Skills and skill management

A skill gives an agent reusable instructions for a particular kind of work, such as reviewing a report or preparing a project brief. Use skills to repeat a workflow without writing the same directions in each message. The Registry lets people share skills across their organization so teammates can benefit from an established workflow. Organization admins can mark standardized skills Official to help agents follow organization-specific processes and standards. You can add your own Customization instructions to adapt a skill without rewriting its main instructions. A persona describes the role or perspective you want the agent to take. A folder annotation gives guidance tied to a location. A skill describes how to perform a type of task. You can use these together; review their guidance for conflicting instructions.

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Before you start

• Open a project chat to use the skill controls.
• Decide whether you want to use an existing skill or create guidance of your own.
• Editing, sharing, removing, and restoring a custom skill require ownership of that skill. Marking a shared skill Official requires an organization admin.

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Choose skills for your work

1. Open Skills in the chat toolbar.
2. Use Search skills to find a skill by name or description.
3. Select the skills you want the agent to use, then send your request.
4. Check the selected count and selected skill names. Deselect a skill, or remove it from the selected list, when it no longer applies.

Check the selected skills before sending a request, and deselect guidance when it no longer applies. Leaving all skills unselected lets the agent choose relevant skills on its own. Use Pin to top to keep a frequently used skill near the top of the selector. Pinning changes its position; select the skill separately when you want to require its guidance.

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Open the skills manager

From the Skills selector, select Manage skills. The manager has two tabs:

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Add a skill from the Registry

1. Open Manage skills → Registry.
2. Search by name or description and read the matching skill descriptions.
3. Select Add beside the shared skill you want.
4. Check My Skills for the new copy, then return to the selector and select it when you want to use it.

The skill appears in My Skills as an independent snapshot of the source. Later source edits do not update your copy, and the source’s personal customization is omitted. You can select your copy for work and add your own customization instructions.

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Customize an existing skill

Use Customization when an existing skill already describes the workflow you need, but you want the agent to handle part of it differently. Keep the main instructions intact and add only your additional or overriding instructions. You do not need to rewrite the workflow to express those differences. Use Customization on a skill in your collection to keep personal additions separate from its main instructions. The steps below start with a skill you own or a copy you add to your collection. Customization can:

• Add guidance, such as a preferred writing style, extra checks, or an additional output section.
• Override guidance, such as using a different report structure from the one described in the main skill instructions.

When customization conflicts with the main skill instructions, the agent is instructed to follow the customization. Otherwise, it uses both together. Customization does not change file permissions or tool approval requirements. Make sure your changes remain appropriate for any organization processes or standards you are required to follow.

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Add customization instructions

1. Find a skill you own in My Skills. For a shared skill, Add it from Registry first. For a built-in skill, open More Actions → Duplicate, then work with the new copy.
2. Open your copy’s More Actions menu and select Edit.
3. Open the Customization tab.
4. Write the additions or overrides you want. Leave the main instructions on the Skill tab unchanged unless you intend to change the workflow itself.
5. Select Save changes.
6. Select the skill in chat and try it with a small example task. Review the result against both the main instructions and your customization.

For example, an organization might share an Official Project update skill with a standard structure and review checklist. One person could add the skill to their collection, then customize their copy:

Keep the standard review checklist. Add an “Open decisions” section after the summary. Use Australian English. Where the skill asks for a detailed narrative, use concise bullet points instead.

This adds a section and a language preference while overriding the presentation style. The rest of the workflow stays in the main skill instructions. To revise your preferences, return to Customization, edit the text, and save. Clear the text and select Save changes to remove your customization.

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Create a skill

1. Open Manage skills and select New skill.
2. On the Skill tab, enter a Name and Description. Both are required. Explain the task clearly enough that you or an agent can recognize when the skill is useful.
3. Optionally add When to use to describe the situations where it applies.
4. In Instructions, describe the steps, required inputs, expected output, and review points. You can format the instructions with Markdown.
5. Optionally use Customization to add instructions for your use of the skill. See Customize an existing skill for how additions and overrides work.
6. Select Create skill.

For example, a fictional Project brief reviewer skill could use these instructions:

Read the supplied project brief. Check for a stated goal, audience, deliverables, constraints, and success criteria. List missing information as questions. Do not invent answers or change the brief. Return a short review grouped into clear points and open questions.

Keep each skill focused on a recognizable task. Avoid instructions that conflict with the persona or folder guidance you plan to use with it.

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Edit or duplicate a skill

In My Skills, open the skill’s More Actions menu :

• Edit — change a custom skill you own, then select Save changes.
• Duplicate — create a separate copy to adapt, including when you want to customize a built-in skill instead of changing the original.

Duplicating creates an independent snapshot: later edits to the source do not update the duplicate, and personal customization from the source is omitted. Add any customization you want to use on the new copy. Review a changed skill with a small example task before using it for important work. Check that the output follows the intended steps and identifies missing information.

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Share a skill with your organization

Share a useful workflow through the Registry so teammates can add it to their collections rather than write it again. Put the reusable process in the main skill instructions and keep individual preferences in Customization.

1. In My Skills, open More Actions for a custom skill you own.
2. Review its instructions for material that should not be shared.
3. Select Share with org to make it available in your organization’s Registry.

Use Make private when you want to stop offering the skill through the organization Registry.

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Standardize workflows with Official skills

Official marks an organization-shared custom skill endorsed by an organization admin. These skills can describe organization-specific processes and standards, such as how to prepare a project update, review a proposal, or check a deliverable before handoff. To publish an Official skill through the manager, an organization admin shares a custom skill they own, then opens its More Actions menu in My Skills and selects Mark as Official. Remove Official removes the badge. Put the intended process and review criteria in the main instructions so others can reuse them. End users can add the shared skill to their collections and customize their copies without rewriting that process. Review the output against the relevant standards. The Official badge identifies organization guidance; AI-generated work can still be incomplete or incorrect.

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Pin, hide, or remove skills

Use My Skills to keep your collection useful:

• Pin or Unpin — change which skills appear first in your selector.
• Hide or Unhide — hide a skill from your selector or bring it back. Hidden skills remain listed in the manager.
• More Actions → Remove — remove a custom skill you own. If you only want it out of the selector, use Hide instead.

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Restore an earlier skill version

1. In My Skills, open More Actions → Version history for a custom skill you own.
2. Find the earlier version by its name, number, and date. The current version is marked Current.
3. Select Restore beside the version you want.
4. Review the restored instructions before using the skill again.

Restoring creates a new version from the earlier state, including the customization saved in that version. Review both tabs after restoring.

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Expected result

Your collection contains skills suited to your work. You can reuse organization workflows, add focused customization instructions for your own needs, and share useful skills with teammates through the Registry.

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Troubleshooting

• No matching skills: clear or change the search. Check Registry for skills you can add, or create your own.
• A skill is missing from the selector: check My Skills and select Unhide if it is hidden.
• Customization has an unexpected effect: check whether it overrides a main instruction you meant to keep. Make the intended addition or exception explicit, then try a small example again.
• Create skill is unavailable: complete Name and Description and resolve the displayed validation message.
• A save or management action fails: read the displayed result, reopen the manager to check what saved, and retry the unfinished change. Contact support if it continues.

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