Manage Skills

Skills are text instructions that an AI agent uses in specific situations, without loading the full instruction into every request.

This article covers how skills work and how to create, connect, version, and delete them.

How Skills Work

Copy link

Unlike a system prompt, the full skill instruction isn't sent to the model with every request—only the description from the When to apply field stays in context at all times. If a request matches that description, the agent pulls in the skill's full instruction as well. This keeps token usage down, since long instructions only enter the context when they're actually needed.

Skills work across the widget, external chat, and the API.

A few things to know about how skills behave:

• One agent can have multiple skills attached, and the same skill can be reused across multiple agents.

• When generating a response, an agent can draw on several skills at once if the request matches more than one of their conditions.

• If a skill's instructions conflict with the system prompt, the system prompt takes priority.

• When a skill is used to generate a response, a label showing this appears in the chat.

Create a Skill

Copy link

You can create a skill from the AI Services → Skills section, or while creating an agent.

From the Skills Section

Copy link

1. Go to AI Services → Skills.
2. Click Add.
3. Set the skill's parameters.
4. Click Add.

The skill will now appear under AI Services → Skills.

When Creating an Agent

Copy link

On the Instructions and Skills step, select an existing skill or click Add new. If you're creating a new skill, set its parameters and click Add.

Skill Parameters

Copy link

When you create a skill, you'll need to specify:

• Skill name: the name shown in the dashboard.

• When to apply: describes the situations in which the agent should use the skill. This description is sent to the agent with every request.

• Instruction: the instruction the agent follows once a request matches the When to apply description.

• Agents (optional): a list of agents to attach the skill to right away.

Attach a Skill to an Agent

Copy link

You can attach a skill to an agent right when you create the skill, by selecting the agent in the Agents field. But you don't have to decide this upfront—you can attach a skill to any agent at any later point, or update which agents use it, from the agent's settings.

This is also where you can detach a skill or switch an agent to a different version.

1. Go to AI Services → Agents and click on the agent.
2. Open the Management tab.
3. In the Resources block, click Modify next to Skills.

4. Select the skill and the version you want to use.

Edit Skills

Copy link

Editing a skill's parameters creates a new version, so you can always roll back to an earlier one. Renaming a skill is the only change that doesn't create a new version.

1. Go to AI Services → Skills.
2. Click the skill you want to edit.
3. Update its parameters in the editor.
4. Click Save.
5. Choose which agents should use the new version.
6. Click Save again.

You'll see a new version appear in the Version history on the right.

Manage Skill Versions

Copy link

Every skill has a current version—the one suggested by default whenever you attach the skill to an agent. You can always choose a different version instead, either while attaching the skill or afterward, in the agent's settings.

To set a different version as current:

1. Go to AI Services → Skills.
2. Click the skill you want to edit.
3. Click the version you want in the Version history block.
4. Click Make current.
5. Click Save.

Duplicate a Skill

Copy link

Duplicating a skill creates a new one containing only the version currently selected in the editor. Version history isn't carried over, so the copy's version count starts fresh at 1.

To create a copy:

1. Go to AI Services → Skills.
2. Click on the the skill and select the version you want to copy.
3. Return to the skills list, click the three dots next to the skill, and select Duplicate.

The copy is created instantly and appears in the list.

Delete a Skill

Copy link

To delete a skill:

1. Go to AI Services → Skills.
2. Click the three dots next to the skill and select Delete.
3. Confirm the deletion.