diff --git a/codex-rs/app-server-protocol/src/protocol/v2.rs b/codex-rs/app-server-protocol/src/protocol/v2.rs
index bd1ed62e7..37d3b71b3 100644
--- a/codex-rs/app-server-protocol/src/protocol/v2.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/app-server-protocol/src/protocol/v2.rs
@@ -1057,6 +1057,9 @@ pub enum SkillScope {
 pub struct SkillMetadata {
     pub name: String,
     pub description: String,
+    #[ts(optional)]
+    #[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub short_description: Option<String>,
     pub path: PathBuf,
     pub scope: SkillScope,
 }
@@ -1083,6 +1086,7 @@ impl From<CoreSkillMetadata> for SkillMetadata {
         Self {
             name: value.name,
             description: value.description,
+            short_description: value.short_description,
             path: value.path,
             scope: value.scope.into(),
         }
diff --git a/codex-rs/app-server/src/codex_message_processor.rs b/codex-rs/app-server/src/codex_message_processor.rs
index 2d581e238..88c0e7dd6 100644
--- a/codex-rs/app-server/src/codex_message_processor.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/app-server/src/codex_message_processor.rs
@@ -3319,6 +3319,7 @@ fn skills_to_info(
         .map(|skill| codex_app_server_protocol::SkillMetadata {
             name: skill.name.clone(),
             description: skill.description.clone(),
+            short_description: skill.short_description.clone(),
             path: skill.path.clone(),
             scope: skill.scope.into(),
         })
diff --git a/codex-rs/core/src/codex.rs b/codex-rs/core/src/codex.rs
index c15fa03cf..5deca299f 100644
--- a/codex-rs/core/src/codex.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/core/src/codex.rs
@@ -2187,6 +2187,7 @@ fn skills_to_info(skills: &[SkillMetadata]) -> Vec<ProtocolSkillMetadata> {
         .map(|skill| ProtocolSkillMetadata {
             name: skill.name.clone(),
             description: skill.description.clone(),
+            short_description: skill.short_description.clone(),
             path: skill.path.clone(),
             scope: skill.scope,
         })
diff --git a/codex-rs/core/src/skills/assets/samples/plan/SKILL.md b/codex-rs/core/src/skills/assets/samples/plan/SKILL.md
index f202ee9e4..a515fa659 100644
--- a/codex-rs/core/src/skills/assets/samples/plan/SKILL.md
+++ b/codex-rs/core/src/skills/assets/samples/plan/SKILL.md
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 ---
 name: plan
 description: Generate a plan for how an agent should accomplish a complex coding task. Use when a user asks for a plan, and optionally when they want to save, find, read, update, or delete plan files in $CODEX_HOME/plans (default ~/.codex/plans).
+metadata:
+  short-description: Create and manage plan markdown files under $CODEX_HOME/plans.
 ---
 
 # Plan
diff --git a/codex-rs/core/src/skills/loader.rs b/codex-rs/core/src/skills/loader.rs
index 32c5db843..3fbcfc93d 100644
--- a/codex-rs/core/src/skills/loader.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/core/src/skills/loader.rs
@@ -20,6 +20,14 @@ use tracing::error;
 struct SkillFrontmatter {
     name: String,
     description: String,
+    #[serde(default)]
+    metadata: SkillFrontmatterMetadata,
+}
+
+#[derive(Debug, Default, Deserialize)]
+struct SkillFrontmatterMetadata {
+    #[serde(default, rename = "short-description")]
+    short_description: Option<String>,
 }
 
 const SKILLS_FILENAME: &str = "SKILL.md";
@@ -27,6 +35,7 @@ const SKILLS_DIR_NAME: &str = "skills";
 const REPO_ROOT_CONFIG_DIR_NAME: &str = ".codex";
 const MAX_NAME_LEN: usize = 64;
 const MAX_DESCRIPTION_LEN: usize = 1024;
+const MAX_SHORT_DESCRIPTION_LEN: usize = MAX_DESCRIPTION_LEN;
 
 #[derive(Debug)]
 enum SkillParseError {
@@ -218,15 +227,29 @@ fn parse_skill_file(path: &Path, scope: SkillScope) -> Result<SkillMetadata, Ski
 
     let name = sanitize_single_line(&parsed.name);
     let description = sanitize_single_line(&parsed.description);
+    let short_description = parsed
+        .metadata
+        .short_description
+        .as_deref()
+        .map(sanitize_single_line)
+        .filter(|value| !value.is_empty());
 
     validate_field(&name, MAX_NAME_LEN, "name")?;
     validate_field(&description, MAX_DESCRIPTION_LEN, "description")?;
+    if let Some(short_description) = short_description.as_deref() {
+        validate_field(
+            short_description,
+            MAX_SHORT_DESCRIPTION_LEN,
+            "metadata.short-description",
+        )?;
+    }
 
     let resolved_path = normalize_path(path).unwrap_or_else(|_| path.to_path_buf());
 
     Ok(SkillMetadata {
         name,
         description,
+        short_description,
         path: resolved_path,
         scope,
     })
@@ -345,6 +368,7 @@ mod tests {
         let skill = &outcome.skills[0];
         assert_eq!(skill.name, "demo-skill");
         assert_eq!(skill.description, "does things carefully");
+        assert_eq!(skill.short_description, None);
         let path_str = skill.path.to_string_lossy().replace('\\', "/");
         assert!(
             path_str.ends_with("skills/demo/SKILL.md"),
@@ -352,6 +376,52 @@ mod tests {
         );
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn loads_short_description_from_metadata() {
+        let codex_home = tempfile::tempdir().expect("tempdir");
+        let skill_dir = codex_home.path().join("skills/demo");
+        fs::create_dir_all(&skill_dir).unwrap();
+        let contents = "---\nname: demo-skill\ndescription: long description\nmetadata:\n  short-description: short summary\n---\n\n# Body\n";
+        fs::write(skill_dir.join(SKILLS_FILENAME), contents).unwrap();
+
+        let cfg = make_config(&codex_home);
+        let outcome = load_skills(&cfg);
+        assert!(
+            outcome.errors.is_empty(),
+            "unexpected errors: {:?}",
+            outcome.errors
+        );
+        assert_eq!(outcome.skills.len(), 1);
+        assert_eq!(
+            outcome.skills[0].short_description,
+            Some("short summary".to_string())
+        );
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn enforces_short_description_length_limits() {
+        let codex_home = tempfile::tempdir().expect("tempdir");
+        let skill_dir = codex_home.path().join("skills/demo");
+        fs::create_dir_all(&skill_dir).unwrap();
+        let too_long = "x".repeat(MAX_SHORT_DESCRIPTION_LEN + 1);
+        let contents = format!(
+            "---\nname: demo-skill\ndescription: long description\nmetadata:\n  short-description: {too_long}\n---\n\n# Body\n"
+        );
+        fs::write(skill_dir.join(SKILLS_FILENAME), contents).unwrap();
+
+        let cfg = make_config(&codex_home);
+        let outcome = load_skills(&cfg);
+        assert_eq!(outcome.skills.len(), 0);
+        assert_eq!(outcome.errors.len(), 1);
+        assert!(
+            outcome.errors[0]
+                .message
+                .contains("invalid metadata.short-description"),
+            "expected length error, got: {:?}",
+            outcome.errors
+        );
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn skips_hidden_and_invalid() {
         let codex_home = tempfile::tempdir().expect("tempdir");
diff --git a/codex-rs/core/src/skills/model.rs b/codex-rs/core/src/skills/model.rs
index 8aff199c3..9063d7a25 100644
--- a/codex-rs/core/src/skills/model.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/core/src/skills/model.rs
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ use codex_protocol::protocol::SkillScope;
 pub struct SkillMetadata {
     pub name: String,
     pub description: String,
+    pub short_description: Option<String>,
     pub path: PathBuf,
     pub scope: SkillScope,
 }
diff --git a/codex-rs/protocol/src/protocol.rs b/codex-rs/protocol/src/protocol.rs
index b3165acbe..d26d8318a 100644
--- a/codex-rs/protocol/src/protocol.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/protocol/src/protocol.rs
@@ -1697,6 +1697,9 @@ pub enum SkillScope {
 pub struct SkillMetadata {
     pub name: String,
     pub description: String,
+    #[ts(optional)]
+    #[serde(default, skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub short_description: Option<String>,
     pub path: PathBuf,
     pub scope: SkillScope,
 }
diff --git a/codex-rs/tui/src/bottom_pane/skill_popup.rs b/codex-rs/tui/src/bottom_pane/skill_popup.rs
index 2e1e5878c..bac1264ea 100644
--- a/codex-rs/tui/src/bottom_pane/skill_popup.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/tui/src/bottom_pane/skill_popup.rs
@@ -86,7 +86,11 @@ impl SkillPopup {
                     .and_then(|n| n.to_str())
                     .unwrap_or(&skill.name);
                 let name = format!("{} ({slug})", skill.name);
-                let description = skill.description.clone();
+                let description = skill
+                    .short_description
+                    .as_ref()
+                    .unwrap_or(&skill.description)
+                    .clone();
                 GenericDisplayRow {
                     name,
                     match_indices: indices,
diff --git a/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget.rs b/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget.rs
index 4d2ed8983..d04b3d0b5 100644
--- a/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/tui/src/chatwidget.rs
@@ -3634,6 +3634,7 @@ fn skills_for_cwd(cwd: &Path, skills_entries: &[SkillsListEntry]) -> Vec<SkillMe
                 .map(|skill| SkillMetadata {
                     name: skill.name.clone(),
                     description: skill.description.clone(),
+                    short_description: skill.short_description.clone(),
                     path: skill.path.clone(),
                     scope: skill.scope,
                 })
diff --git a/codex-rs/tui2/src/bottom_pane/skill_popup.rs b/codex-rs/tui2/src/bottom_pane/skill_popup.rs
index 3e0f79f84..250fbbcac 100644
--- a/codex-rs/tui2/src/bottom_pane/skill_popup.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/tui2/src/bottom_pane/skill_popup.rs
@@ -86,7 +86,11 @@ impl SkillPopup {
                     .and_then(|n| n.to_str())
                     .unwrap_or(&skill.name);
                 let name = format!("{} ({slug})", skill.name);
-                let description = skill.description.clone();
+                let description = skill
+                    .short_description
+                    .as_ref()
+                    .unwrap_or(&skill.description)
+                    .clone();
                 GenericDisplayRow {
                     name,
                     match_indices: indices,
diff --git a/codex-rs/tui2/src/chatwidget.rs b/codex-rs/tui2/src/chatwidget.rs
index a612b8da1..b7e9b3f56 100644
--- a/codex-rs/tui2/src/chatwidget.rs
+++ b/codex-rs/tui2/src/chatwidget.rs
@@ -3539,6 +3539,7 @@ fn skills_for_cwd(cwd: &Path, skills_entries: &[SkillsListEntry]) -> Vec<SkillMe
                 .map(|skill| SkillMetadata {
                     name: skill.name.clone(),
                     description: skill.description.clone(),
+                    short_description: skill.short_description.clone(),
                     path: skill.path.clone(),
                     scope: skill.scope,
                 })