Skills

A Skill is a reusable instruction package that teaches an agent how to perform a specific task. You write the steps once, and any agent that has the skill can follow them whenever the task comes up.

What Goes Inside a Skill

Every skill is a folder of files. The one file you must have is SKILL.md — the main instruction document the agent reads. You can also add templates, scripts (for example .py, .js, .sh) for programmatic skills, and supporting config or schema files.

When you create a skill manually, a starter SKILL.md is generated with these sections:

The file starts with a short description block. Keep it clear — the agent uses the description to decide whether to load the full skill. When you save SKILL.md, the skill’s description is updated from this block.

Where Skills Live

When a Super Admin enables a platform skill, it is added to every workspace switched off. Platform skills appear alongside your own, but their files are read-only — you can turn them on or off for your workspace, but only a Super Admin can edit the content. If the editor shows no Save button and no New file option, the skill is platform-provisioned or has been shared with you view-only.

Creating a Skill

On the Skills tab of the Integrations page, click the + button (Add Skill) and choose Neo Skills. The Create New Skill dialog offers two paths.

Upload ZIP — you already have a skill folder packaged as a .zip.

Enter a Skill Name (filled in from the ZIP filename if you leave it empty), choose the Skill Package (ZIP), and click Upload & Create. The description is taken from SKILL.md. The skill type is detected from the files in the package — any script file makes it Programmatic — and the packages your scripts import are checked against the approved list. An upload that imports an unsupported package is rejected.

Create Manually — start empty and add files in the editor. Fill in Name, Description, and Skill Type, then click Save Skill:

• Non-Programmatic — instructions only. The agent reads SKILL.md and uses the sandbox tools it already has. Choose this when the skill is mostly rules, steps, and templates.
• Programmatic — includes executable scripts. A Dependencies section appears where you select the packages your scripts use, from the approved list. Common choices include pandas, matplotlib, python-docx, pypdf, openpyxl (Python) and axios, docx, sharp (Node). If a package you need is not in the list, contact your platform administrator.

The platform writes a dependencies.json file into the skill folder automatically. Skill names must be unique within the workspace.

Editing Skill Files

Click a skill card to open the skill detail page — an Explorer file tree on the left and an editor on the right. Create files and folders, edit content, and save with the save icon or Cmd+S / Ctrl+S. Markdown files offer Edit and Preview toggles. Each file can be up to 5 MB, and imports in script files are checked against the approved package list when you save.

Two files are protected and cannot be deleted: SKILL.md (required for every skill) and dependencies.json (declares the packages for programmatic skills).

To change a skill’s name, description, or dependencies, choose Edit from the card menu. The skill type cannot be changed after creation.

Tips for good SKILL.md content:

• Write instructions as steps the agent can follow literally.
• Reference file paths inside the skill (for example, /skills/my-skill/templates/report.docx).
• For programmatic skills, include the exact command to run your script.
• Keep several narrow skills rather than one oversized skill file.

Finding Skills

Use the search box to find a skill by name or description, the Skill Type filter to show Programmatic or Non-Programmatic skills, and the ownership toggle — All, Mine, or Shared — to show skills you own or skills shared with you.

Enabling and Sharing

Every skill card has an Active / Inactive toggle. Only active skills appear in the Skills node in the Agentic Flow builder — turn a skill on before wiring it into a flow.

Owners can use Share from the card menu to grant access to colleagues. Skill permissions (view, execute, edit, delete, share) control who can see, use, and change the skill. They are separate from the approval setting on the Skills node. At run time, an agent only uses the skills the person running it has permission to use.

Using Skills in an Agentic Flow

Skills are attached to an agent with the Skills node (component palette → Agents category):

1. Drag Skills onto the canvas.
2. Set Skill Provider to AGENTCORE (the only provider available today).
3. Click refresh next to Skills, then select one or more active skills. The Workspace ID field is filled automatically.
4. Refresh Sandbox Status to check connectivity — it should show Connected.
5. In Skill Approvals, set each skill to Allow or Ask. See Skill Approvals.
6. Connect the Skills node’s Skills output to the Agent node’s Skills input.
7. Publish the flow and test in the Playground with a question that matches a skill’s When to Use section.

You can connect multiple Skills nodes to one Agent. Skills do not replace the agent’s system instructions; they add task-specific guidance when relevant.

See the Skills component reference for the full parameter table.

Skill Approvals

The Skill Approvals table has one row for each skill you selected. Rows are added and removed automatically as you change the selection.

• Allow (default) — the agent uses the skill without pausing.
• Ask — the agent pauses for human approval before it starts using the skill. The reviewer can approve, or reject so the agent continues without the skill. Once approved, the skill stays available for the rest of the run.

Approval requests are sent to the delivery target of a Human In The Loop node in the same flow. Add one before you set any skill to Ask. See Human in the Loop.

Sandbox Status messages

How Skills Work at Runtime

When a conversation starts, the agent receives a short list of its skills — the name, description, and location of each SKILL.md. It then reads skills only as it needs them:

1. It reads each skill’s description from the list.
2. If the request matches a skill’s When to Use section, it reads that SKILL.md in full.
3. It follows the instructions — reading templates, writing files, or running scripts as documented.
4. It returns the answer, and any files it generated are offered for download.

Skills unrelated to the request are skipped.

Troubleshooting