diff --git a/src/features/builtin-skills/shared-skill-extraction.test.ts b/src/features/builtin-skills/shared-skill-extraction.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f908bc558
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/features/builtin-skills/shared-skill-extraction.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+/// <reference path="../../../bun-test.d.ts" />
+
+import { describe, expect, test } from "bun:test"
+import type { BuiltinSkill } from "./types"
+
+declare const Bun: {
+  file(path: string): { text(): Promise<string> }
+}
+
+const TARGET_SKILLS = ["remove-ai-slops", "review-work", "frontend-ui-ux", "init-deep"] as const
+
+type TargetSkill = (typeof TARGET_SKILLS)[number]
+
+type SkillSource = {
+  readonly name: TargetSkill
+  readonly description: string
+  readonly template: string
+}
+
+function getRequiredMatch(source: string, pattern: RegExp, label: string): RegExpMatchArray {
+  const match = source.match(pattern)
+  if (!match) {
+    throw new Error(`missing ${label}`)
+  }
+  return match
+}
+
+async function readSkillSource(name: TargetSkill): Promise<SkillSource> {
+  let skill: BuiltinSkill
+  switch (name) {
+    case "remove-ai-slops":
+      skill = (await import("./skills/remove-ai-slops")).removeAiSlopsSkill
+      break
+    case "review-work":
+      skill = (await import("./skills/review-work")).reviewWorkSkill
+      break
+		case "frontend-ui-ux":
+			skill = (await import("./skills/frontend-ui-ux")).frontendUiUxSkill
+			break
+		case "init-deep":
+			skill = (await import("./skills/init-deep")).initDeepSkill
+			break
+	}
+  return { name, description: skill.description, template: skill.template }
+}
+
+async function readSharedSkill(name: TargetSkill): Promise<{ readonly frontmatter: string; readonly body: string }> {
+  const content = await Bun.file(`packages/shared-skills/skills/${name}/SKILL.md`).text()
+  const match = getRequiredMatch(content, /^---\n([\s\S]*?)\n---\n?([\s\S]*)$/, `${name} frontmatter`)
+  return { frontmatter: match[1], body: match[2] }
+}
+
+describe("shared builtin skill extraction", () => {
+  test("#given extracted builtin skill markdown #when compared to TS sources #then bodies and metadata stay byte-equivalent", async () => {
+    // given
+    const sources = await Promise.all(TARGET_SKILLS.map(readSkillSource))
+
+    // when
+    const sharedSkills = await Promise.all(TARGET_SKILLS.map(readSharedSkill))
+
+    // then
+    for (const [index, source] of sources.entries()) {
+      const sharedSkill = sharedSkills[index]
+      expect(sharedSkill.frontmatter).toContain(`name: ${source.name}`)
+      expect(sharedSkill.frontmatter).toContain(`description: ${JSON.stringify(source.description)}`)
+      expect(sharedSkill.body).toBe(source.template)
+    }
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/features/builtin-skills/skill-file-loader.test.ts b/src/features/builtin-skills/skill-file-loader.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5fbf011d2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/features/builtin-skills/skill-file-loader.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+/// <reference path="../../../bun-test.d.ts" />
+
+import { describe, expect, test } from "bun:test"
+import { parseFrontmatter } from "../../shared/frontmatter"
+import { createBuiltinSkills } from "./skills"
+import { createSharedSkillTemplateLoader, loadSharedSkillTemplate } from "./skill-file-loader"
+
+declare const Bun: {
+  file(path: string): { text(): Promise<string> }
+}
+
+const SHARED_BUILTIN_SKILLS = ["remove-ai-slops", "review-work", "frontend-ui-ux", "init-deep"] as const
+
+describe("shared builtin skill file loader", () => {
+  test("#given extracted shared skill files #when builtin skills are created #then templates load from SKILL.md bodies", async () => {
+    // given
+    const skills = createBuiltinSkills()
+
+    // when
+    const skillTemplates = new Map(skills.map((skill) => [skill.name, skill.template]))
+
+    // then
+    for (const skillName of SHARED_BUILTIN_SKILLS) {
+      const content = await Bun.file(`packages/shared-skills/skills/${skillName}/SKILL.md`).text()
+      const { body } = parseFrontmatter(content)
+      expect(skillTemplates.get(skillName)).toBe(body)
+      expect(loadSharedSkillTemplate(skillName)).toBe(body)
+    }
+  })
+
+  test("#given repeated loads #when using the same loader #then it reads each shared skill file once", () => {
+    // given
+    const reads: string[] = []
+    const loader = createSharedSkillTemplateLoader((path) => {
+      reads.push(path)
+      return "---\nname: cached\n---\nCached body"
+    })
+
+    // when
+    const first = loader("cached-skill")
+    const second = loader("cached-skill")
+
+    // then
+    expect(first).toBe("Cached body")
+    expect(second).toBe("Cached body")
+    expect(reads).toHaveLength(1)
+  })
+
+  test("#given source and bundled layouts #when loading shared skill templates #then both package-relative paths resolve", () => {
+    // given
+    const expectedContent = "---\nname: layout\n---\nLayout body"
+    const createMissingFileError = (): Error => {
+      const error = new Error("ENOENT missing SKILL.md")
+      Object.defineProperty(error, "code", { value: "ENOENT" })
+      return error
+    }
+    const readFile = (path: string): string => {
+      if (path.endsWith("/packages/shared-skills/skills/layout/SKILL.md")) {
+        return expectedContent
+      }
+      throw createMissingFileError()
+    }
+
+    // when
+    const bundledLoader = createSharedSkillTemplateLoader(readFile, "/workspace/dist")
+    const sourceLoader = createSharedSkillTemplateLoader(readFile, "/workspace/src/features/builtin-skills")
+
+    // then
+    expect(bundledLoader("layout")).toBe("Layout body")
+    expect(sourceLoader("layout")).toBe("Layout body")
+  })
+
+  test("#given a missing shared skill file #when loading the template #then the loader fails fast", () => {
+    // given
+    const loader = createSharedSkillTemplateLoader(() => {
+      throw new Error("ENOENT missing SKILL.md")
+    })
+
+    expect(() => loader("__missing__")).toThrow("ENOENT missing SKILL.md")
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/features/builtin-skills/skill-file-loader.ts b/src/features/builtin-skills/skill-file-loader.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..64a6fc4c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/features/builtin-skills/skill-file-loader.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs"
+import { dirname, join } from "node:path"
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url"
+import { parseFrontmatter } from "../../shared/frontmatter"
+type SkillFileReader = (path: string, encoding: "utf8") => string
+const SHARED_SKILL_PATHS = [
+	["..", "packages", "shared-skills", "skills"],
+	["..", "..", "..", "packages", "shared-skills", "skills"],
+] as const
+const moduleDir = typeof import.meta.dir === "string" ? import.meta.dir : dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url))
+export function createSharedSkillTemplateLoader(
+	readFile: SkillFileReader = readFileSync,
+	baseDir: string = moduleDir,
+): (skillName: string) => string {
+	const cache = new Map<string, string>()
+	return (skillName) => {
+		const cached = cache.get(skillName)
+		if (cached !== undefined) return cached
+		let missingFileError: unknown
+		for (const segments of SHARED_SKILL_PATHS) {
+			try {
+				const { body } = parseFrontmatter(readFile(join(baseDir, ...segments, skillName, "SKILL.md"), "utf8"))
+				cache.set(skillName, body)
+				return body
+			} catch (error) {
+				if (!(error instanceof Error && Reflect.get(error, "code") === "ENOENT")) {
+					throw error
+				}
+				missingFileError ??= error
+			}
+		}
+		throw missingFileError ?? new Error(`missing shared skill template: ${skillName}`)
+	}
+}
+const loadSharedSkillTemplateFromDisk = createSharedSkillTemplateLoader()
+export function loadSharedSkillTemplate(skillName: string): string {
+	return loadSharedSkillTemplateFromDisk(skillName)
+}