Agent Skills Trends January 2026: Claude Cowork Launch, Codex GPT-5.2 Support
The Agent Skills ecosystem is evolving rapidly in 2026. This article summarizes the key developments as of January 2026.
Major News This Month
Claude Cowork: Team AI Collaboration Released
On January 12th, Anthropic released Claude Cowork. Built on Claude Code, this feature enables team-based AI collaboration.
It simplifies coordination when multiple developers use Claude Code on the same project, with skill sharing now manageable at the team level.
Codex Adds GPT-5.2-Codex Support
OpenAI Codex now supports the GPT-5.2-Codex model, with improvements in:
- Long-horizon tasks: Context compaction enables smoother large refactors and migrations
- Security capabilities: More accurate vulnerability detection
Agent Skills benefit from these model improvements.
Cursor 2.0 Background Agents Now Production-Ready
Cursor 2.0's background agent feature has reached stable release. This opens new possibilities like automated scheduled tasks using Agent Skills.
Agent Skills Ecosystem Expansion
Multi-Platform Support Growing
The list of tools supporting Agent Skills continues to expand:
- Claude Code
- OpenAI Codex CLI
- GitHub Copilot (VS Code)
- Cursor
- Windsurf
- OpenCode
- Amp CLI
- Vibe CLI
A universal installer supporting 14+ platforms has emerged, making skill installation even easier.
Community Growth
GitHub repositories related to Agent Skills are increasing, with curated lists like "awesome-agent-skills" becoming more comprehensive.
While high-quality skills are easier to find, quality varies widely. When choosing skills, check update frequency and documentation quality alongside star counts.
Developer Workflow Changes
AI Coding Tool Adoption
By the end of 2025, 85% of developers were regularly using AI tools. This trend continues in 2026, with focus shifting from "whether to use AI" to "how to use it effectively."
Evolving Skill Requirements
As AI coding tools advance, the skills developers need are changing:
- Architecture design: Humans handle overall design while delegating implementation to AI
- Prompt engineering: Writing effective instructions for AI
- Quality judgment: Evaluating and curating AI output
Agent Skills, as a technology for packaging "instructions for AI," are becoming increasingly important.
Claude Code's Rise
Highest SWE-bench Accuracy
Claude Code (Opus 4.5) achieved 80.9% accuracy on SWE-bench Verified—the highest of any model currently.
90% Self-Development Rate
An interesting data point: after Anthropic engineers heavily adopted Claude Code, approximately 90% of Claude Code's codebase is now written by Claude Code itself.
Looking Ahead
Trends to Watch
- Platform integration: Growing demand for unified environments covering terminal, IDE, web, and desktop
- Enterprise features: Team functionality and security enhancements in progress
- Skill marketplaces: Platforms for buying/selling premium skills may emerge
February Predictions
Expect new feature announcements from major players in February. Watch for Claude Cowork expansion and new Codex skill-related features.
Summary
January 2026 brought significant progress for the Agent Skills ecosystem:
- Claude Cowork introduced team collaboration
- Codex added GPT-5.2-Codex support
- Multi-platform coverage expanded
Now is a great time to start with Agent Skills. Browse the Skills list to find ones that interest you.
We'll continue covering the latest developments on this blog.
Related Articles
- What Are Agent Skills? - Understand the basics
- MCP vs Agent Skills - Compare two approaches
- Top 10 Popular Skills January 2026 - This month's favorites
- AI Coding Tools Comparison 2026 - Tool selection guide