diff --git a/.dspace-skills b/.dspace-skills
new file mode 160000
index 00000000000..2a62a2ebff8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dspace-skills
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 2a62a2ebff88a05acf78d374003032b455843066
diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index 16fbb4e8d5d..3c7bc45c1fb 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
 [submodule "python_data_import/lib"]
 	path = python_data_import/lib
 	url = https://github.com/dataquest-dev/dspace-blackbox-testing.git
+[submodule ".dspace-skills"]
+	path = .dspace-skills
+	url = git@github.com:dataquest-dev/dspace-skills.git
+	branch = main
diff --git a/AGENTS.md b/AGENTS.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5e55e477c0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/AGENTS.md
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+
+<!-- dspace-skills:begin -->
+## Private team playbooks (dataquest)
+
+This repo vendors dataquest's private AI knowledge base as the `.dspace-skills/` git submodule. **If
+`.dspace-skills/` is present**, treat **`.dspace-skills/AGENTS.md`** as the authoritative agent guide for this repo:
+read it first, then load the matching profile (`.dspace-skills/profiles/frontend.md` for dspace-angular,
+`.dspace-skills/profiles/backend.md` for DSpace) and pull skills from `.dspace-skills/skills/` on demand. Start any
+PR/backport/test task from `.dspace-skills/SKILLS.md`.
+
+If `.dspace-skills/` is empty (you don't have access, e.g. an outside contributor), ignore this section
+and proceed with the public project conventions.
+
+To enable: `git submodule update --init .dspace-skills` (requires access to
+`dataquest-dev/dspace-skills`).
+<!-- dspace-skills:end -->
diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5e55e477c0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+
+<!-- dspace-skills:begin -->
+## Private team playbooks (dataquest)
+
+This repo vendors dataquest's private AI knowledge base as the `.dspace-skills/` git submodule. **If
+`.dspace-skills/` is present**, treat **`.dspace-skills/AGENTS.md`** as the authoritative agent guide for this repo:
+read it first, then load the matching profile (`.dspace-skills/profiles/frontend.md` for dspace-angular,
+`.dspace-skills/profiles/backend.md` for DSpace) and pull skills from `.dspace-skills/skills/` on demand. Start any
+PR/backport/test task from `.dspace-skills/SKILLS.md`.
+
+If `.dspace-skills/` is empty (you don't have access, e.g. an outside contributor), ignore this section
+and proceed with the public project conventions.
+
+To enable: `git submodule update --init .dspace-skills` (requires access to
+`dataquest-dev/dspace-skills`).
+<!-- dspace-skills:end -->