Skills: giving an agent a proven playbook Guide
Skills are step-by-step playbooks your agent follows for a specific job — and installing one auto-grants the tools that job needs.
Last updated July 16, 2026
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A skill is packaged expertise your agent can load on demand — a proven, step-by-step playbook for a specific job, like writing an SEO blog post or monitoring a brand. Installing a skill gives your agent both the method and the means: it also grants the extra tools that skill needs to do the work.
What a skill is
Think of a skill as an expert's playbook. Rather than figuring out a task from scratch each time, an agent with the right skill follows a reliable, repeatable process that already knows the best order of steps for that job.
Each skill is built around one type of work. An agent can have several skills installed, and it loads the relevant one when the task calls for it.
Skills vs. tools
It helps to keep two ideas separate:
- A tool is a single capability — send an email, search the web, create a file.
- A skill is a full playbook — the method for combining several steps (and often several tools) to complete a specific job well.
A tool is a means; a skill is a method that comes with its means attached.
Skills grant the tools they need
When you add a skill, the agent automatically gains any extra tools that skill relies on. You don't have to add those tools separately — the playbook and the capabilities it depends on arrive together in one step.
This is why you may notice an agent has tools you don't remember giving it. In most cases, a skill brought them along. On the Skills tab you can see how many extra tools each installed skill adds.
Tip: If an agent isn't following a proven method for a task it should handle well, it may simply be missing the matching skill. Adding the skill usually gives it both the approach and the tools in a single move.
How to add a skill
Skills are added mainly through the AI builder, Stan, on the agent's Build tab — not from a manual gallery on the Skills tab. You describe what you want in plain English, and the builder installs the right skill and wires up its tools for you.
- Open the agent and go to the Build tab.
- Tell the builder what you want the agent to be good at — for example, "make it write SEO blog posts" or "have it monitor my brand across the web."
- The builder installs the matching skill and automatically grants the tools that skill requires.
- Use a test run to confirm the agent now follows the expected process.
Reviewing installed skills
To see what an agent already knows how to do, open its detail page and choose Skills under Configure.
- Each installed skill is listed so you can see the agent's playbooks at a glance.
- Each entry shows how many additional tools that skill brings with it.
- You can remove a skill the agent no longer needs.
Removing a skill takes away its playbook. If you rely on tools that a skill originally granted, review the Tools tab afterward or ask the builder to confirm the agent still has what it needs.
Confirming and rolling back changes
After adding or removing a skill, run the agent's built-in test to see the new behavior before you depend on it. If a change doesn't work the way you hoped, version history lets you roll back to an earlier setup.
Common questions
Why does my agent have tools I didn't add?
A skill almost certainly granted them. Skills bundle the extra capabilities their playbook depends on, so those tools appear automatically when the skill is installed.
Do I install skills from the Skills tab?
The Skills tab is where you review and remove installed skills. To add one, ask the AI builder on the Build tab — it selects the right skill and grants its tools for you.