A skill is a named routine an agent can use when a task matches its description. Use skills for repeatable work, such as checking a release announcement against verified changes or reviewing a help article for missing steps.

Create a skill

  1. Open Settings → Skills and select New skill.
  2. Enter a Name, such as release-announcement.
  3. In When should agents use this?, describe the task and the conditions that make the skill relevant.
  4. Enter the Instructions. Describe the inputs to check, the steps to follow, the expected output, and any boundaries.
  5. Under Availability, choose All agents or Selected agents. Selected types can include Workspace, Release, Help Center, and Voice of Customer.
  6. Select Create skill.
New skill editor with name, usage description, instructions, and availability
Create a reusable skill in the Atlas Cloud demo workspace.

The skill appears in the list. You can request it by name in an agent task; agents can also use its description to determine when to load it.

Write instructions that can be checked

Give the skill a narrow job. For a release-announcement review, instructions might ask the agent to check each claim against supplied release evidence, identify missing prerequisites, and return a corrected draft with unresolved questions listed separately.

The name, description, and instructions are required. The editor allows up to 64 characters for the name, 500 for the description, and 12,000 for instructions. Keep credentials and private customer data out of reusable instructions.

Test the skill with a representative task and review the output before relying on it for customer-facing work.

Edit, duplicate, or disable a skill

Use Search skills and the agent and status filters to find a skill. Open its actions menu:

  • Edit changes the name, description, instructions, or availability. Select Save changes when finished.
  • Duplicate opens a new skill with copied content. Give the copy a distinct purpose and create it separately.
  • Disable keeps the skill but removes it from the active skills available to agents. Use Enable to make it available again.
  • Delete removes the skill after confirmation.

Use a separate skill when the task needs a different procedure. Use agent guidance for broader instructions that should apply across the relevant agent's work.

Was this helpful?