Skills for custom agents

A skill is a reusable set of instructions, plus the tools, for one kind of work, such as onboarding a client or writing a monthly report. Skills live in Settings → Skills. You add them to custom agents, and an agent loads a skill when a job needs it.

• Only the workspace owner can create, edit, duplicate or delete skills. Teammates see them read-only.
• Skills are used by custom agents, which are on the Pro plan and up. See pricing.

Create a skill

1. Go to Settings → Skills and choose New skill.
2. Give it a name, up to 60 characters. Name it after the job, such as "Client onboarding".
3. Write the description, up to 300 characters. Agents read it to decide when to load the skill, so say when to use it: "Use when a new client signs: set up their workspace and kickoff tasks."
4. Write the content, up to 20,000 characters: the steps the agent follows once it loads the skill, and what it should hand back at the end.
5. Pick an icon.
6. Under Tools, set each group the steps need to Read or Write, and leave the rest Off.
7. Save.

If Atwork warns after saving that the content mentions tools the skill doesn't grant, turn that group on at the level the warning names, and save again.

Start from an Atwork skill

Under Atwork skills are five ready-made skills: Build, Write, Client report, Content calendar and Meeting recap. They are read-only and updated with each release.

To adapt one, open it and choose Duplicate to edit. The copy appears under Your skills and opens in the editor. You can also add an Atwork skill to an agent as it is.

Tool groups

Each group gives the skill a set of tools. The editor shows only the modes a group supports.

• Off groups give no tools.
• A skill's tools stay inside the agent's data access. A skill never lets an agent open spaces or sheets it isn't scoped to.
• Write actions in connected apps ask for approval in chat before they run.

Add a skill to an agent

1. Go to Settings → AI Agents and open the agent.
2. On the Skills card, choose Add skill, search, and pick the skill.
3. Save the agent. The change applies once you save.

• An agent can have up to 10 skills. Remove skill takes one off; save the agent afterwards.
• The agent loads a skill when the work needs it, which is why the description matters.
• The agent's profile lists its skills.

Edit or delete a skill

• An edit applies to every agent that uses the skill, from its next job.
• On the Skills page, a skill that agents use shows how many.
• Deleting a skill asks you to confirm first. If agents use it, Atwork shows how many; they stop loading it, and their other settings stay as they are.

Limits

• 100 skills per organization. Duplicates of Atwork skills count toward it.
• 10 skills per agent.
• Name 60, description 300 and content 20,000 characters.

Skill, persona or knowledge?

• Persona: who the agent is. It reads this on every job.
• Knowledge: reference pages the agent reads before every reply.
• Skill: how one kind of job is done, with the tools it needs. Loaded only when the work calls for it, and shared across agents.

Related: Create an agent and give it knowledge · What is an agent? · Assign work to an agent