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Skills

Sarah Jane Ross
AI for Beginners: Use Agents With Confidence Sarah Jane Ross 03:20

Coming back after a break? Take a five-minute warm-up on Sections 1 to 3 before you start.

If you keep typing the same long instructions into a chat every week, a skill can hold them for you. A skill is a written procedure for one kind of job, a bit like a recipe, which the assistant reads and follows whenever that job comes up.

What’s in a Skill

A skill is a small bundle of files. The main file starts with a short description and then lists the steps. Some skills also include reference material, like a template or an example of good work. Some include a script, which is a small program that does one part of the job exactly the same way every time.

The description says what the skill is for and when to use it. The assistant keeps a short list of the skills you’ve turned on, with their descriptions, and starts a skill on its own when your request fits one. You can also start a skill yourself, usually by picking it from a menu or typing its name.

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00:00 Skills.

00:02 If you keep typing the same long instructions into a chat every week, a skill can hold them for you. A skill is a written procedure for one kind of job. It’s a bit like a recipe.

00:13 The assistant reads it and follows it whenever that job comes up.

00:17 A skill is a small bundle of files. The main file starts with a short description, and then lists the steps. Some skills also include reference material, like a template or an example of good work.

00:29 Some include a script. That’s a small program that does one part of the job exactly the same way every time. The description says what the skill is for, and when to use it.

00:41 The assistant keeps a short list of the skills you’ve turned on, with their descriptions. When your request fits one, it starts that skill on its own. You can also start a skill yourself, usually from a menu, or by typing its name.

00:55 Once a skill starts, its instructions are added to the context. They stay there for the rest of the conversation. When a skill runs, each part of the AI system has its own job.

01:08 The model does the thinking. That means anything that takes judgment, like sorting or deciding. The harness takes the actions, using tools like opening a file or searching the web.

01:18 And a script, if the skill has one, does its part exactly as written every time. That includes any mistakes it contains.

01:27 The model itself stays the same. A skill only adds to what the model is given to read.

01:33 Here’s a short skill that someone might write for a weekly client report. Its description says it drafts the weekly project status report for a client. It’s meant for when you ask for the status report, or a project update for the client.

01:46 Then come five steps.

01:48 A few lines keep the report safe and useful. Step two points to the client notes, and keeps internal costs out. Step three gives every late item a reason and a new date.

01:59 And step five makes the assistant check with you before it saves or sends anything.

02:04 Sorting the work and picking the top points take judgment, so the model does them. Opening the client notes and saving the draft are actions. The harness does them with its tools, when the model asks.

02:16 Nothing in it is code. It’s the same set of instructions you’d give a new colleague who’s taking over the report. ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini all call these skills, and so do most other major assistants.

02:28 Each app has its own page for adding, switching off, or removing them. If you don’t see them in the app you use, check your settings, or ask your administrator.

02:38 Two cooks following the same recipe can still end up with different dishes. Skills work the same way. The same skill can give different results somewhere else, or fail altogether.

02:48 A different model makes different judgment calls, and that includes a newer version of the same model. A different app might start the skill differently, or offer different tools.

02:58 And a different computer might be missing a file, a program, or a login that the skill needs. So when a skill that used to work starts giving odd results, ask which of these three changed.

03:09 After your app switches to a new model, check the skills you rely on. And to make a skill of your own, or improve one you use, the next lesson shows you how.

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