> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://praison.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Read Properties • AI Agent SDK

> read_properties: Read skill properties from SKILL.md frontmatter.

# read\_properties

Function

> This function is defined in the [**parser**](https://praison.ai/docs/sdk/reference/praisonaiagents/modules/parser.md) module.

Read skill properties from SKILL.md frontmatter.

This function parses the frontmatter and returns properties.
It does NOT perform full validation. Use validate() for that.

## Signature

```python theme={"theme":{"light":"vitesse-light","dark":"vitesse-dark"}}
def read_properties(skill_dir: Path) -> SkillProperties
```

## Parameters

**skill\_dir** `Path` *required*

Path to the skill directory

### Returns

**Returns** `SkillProperties`

SkillProperties with parsed metadata

### Exceptions

> [accordion] ParseError
>
> If SKILL.md is missing or has invalid YAML

> [accordion] ValidationError
>
> If required fields (name, description) are missing

## Uses

* `Path`
* `find_skill_md`
* `ParseError`
* `skill_md.read_text`
* `parse_frontmatter`
* `ValidationError`
* `SkillProperties`
* `SkillRequirements.from_frontmatter`
* `SkillAutomation.from_metadata`

## Used By

* [`discover_skill`](../functions/discover_skill)
* [`SkillLoader.load_metadata`](../functions/SkillLoader-load_metadata)
* [`to_prompt`](../functions/to_prompt)

## Source

> [card] [View on GitHub](https://github.com/MervinPraison/PraisonAI/blob/main/src/praisonai-agents/praisonaiagents/skills/parser.py#L92)
>
> `praisonaiagents/skills/parser.py` at line 92


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