Skills

A skill is a written procedure an agent loads only when it decides the procedure applies. The agent sees every attached skill’s name and description; it reads the instructions only when it chooses that skill. Attaching several costs nothing until one is used, so an agent can carry a dozen procedures without crowding its own instructions. Build › Skills is where the tenant’s skills are written; you attach them to agents on each agent’s page.

A skill can also narrow the tools an agent may call while the skill is in use. It can never add one.

Who can open it

Role	What they can do
Admin	Create, edit and delete skills; attach them to agents.
Builder	The same as an Admin.
Auditor	Read the list and each skill’s page, including its instructions.
Reviewer, End user	Cannot open it.
Platform admin	Everything an Admin can, in any tenant.

What you see

The Skills list

1. The header: Skills, and a tenant picker when you can see more than one tenant.

2. The table, with a search box:

   Column	What it shows
   Name	The skill’s name, linking to its page.
   When the model uses it	The description: the only thing the model reads before deciding.
   Narrows tools to	The tools the skill narrows to, or Does not change tools.
   Version	Increases on every change to the skill’s content.
   Updated	When it last changed.
   Actions	Admin and Builder only: Edit, and Delete skill in the menu.

3. Create skill, in the toolbar, for an Admin or Builder.

With no skills, the table reads No skills yet, with Create skill for the roles that may use it.

A skill’s page

The header shows the name and description, with Edit for an Admin or Builder. Below, in order:

1. Frontmatter: Name, When the model should use it, Narrow tools to (optional) (or Nothing — the agent keeps its tools), Version and Updated.
2. SKILL.md: the instructions, rendered as Markdown.
3. Agents using this skill: a count, then each agent with its model and its Effective tools while this skill is in use. With none: No agent carries it yet. Attach it from an agent’s page.

What you can do

Create a skill

1. On Build › Skills, choose Create skill.
2. Identity:
   1. Enter a Name: lowercase letters, digits and hyphens, starting with a letter or digit, such as escalate-a-complaint. The model calls the skill by this name, so it cannot be changed later.
   2. Under When the model should use it, say which situations the procedure is for. A vague description is never chosen; one that overlaps another skill’s is chosen for the wrong question.
   3. Choose Next.
3. Instructions: write the procedure in Markdown. The model reads it only after it decides the skill applies. Choose Next.
4. Tools (optional): to narrow, choose a server under Toolkit and select the tools this skill allows on it (This skill narrows to · n of total). Repeat for other servers. Choose none to leave the agent’s tools as they are. Choose Next.
5. Review: check the name, the description and Narrows tools to, then choose Create skill.

Attach skills to an agent

1. Open the agent on Build › Agents and open its menu: choose Edit.
2. In Tools & skills, select the skills under Skills.
3. Read Effective tools to see what the agent may call while each skill is in use.
4. Choose Save.

You can also choose skills in the Tools & skills step when you create an agent. The agent’s model must be able to call tools: a model that cannot is refused skills.

Edit a skill

From the list:

1. Choose Edit on the skill’s row.
2. Change the description, the instructions or the tools, step by step, then choose Save on Review.

From the skill’s page:

1. Choose Edit.
2. Change When the model should use it, Instructions or Narrow tools to (optional), a comma-separated list of tool names.
3. Choose Save.

Every saved change raises the Version, and agents use the new text from their next run.

Caution

Narrow tools to (optional) on the skill’s page narrows by tool name on every server. Saving there replaces any per-server choice made in the wizard. To narrow a tool on one server and not on another, use Edit on the Skills list.

Delete a skill

1. On the list, open the row’s menu and choose Delete skill.
2. Confirm with Delete skill.

Every agent using the skill loses it immediately, and any agent that narrowed its tools through it goes back to its full grant. Deleting cannot be undone.

How narrowing works

While a skill is in use, the agent may call only the tools that are both granted to the agent and named by the skill:

effective tools = the agent’s granted tools ∩ the skill’s tools

• A skill that names no tools changes nothing: the agent keeps every tool it was granted.
• A tool the skill names that the agent was never granted adds nothing. Effective tools lists these separately.
• A skill that names tools on one server narrows that server to those tools. A tool with the same name on another server is not let through.
• When the agent loads a second skill during a run, the second one’s narrowing replaces the first. Tools are never the union of two skills.

The agent’s page and the skill’s page both show this arithmetic under Effective tools, for example: Agent allow-list 6 ∩ escalate-a-complaint allowed-tools 2 = 2.

Limits

Field or rule	Limit
Name	1 to 63 characters: lowercase letters, digits and hyphens, starting with a letter or digit. Unique in the tenant; cannot be changed.
When the model should use it	Required.
Instructions	Required; Markdown.
Tools a skill narrows to	At most 64, on servers registered in this tenant.
Agent model	Must be able to call tools for the agent to carry skills.

Related

• Create and edit an agent
• Tools
• Agents, tools and skills
• Agents