{"slug": "linux-may-get-a-new-home-for-ai-agent-skills", "title": "Linux May Get a New Home for AI Agent Skills", "summary": "Sasha Levin, co-maintainer of the Linux stable and long-term support kernel trees, proposed a two-patch series adding an agents/ directory to the Linux kernel source tree to hold AI coding assistant skills, with the first skill, find-fixes, verifying which commit introduced a bug before a Fixes: tag is assigned. The proposal cites Hannes Reinecke's estimate that 15 to 20 percent of Fixes: tags are wrong, a problem that can send fixes to the wrong branches or leave bugs unpatched. The find-fixes skill reads Git history and returns a proposed tag with evidence, returning no tag and listing candidates when the origin cannot be established, and the series would also update the kernel's coding assistants document to require a verified tag before committing a fix.", "body_md": "A [Fixes](https://docs.kernel.org/process/submitting-patches.html?ref=itsfoss.com#:~:text=A-,Fixes%3A,-tag%20indicates%20that) tag in a kernel patch points to the commit that introduced the bug, but the last commit to touch a buggy line may only have moved the code to a new file.\n\nSasha Levin, who co-maintains the stable and long-term support kernel trees, wants AI coding assistants to verify which commit introduced a bug before assigning it a `Fixes:` tag.\n\nHis [two-patch series](https://lore.kernel.org/all/cover.1791499378.git.sashal@kernel.org/?ref=itsfoss.com) went to the *workflows* and *ksummit* mailing lists last week, where he has proposed a new agents directory in the kernel tree to hold the skill that does it.\n\n## The new directory\n\nThe [first patch](https://lore.kernel.org/all/5dfafd6f79165526fe17774c55b553b7dfe4b3fe.1791499378.git.sashal@kernel.org/?ref=itsfoss.com) adds an `agents/` directory at the top of the kernel source tree for skills, prompts, and other resources meant for coding assistants. It also adds a `MAINTAINERS` entry covering the directory.\n\nEach skill gets its own folder under `agents/skills/`, with a `SKILL.md` file as its entry point, written in the [Agent Skills format](https://agentskills.io/specification?ref=itsfoss.com).\n\nAssistants are told to read a resource directly from its path in the repository, and links inside a skill are relative to that skill's folder. A new section in the kernel's coding assistants document is meant to describe this layout.\n\nThe `find-fixes` skill, which arrives with the second patch, would be the first one in the directory.\n\n## Why do Fixes tags go wrong?\n\nLevin says the series traces back to a question from Ted Ts'o about incorrect tags in stable tree work. He pointed to LLM workflows that help find the right commit.\n\nTed later [explained](https://lore.kernel.org/all/askTmFZC6RJKAE_p@mit.edu/?ref=itsfoss.com) that the request came from a talk with Hannes Reinecke, who estimated that 15 to 20 percent of *Fixes* tags are wrong.\n\nThat matters beyond bookkeeping, since the tag is how stable maintainers and distributions work out which kernels need a given fix. A wrong one can send a fix to the wrong branches or leave a bug unpatched.\n\nThe new `find-fixes` skill reads Git history and returns a proposed tag with its evidence, while leaving the commit itself untouched.\n\nThe skill's `guide.rst` file says no single clue settles which commit a *Fixes* tag should name, not even an existing tag. The agent explains how the bug fails, traces candidate commits, and compares each against its parent.\n\nIt separates the commit that added the code, the one that made it defective, and any later change that only exposed the flaw.\n\nFor backported fixes, it checks whether the bug came from the original change or from how that change was adapted for an older kernel. Merges, reverts, and incomplete histories get their own handling.\n\nWhen it cannot establish the origin, it returns no tag, lists the candidates and what is missing, and the fix stays a draft until someone resolves it.\n\n## Still a work in progress\n\nThe second patch would add a section to the kernel's [coding assistants document](https://docs.kernel.org/process/coding-assistants.html?ref=itsfoss.com) saying an assistant must follow the guide before finalizing a bug fix or its commit message and when reviewing an existing tag.\n\nThe document's step for committing a fix would ask for a verified tag, where it now asks only for a *Fixes* tag. Keep in mind that the skill would not write commit messages, apply the tag, or decide whether a fix belongs in stable.\n\nThe series follows Levin's earlier push for the kernel's AI coding assistants policy, which [we covered in April](https://itsfoss.com/news/linux-ai-coding-assistants-policy/), and his [proposal for a kernel killswitch](https://itsfoss.com/news/linux-killswitch-proposal/).\n\nWhere the files should live is still open. The introductory patch message says he is unsure whether they belong under *Documentation* or in a separate agents directory at the root.\n\nGreg Kroah-Hartman asked [whether the series would fix](https://lore.kernel.org/all/2026100955-enchanted-magnetize-0d26@gregkh/?ref=itsfoss.com) tools skipping the kernel's guidance because an `AGENTS.md` file is missing. Sasha [replied](https://lore.kernel.org/all/asjDXvZI1J2KIqgj@laps/?ref=itsfoss.com) that this is a separate issue for the *symlink* patch.\n\nEnjoyed this update? Support independent Linux news coverage\n\nIt's FOSS has been helping people use Linux for the past 14 years. Help us stay independent from big tech. Become a Plus member, enjoy ad-free reading and get 5 eBooks.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/linux-may-get-a-new-home-for-ai-agent-skills", "canonical_source": "https://feed.itsfoss.com/link/24361/17494542/linux-ai-agent-skills-directory-proposal", "published_at": "2026-10-12 12:39:54+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-12 13:50:51.300241+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-agents", "ai-tools", "ai-policy", "developer-tools", "artificial-intelligence"], "entities": ["Sasha Levin", "Linux kernel", "Ted Ts'o", "Hannes Reinecke", "find-fixes", "Agent Skills format", "MAINTAINERS", "coding assistants document"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/linux-may-get-a-new-home-for-ai-agent-skills", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/linux-may-get-a-new-home-for-ai-agent-skills.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/linux-may-get-a-new-home-for-ai-agent-skills.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/linux-may-get-a-new-home-for-ai-agent-skills.jsonld"}}