --skill agent-framework-builder-dotnet
npx skills add microsoft/agent-framework --skill agent-framework-builder-python
Those npx lines have no @main. Leave them as printed. The @main requirement I am about to quote is on the GitHub CLI lines.
The blog says both examples use main for the latest repository guidance, and to pin a tag or commit if you need a reproducible snapshot. The skills README I fetched from raw main this morning says something else. The explicit @main ref is required until a tagged Agent Framework release includes the skill. Until then, unqualified gh skill installs and search discovery can resolve an older release that does not contain it.
Keep those two sentences on their own pages. Copy @main on the GitHub CLI install. If you want a snapshot, preview the tag in the next section before you drop the ref.
The README also prints gh skill preview before install. The blog does not. Preview is the README's look-first step, not a second requirement from the blog.
On this machine, gh --version printed gh version 2.103.3 (2026-10-26). gh skill --help says working with agent skills in the GitHub CLI is in preview and subject to change without notice. The command I ran for the look-first step was:
gh skill preview microsoft/agent-framework agent-framework-builder-python@main
It exited 0. After a warning about skills in hidden directories, it printed the builder skill tree: SKILL.md plus nine files under references/. I left --allow-hidden-dirs off. The README says these are public distribution artifacts, not contributor instructions for working on the Agent Framework repository, and it says to keep the skills outside .github/skills, .agents/skills, and .claude/skills so repository agents do not discover them as project skills.
Leave the skill on the coding agent
The lesson stays with the coding agent. The shipped app still needs its packages and a way to sign in to the model. That split is the blog's, quoted above.
Two more sentences live on the skill files, and the blog does not print them. The preview of main printed the first one: never run or deploy DevUI as a production application host. DevUI is the local debug UI. Leave it on your machine.
The second sentence is the docs lookup. The blog says to configure the Microsoft Learn MCP Server as a Streamable HTTP endpoint:
https://learn.microsoft.com/api/mcp
Both skill files I fetched from raw main say that endpoint is for MCP clients and returns an error when opened directly in a browser. Copy it into the MCP client. Skip the browser tab.
If the app also calls other Microsoft services, the blog points Azure and Foundry work at the Azure Skills Plugin. It names a microsoft-foundry skill, plus azure-prepare, azure-deploy, and azure-diagnostics. Those names are the ones on this page. Copy them from the blog when you need that plugin. The builder skill install above is the Agent Framework lesson, and the blog treats the Azure plugin as a separate add.
The blog also says both skills favor the smallest suitable pattern. One agent when tools and sessions are enough. A harness when an operating loop is needed. A workflow when explicit stages, routing, and checkpointing are part of the requirements. A support assistant with several tools can stay one agent. That is the judgment the skill is written to push.
The page says the article was partially created with AI and an author reviewed it. The commands above are the ones in the saved HTML, not a paraphrase of that note.
Compare the October tag before you pin it
The blog's pin sentence is real. A tag is a snapshot. The README's warning is also real, and it is about a release that does not contain the skill. This morning the GitHub releases API returned python-1.24.0 at 2026-10-30T21:52:13Z and dotnet-1.27.0 at 2026-10-30T18:55:48Z as the two newest releases. Python put those stamps 134.20 hours and 137.14 hours before the same 7:04 AM Eastern clock. They are October releases. The contents API, called with ref set to each tag and to main, showed a skills/ directory on all three.
Each of those three trees listed README.md, agent-framework-builder-dotnet, and agent-framework-builder-python. The README blob sha was 640e926c314a on main and on both tags. Same blob means the README text on the October tags is the text that still prints the @main requirement. The tags include the skill folders. The README sentence has not been rewritten to say so.
The skill files are a different story. I compared blob shas, file by file.
For agent-framework-builder-python against python-1.24.0, both trees have 10 files. Seven blobs differ:
SKILL.mdreferences/evaluation.mdreferences/extensibility.mdreferences/hosting-and-deployment.mdreferences/integrations.mdreferences/observability.mdreferences/workflow-builder.md
The other three reference files matched: agent-builder.md, declarative.md, and harness-agent-builder.md.
Against dotnet-1.27.0, the Python skill has 10 files and six blobs differ. references/evaluation.md matches main on that tag. The other six differing paths are the same list as above, including SKILL.md.
The Python entry point is the one to read before you pin. Raw main is 6995 bytes. Raw python-1.24.0 is 7047 bytes. Both frontmatters say version: "0.3". The version field will not tell you which tree you installed. The changed sentence, from a diff of those two files:
The tag says "For new environments, use Python 3.11 or later within Agent Framework's currently supported range."
main says "Agent Framework requires Python 3.11 or later."
The rest of that bullet, about preferring the latest supported Python or the previous release, is the same on both. gh skill preview microsoft/agent-framework agent-framework-builder-python@python-1.24.0 printed the "For new environments" line. The raw main file I fetched printed the "requires" line.
For agent-framework-builder-dotnet, both October tags have 10 files, and four blobs differ from main on each tag:
references/declarative.mdreferences/hosting-and-deployment.mdreferences/integrations.mdreferences/observability.md
The .NET SKILL.md blob matched main on both tags in that comparison. The copy I downloaded from main and from dotnet-1.27.0 is 8260 bytes, with version: "0.1". Matching entry-point bytes still leave those four reference files on the older text.
So the pin choice is a file choice. @main is the guidance the November 4 blog points at, and it is the ref the README still prints. python-1.24.0 and dotnet-1.27.0 contain the skill folders, which means they are past the README's "does not contain it" case, and they are behind main on the files listed above.
Prompt the agent with the job
After the install, the blog says compatible clients discover the skill through its metadata, without a universal slash command. Prompt in ordinary language. Include the provider, the hosting target, the persistence you need, and the approval boundaries when you know them.
For a .NET app, the blog's example is:
Add an Agent Framework support assistant to our ASP.NET Core app. Use our model provider, isolate conversations per user, require approval before changing tickets, and test tool behavior with a fake IChatClient.
For a Python app that already exists:
Turn this Python Agent Framework research agent into a research-and-review workflow. Preserve its response format, add checkpointing, and test resume behavior using the project's existing test tooling.
Try the preview pair today, on the language you ship, before you change the install ref:
gh skill preview microsoft/agent-framework agent-framework-builder-python@main
gh skill preview microsoft/agent-framework agent-framework-builder-python@python-1.24.0
Swap in agent-framework-builder-dotnet and dotnet-1.27.0 if that is your stack. Then install once, from main, with the GitHub CLI line from the blog.
If you pin python-1.24.0 for a reproducible snapshot, which Python sentence do you want the coding agent to follow: "requires Python 3.11," or "for new environments, use Python 3.11"?