Skills
Open in CMSThe Skills screen gives your agent written procedures for specific situations, such as how to handle a refund or how to run an intake. The agent opens a skill only when the conversation calls for it, instead of carrying it on every message. Found in the agent sidebar under Skills → Skills.
Skills Switch
| Give this agent skills | Off by default. When on, the agent is told which skills it has and opens one only when the conversation matches it. The settings and the skill list below appear only while this is on. |
Open Skills
Both settings are about cost: a skill that stays open is paid for on every message until it is let go.
| Keep a skill open for (messages) | Required. After this many messages the agent lets the skill go. It reopens it in one step if the subject comes back, so a short value is usually right. 1 to 50, default 5. |
| Skills open at once | Required. The most skills one conversation can have open. When one more opens, the oldest is let go. 1 to 6, default 3. |
Skills List
| Add skill | Opens the New skill dialog. Disabled when the agent already has as many skills as your organization allows (8 by default, at most 16); a note then explains the limit. |
| No skills yet | Shown when the list is empty. |
| Skill row | Shows the title (or the name when there is no title), a chip with the name, a chip with When it applies, and how many folders it may read. Below it, the Use when line. |
| Edit skill (pencil icon) | Opens the Edit skill dialog. |
| Remove skill (bin icon) | Asks for confirmation, then takes the skill off the list. Its instructions are deleted with it, and conversations that have it open stop using it on their next message. The removal takes effect when you click Save. |
Skill Dialog
Titled New skill or Edit skill. Add (or Apply) puts your changes in the list; Cancel discards them. Nothing is stored until you click Save on the page.
| Name | Required. How the agent refers to the skill, for example refund_policy. Lower-case letters, digits and underscores, starting with a letter, up to 64 characters. Must be unique on this agent and cannot be the name of a built-in tool. |
| Title | Optional. Shown in the skill list only; the agent never sees it. Up to 120 characters. |
| Use when | Required. The only thing the agent reads when deciding whether to open the skill, so name the situation, not the procedure. For example "the customer asks about returning an order or getting money back". Up to 200 characters. |
| When it applies | Required. The agent decides (default): the agent opens the skill when the conversation matches the Use when line. When a keyword appears: opens whenever the person's message contains one of your keywords. Always in force: never opened, always applied, and paid for on every message of every conversation; for a short rule that really applies to all conversations. |
| Shown while it opens | Optional. The text the person sees in chat and on a voice call while the skill opens, for example "Checking my instructions…". Leave blank for a neutral default. Never put anything internal here. Up to 60 characters. |
| Keywords | Shown and required only for When a keyword appears. Comma-separated, matched anywhere in the message, not case-sensitive. |
| Folders this skill may read | Tick the Artifacts folders whose files this skill may use. Each folder shows whether it is public or private. When there are no folders yet, a note points you to the Artifacts page. |
| Instructions | Required. The procedure itself, in your own words, written for the agent to follow. Up to 16,000 characters. Put long reference material in an artifact the skill can read instead. |
Save
| Save | Enabled once something has changed. Asks for confirmation, then stores the switch, both settings and the whole skill list together. |