Skills
A skill is a bundle of specialist instructions that a sub-agent can activate on demand. Instead of writing one large system prompt that tries to cover every topic, you assign skills — and the sub-agent loads the right one when the conversation calls for it.
How skills work at runtime
When a sub-agent has skills assigned, it starts each turn with access to a directory of those skills. The sub-agent reads the directory and decides which specialist knowledge to load based on what the user is asking.
When it activates a skill, two things happen:
- The skill's specialist instructions are added to the sub-agent's active context for that turn
- Any tools associated with that skill become available immediately
This is called triage-first loading — the sub-agent triages the request first, then loads only the knowledge it needs. For agents that cover multiple domains, this keeps the context focused and the responses accurate.
Two skills always run
Every sub-agent with skills enabled runs two background skills automatically: one for routing (deciding which specialist to load) and one for suggestions (generating follow-up question prompts). You don't configure these — they're active whenever any other skill is assigned.
Assigning skills to a sub-agent
Open the sub-agent editor by selecting a node on the canvas. The Skills field shows a multi-select picker listing the skills available in your organization.
Select any number of skills from the catalog. The sub-agent will have access to all of them at runtime and will choose which ones to activate based on the conversation.
Skills are sub-agent-specific — assigning a skill to one sub-agent does not give it to others in the same flow.
Skills vs a longer system prompt
The direct alternative to skills is writing everything into a sub-agent's system prompt. That works for simple agents, but breaks down as coverage grows:
| System prompt | Skills | |
|---|---|---|
| Loading | All instructions load upfront, every turn | Only the relevant skill loads, on demand |
| Scope | Fixed — everything in one text block | Composable — mix and match across agents |
| Tools | Configured separately | Each skill brings its own tools |
| Maintenance | One large block to edit | Individual skills edited independently |
Use a system prompt for the sub-agent's core identity and baseline behavior. Use skills for domain-specific knowledge the sub-agent needs to draw on selectively.
The skills catalog
Skills are managed at the organization level and made available to all projects. To view, create, or edit skills in your organization's catalog, navigate to Skills in the Agent Builder sidebar.
Each skill has a name, a description (what the sub-agent sees when deciding whether to load it), and the specialist instructions that activate when it's chosen.