Create a Skill

In this tutorial you give your agent its first skill: a written procedure it opens when a conversation calls for it. You will switch skills on, fill in every field of the skill, test it in Preview, and publish it. The example is the capex_request skill for Atlas, Kirana Group's operations assistant. It walks an employee through a capex request on form KG-F12: it collects the project details, looks up the approval chain in SOP-FIN-007, finds the cost centre and the required attachments in a checklist file, and drafts a summary in Kirana's layout.

Before you start

• Read Teach Your Agent Skills to understand how the agent decides to open a skill.
• If the skill should read reference files, upload them first. See Give Skills Files (Artifacts). In this example, the private folder capex-request-kit holds the file kg-f12-checklist.md with the KG-F12 fields, the cost centre for each site, the attachments required by value, and a request summary template. You can download the sample file kg-f12-checklist.md.
• The skill looks up approvers in SOP-FIN-007, so Atlas must already have that document. See Documents.
• You know how to test and publish changes. See Preview and Publish Changes.

Step 1: Switch skills on

1. In the agent sidebar, open Skills → Skills.
2. Turn on Give this agent skills. The settings and the skill list appear below the switch.

3. Check the two settings. The defaults suit most agents:
   • Keep a skill open for (messages): how many messages a skill stays open after the agent opens it. Default 5, from 1 to 50. If the subject comes back later, the agent simply opens the skill again, so a short value is usually right.
   • Skills open at once: how many skills one conversation can have open. Default 3, from 1 to 6. When one more opens, the oldest is let go.

Both settings are about cost: an open skill is sent with every message until it is let go. You can see both settings, with their defaults, on Teach Your Agent Skills.

Step 2: Add the skill

Click Add skill. The New skill dialog opens. Fill in the fields:

Tip: Make sure the checkbox in front of capex-request-kit is really ticked. It is easy to click the folder name and miss the checkbox. If the skill later says it cannot find the checklist, look at the skill in the list: it should show the chip 1 folder.

Click Add to put the skill in the list. Nothing is stored yet.

The screenshot shows the finished skill reopened with the pencil icon, so the dialog is titled Edit skill and its button is Apply. The fields are the same as in New skill.

Write a good Use when line

The Use when line is the only thing the agent reads when it decides whether to open the skill. It never sees the instructions until the skill is open.

• Name the situation, not the procedure. Good: "the user wants to prepare, check or submit a capex or project request". Weak: "KG-F12 procedure with cost centres and attachment rules".
• Use the words your users use. Kirana staff say "capex request", "project request" or "KG-F12", not "capital expenditure workflow". Naming the form code helps the agent match messages that only mention the form.
• Keep each skill to one kind of situation. If two skills have similar Use when lines, the agent may open the wrong one.

Write good instructions

• Write numbered steps in the order the agent should follow them. Say what to ask, what to check, and when to stop.
• Point to files by their path. Write the folder and file name exactly as they appear on the Artifacts page, for example capex-request-kit/kg-f12-checklist.md, and say at which step to use them.
• Keep reference material out of the instructions. Long tables, cost centre lists and templates belong in an artifact. The instructions should hold the procedure only.
• Say where facts come from, and what not to do. Atlas takes approvers from SOP-FIN-007 in its knowledge, and the instructions say "Never guess an approver" and "You cannot submit it for them".

The instructions used for Atlas:

1. Ask for the project code and name, the site, and the total project value in USD (including tax, contingency and all phases) if the user has not given them.
2. Look up the approval chain for that value in SOP-FIN-007 (your knowledge base). Never guess an approver.
3. Open capex-request-kit/kg-f12-checklist.md. Find the cost centre for the site and the attachments required for the value.
4. Ask for anything still missing, one question at a time.
5. Draft the summary using the "Request summary template" from the same file, exactly in that layout.
6. Remind the user to submit form KG-F12 in the Procurement Portal. You cannot submit it for them.

Step 3: Choose when it applies

Step 4: Save

1. Click Save at the bottom of the page and confirm.
2. The skill appears in the list with its title, a chip with its name, a chip with When it applies, how many folders it may read, and its Use when line.

The switch, both settings and the whole skill list are saved together. If something is wrong (for example a duplicate name), the message lists every problem at once.

Check the result

Saved skills are in your agent's draft, so you can test them in Preview before anyone else sees them.

1. Open Preview and start a new chat.

2. Send a message that matches the Use when line:

   Help me prepare a KG-F12 capex request for KG-2063, the Bekasi rooftop solar project. Total value USD 1.35 million, including tax, contingency and all phases.
   

3. Atlas opens the skill and follows the procedure. It takes the approval chain for USD 1.35 million from SOP-FIN-007 (Group Risk Office review, then Regional Director, then CFO), finds cost centre CC-120 for Bekasi and the attachments for a value above USD 1,000,000 in the checklist file, and asks for the details that are still missing, such as the requester, the Department Head, the dates and a justification.

4. Give the missing details, for example: "Requester Sari Wulandari, Department Head Andi Pratama, start 1 November 2026, finish 31 March 2027. Justification: cut site electricity costs by 30%. Please draft the summary."

5. Atlas drafts the summary in the exact layout from the file: KG-F12 SUMMARY, the project, Bekasi / CC-120, USD 1,350,000, the approval chain Group Risk Office review → Regional Director (West region) → CFO, and the attachments (at least three vendor quotations, a business case with payback period, and a risk register). It lists the other KG-F12 details and reminds you to submit the form through the Procurement Portal.

6. Try a message that does not match, for example "Who signs the permit for work above two metres?". Atlas should answer normally, without the KG-F12 steps.

If the agent does not open the skill, make the Use when line closer to how people actually ask, then save and try again in a new chat. If the skill opens but Atlas says it cannot find the checklist, check that the skill shows the 1 folder chip; if it does not, edit the skill and tick the checkbox in front of capex-request-kit.

Step 5: Publish

Skills and their instructions are saved to the draft. Click Publish in the top bar when you are happy with the result, so that the live agent starts using the skill. See Preview and Publish Changes.

Edit, remove or switch off skills

• Edit a skill: click the pencil icon next to it. The Edit skill dialog opens with its instructions loaded. Change the fields, click Apply, then Save.
• Remove a skill: click the bin icon and confirm, then Save. The skill's instructions are deleted with it. Conversations that have it open stop using it on their next message.
• Switch all skills off: turn off Give this agent skills and Save. Your skills stay in the list, ready for when you switch it back on.
• Reached the limit: Add skill is disabled when the agent has as many skills as your organization allows (8 by default, at most 16).

Remember to Publish after each change so the live agent follows it.

Next steps

• Next in this step: Give Skills Files (Artifacts), to give your skill reference files or pictures.
• Next in the journey: Talk by Voice.
• Field-by-field reference: Skills.