Trae Agent Skills — AI Skills for ByteDance's Free AI IDE
What is Trae?
Trae is a free AI-first IDE from ByteDance that gives developers access to frontier AI models at no cost. Unlike Cursor ($20/month), Trae provides Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Claude 3.7 Sonnet, and GPT-4o for free.
Key Features
- Free AI models: Claude 3.5/3.7 Sonnet and GPT-4o included — no API key needed
- Builder Mode: Autonomous app generation from natural language descriptions
- MCP support: Connect to external tools via Model Context Protocol
- VS Code compatible: Uses VS Code's extension ecosystem
- Inline editing: AI-powered code changes directly in the editor
How Skills Work in Trae
Trae supports the SKILL.md format, the open standard adopted by 26+ AI tools. Skills teach Trae's AI assistant domain-specific knowledge — from framework conventions to deployment workflows.
Installing Skills
/learn @owner/skill-name
Using Skills with Builder Mode
Skills are especially powerful with Trae's Builder Mode. When you ask Builder to create an application, skills provide:
- Framework knowledge: How to structure a Next.js, Nuxt, or Django project
- Best practices: Coding standards, testing patterns, security rules
- Tool integration: How to set up databases, auth, deployment
Top Skills for Trae
| Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Frontend Design | Build polished UIs with Tailwind, React, Vue |
| Full Stack | End-to-end application development |
| Testing | Write tests alongside generated code |
| DevOps | CI/CD and deployment automation |
| SEO Optimizer | Optimize web apps for search engines |
Trae vs Other AI IDEs
| Feature | Trae | Cursor | Windsurf | VS Code + Copilot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | $20/mo | $15/mo | $10/mo |
| AI Models | Claude, GPT (free) | Claude, GPT | Claude, GPT | GPT, Claude |
| Builder Mode | Yes | No | Cascade | No |
| Agent Skills | SKILL.md + MCP | SKILL.md | SKILL.md | SKILL.md |
| Open Source | No | No | No | VS Code is open |
| Developer | ByteDance | Anysphere | Codeium/Cognition | Microsoft |