Reuse instructions with skills

Skills let you save instructions your assistant can reuse, such as your month-end checklist, reporting conventions or reconciliation steps.

Open Skills from the navigation. Everyone in the Workspace can read and use its skills. Workspace Administrators can create, edit, restore and delete Workspace skills. Built-in skills are available alongside Workspace skills and are read-only.

Select Skills help on the Skills page to open this guide in a new tab without leaving your work.

Find and read a skill

Use Find a skill to search by name or description, then select a skill from the list. Workspace skills appear first, followed by the read-only Built-in skills. Hover over a list item to read its full description.

The first available skill opens automatically. The reader shows its name, source, version and last update above the instructions. Scroll inside the instruction pane to read a long skill. The details and actions stay visible. When a skill has earlier versions, select the Version menu to read them.

Instructions support Markdown tables, task lists and strikethrough. Task-list checkboxes show the saved instructions and cannot be toggled in the reader.

Create a skill

Select New skill.
Enter a Name. It must be unique within the Workspace; capitalisation does not make a name different.
Fill in When to use it to help your assistant choose when to use the skill.
Write or paste Markdown or plain text into Instructions, use Import a Markdown file, or drop a .md, .markdown or .txt file onto the instructions area. You can also paste a copied file where your browser supports it.
Review the instructions and select Save skill.

Names can contain up to 200 characters, descriptions up to 1,000 characters, and instructions up to 100,000 characters. Importing a file fills an empty Name from its filename. If there are already instructions, choose Replace instructions to replace them with the file’s contents, or Cancel to keep your draft. It does not save until you select Save skill.

Write the outcome, the steps to follow and any checks your assistant should make. For example, a reporting skill might describe how to group accounts and which differences need an explanation.

Example instructions


# Monthly management report
 
Use this checklist when preparing our monthly management report.
 
1. Confirm the organisation, reporting month and comparison period.
2. Compare revenue and operating expenses with the previous month.
3. Explain material differences and identify missing information.
4. Present a short summary followed by the supporting figures.
5. Ask before creating or changing any journals.

Give the skill a name such as Monthly management report and a description such as Prepare our monthly report with comparisons and explanations. Adapt the steps to your Workspace’s reporting requirements.

Use a skill with your assistant

Ask your connected assistant to find the available skills and use the one you name. It can discover both built-in and Workspace skills and read their current instructions. If names are similar, specify whether you mean the built-in or Workspace skill.

Skills do not grant additional permissions. Your assistant still needs the connection permissions and approvals required for the actions it takes. Skills belong to the Workspace used by that connection.

Create or edit through your assistant

Workspace Administrators can ask their connected assistant to create or update a custom Workspace skill. No additional connection permission is needed. The Workspace must currently allow writes.

For example, ask: “Save these instructions as a Workspace skill named Monthly management report, with a description explaining when to use it.” Supply the instructions you want saved. Your assistant can use save_skill and return the saved skill’s name and version.

To edit, ask your assistant to read the existing skill first, then describe the changes. It saves the complete revised name, description and instructions using the version it just read. Each save creates a version you can inspect or restore on the Skills page. Built-in skills remain read-only.

If another person saves first, ask your assistant to read the latest version and review the changes before trying again. If a save times out, ask it to check the available skills before repeating the request.

Edit or restore a skill

Select a Workspace skill and choose Edit. Save your changes to create a new version. If someone else saves first, reload the skill before editing again.

To restore earlier instructions:

Open the skill and select the Version menu.
Choose a version and review its name, description and instructions.
Select Restore this version.

Restoration creates a new current version. Earlier versions remain in the history. If another skill now uses the earlier name, rename that skill or edit the current one before restoring.

Delete a skill

Select a Workspace skill and choose Delete beside Edit.
Read the confirmation, which names the skill and explains that it will no longer be available.
Choose Delete to remove the skill from the Workspace.

Only Workspace Administrators can delete Workspace skills. Once deleted, the skill cannot be used, and its versions cannot be viewed or restored through the product. Built-in skills do not have a Delete action.

Troubleshooting

No New skill, Edit or Delete button: ask a Workspace Administrator to manage the skill. Built-in skills cannot be edited or deleted.
Name already exists: choose a different name or edit the existing Workspace skill. Changing capitalisation alone does not create a unique name.
Changes conflict with another edit: keep a copy of your draft, reload the skill and apply your changes to the latest version.
Your assistant cannot find the skill: check that its connection uses the same Workspace, then ask it to refresh the available skills and use the exact skill name.