Skills and tools

Skills

Reusable knowledge you teach once. Skills apply to every agent, chat and automation.

A skill is a folder of files with a SKILL.md on top. The SKILL.md explains what the skill is for and when to use it; the other files hold the detail: pricing rules, brand voice, account context, a checklist, a script. When a message or a task matches, the AI loads the skill and follows it.

Creating a skill

On the Skills page:

  • New skill asks for a Name ("Refund policy"), one line on What it teaches, and where it is Available in: Everywhere, Automations or Meetings. A skill scoped to automations or meetings starts as a draft. Create skill opens the editor with a starter SKILL.md.
  • Upload takes a whole folder from your computer, files and subfolders included.
  • Templates offers starting points: Email Assistant, Meeting Scheduler, Research Assistant, Content Writer, Project Manager, Customer Support, Daily Standup, Code Reviewer, Carousel Writer.

You can also ask the chat to create a skill from a conversation, and it writes the files for you.

The editor

A skill's page is a file editor: the file tree on the left, the file on the right, autosave as you type. The SKILL.md button jumps to the main file. The status pill in the header switches the skill between Everywhere (available to every chat, agent and automation) and Draft. The menu has Edit details, which opens the Edit Skill dialog with the title, description and model, and Delete skill.

Writing a good SKILL.md

  • Start with one line on when the skill applies. That line is what the AI reads to decide.
  • Put the rules in order, the way you would explain them to a colleague.
  • Keep long reference material in separate files and point to them; the AI reads them when needed.
  • Include an example of a good result.

Pinning a model

The Edit Skill dialog asks for the model the skill runs on, and requires a concrete pick: it cannot be left on auto. When the skill is loaded in a chat, the rest of that run switches to that model; if several skills are loaded, the most recently loaded one wins.

Skills versus instructions

The workspace Instructions file in the chat side panel applies to every message, all the time. A skill applies when it is relevant, and can be much longer. Put universal rules in Instructions and specialised procedures in skills.

Permissions

Skills and tools share the Skills permission area. See Members and roles.