> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.labex.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# LabEx Skill Trees V2: A More Precise Skill Model for Hands-On Learning
> LabEx Skill Trees V2 introduces a more rigorous skill assessment model for labs, challenges, progress, and recommendations.
## Overview
LabEx Skill Trees are the skill assessment model behind LabEx hands-on learning. They connect technical skills with guided labs, challenge labs, user progress, recommendations, badges, and certificates.
Skill Trees V2 is a major refinement of that model. The goal is not just to add more skills. The goal is to describe technical capability more accurately: what a learner has practiced, what they have proven, and what still needs more evidence.
## Why Skill Trees Exist
LabEx is built around hands-on practice. Guided Labs help learners understand a concept step by step. Challenge Labs verify whether they can apply that concept independently in a real environment.
That requires a model separate from course structure. A course tells learners what to study next. A Skill Tree describes the capability space of a technical domain.
In this model, a lab can teach or assess multiple skills, and a skill can be supported by multiple labs and challenges. Progress is therefore based on learning evidence, not only on course completion.
## What Was Limited in V1
V1 established the first broad skill taxonomy for LabEx, but it had several limitations.
Some skills were too broad, while others were too narrow. Some Skill Trees mixed adjacent domains, such as Linux, Shell, Git, Docker, Jenkins, and Kubernetes. Some areas, including Cybersecurity, React, Jenkins, and Wireshark, were under-modeled compared with their real skill space.
The result was that skill counts did not always communicate capability clearly. A learner might have many small skills unlocked, while the underlying ability was better represented as fewer, stronger concept-level skills.
## What V2 Improves
V2 redesigns the taxonomy around clearer domain boundaries and more consistent skill granularity.
Each skill is intended to represent a concept-level capability: specific enough to teach and assess, but broad enough to apply across multiple labs and real tasks. The model also separates adjacent domains more carefully. Linux focuses on system usage and administration. Shell focuses on command and scripting semantics. Docker, Kubernetes, and Jenkins are modeled as related but distinct delivery and automation domains.
Across the current canonical set, V2 includes:
* **25 Skill Trees**
* **1,129 concept-level skills**
* Up from **783 skills in V1**
The change is not just expansion. Some trees grew because V1 did not cover enough of their domain. Others became smaller because V2 removed duplication or moved skills to a more appropriate tree. Linux, for example, moves from 118 skills in V1 to 86 in V2 because its boundary is now more precise.
## Open Skill Assessment Model
Skill Trees V2 is also designed as an open technical skill assessment model led by LabEx.
The canonical Skill Tree data is maintained in the [labex-labs/labex-skilltrees](https://github.com/labex-labs/labex-skilltrees) repository. It defines the technical domains, stable skill identifiers, user-facing names, descriptions, and canonical ordering behind LabEx Skill Trees.
By opening this model, we want Skill Trees to be useful beyond LabEx. Individuals can use it for self-assessment. Educators can use it when designing practical courses, labs, and challenges. Teams can use it as a shared framework for discussing technical competency. Contributors can propose improvements when a skill is missing, too broad, too narrow, duplicated, or outdated.
Our goal is to promote a LabEx-led standard for hands-on technical skill assessment: open enough for community review and contribution, but rigorous enough to support measurement, recommendations, badges, certificates, and team analytics.
## Migration and User Progress
V2 is not a one-to-one rename of V1. When V2 rolls out, LabEx will migrate existing user learning records to the new skill model by reinterpreting historical lab completions, challenge completions, and related learning evidence against the V2 skill definitions.
This means a learner may see their acquired skill count change. In many cases, the number may decrease.
That does not mean completed labs, challenge history, or learning work has been lost. It means the same evidence is being measured against a cleaner and more conservative model.
For example:
* Several small V1 skills may map to one stronger V2 skill.
* A skill previously counted under Linux may now belong under Shell, Git, Docker, or another more precise tree.
* A completed lab may still contribute progress, but to a different set of V2 skills.
* Some progress may require additional challenge evidence if V2 defines the skill at a deeper level.
## What This Means
For learners, V2 should make Skill Trees easier to understand and more closely tied to real practice. For teams and educators, it provides a clearer competency framework for training, assessment, and progress analysis.
For LabEx, V2 is a foundation for better recommendations, more meaningful badges and certificates, and more reliable team analytics.
The core change is simple: V2 is not about counting more skills. It is about making each skill more meaningful.
You can explore the current Skill Trees at [labex.io/learn](https://labex.io/learn), or read the support overview here:
[LabEx Skill Trees](/en/using-labex/skill-trees)