Definition
Agent skill bloat is the per-message token-cost compounding effect of leaving 50-100 default skills loaded in an agent's tool surface when only 20-30 are actually invoked across the user's real workflow — paying for the description tokens of skills that never fire.
In Depth
An r/hermesagent post in April 2026 documented trimming a 73-skill default folder to 26 active skills, citing per-message token bloat across hundreds of messages per week. Each skill description costs ~100-200 input tokens; 70 skills × 150 tokens = 10K tokens per message just describing tools. The fix: 2-week usage audit → drop never-invoked skills, drop duplicates, replace 5-8 narrow web/search/scrape skills with one Scavio MCP. The token math compounds at heavy usage (300+ messages/week) into measurable weekly LLM bills.
Example Usage
Power user runs 300 Claude Code messages/week with 70 default skills loaded. Per-message input overhead from skill descriptions: ~10K tokens. Trim to 26 + replace narrow web skills with Scavio MCP → ~4K tokens. 6K saved × 300 messages × Sonnet 4.6 input rate = ~$5-10/week saved.
Platforms
Agent Skill Bloat is relevant across the following platforms, all accessible through Scavio's unified API:
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