Skills

Overview

A Skill is a focused, reusable instruction set that gives an agent a named capability — written once in Markdown and shared across as many agents as you need. Instead of duplicating instructions or hardwiring behavior into every agent separately, you define the logic in a Skill, attach it where needed, and invoke it on demand during any conversation.

Reusable

Write once, attach to many agents. Updates to a Skill apply everywhere it is used.

On-Demand

Invoke any attached Skill mid-conversation by typing ~skill-name in the chat composer.

Versioned

Maintain multiple named versions alongside the always-present base, so you can iterate without breaking existing agents.

Typical use cases

Use case	Example
Shared reasoning templates	A “write unit tests” or “summarize findings” instruction used by multiple agents
Persona or tone guidance	A “formal-communication” Skill injected when the agent sends external messages
Domain-specific procedures	A step-by-step QA checklist or release-note writing guide
Modular agent construction	Build a large agent from small, independently tested Skills

Access Skills

Project ScopeSkills are only available inside team (non-public) projects. The Skills menu item is hidden when the Public project is selected. Switch to a team or personal project to see it.

To open the Skills area:

Select the correct project from the project switcher at the top of the left sidebar.
Select Skills in the main navigation sidebar. The Skills page opens, showing the Skills tab — a scrollable list (or card grid) of all Skills in the current project.

Organize Skills into Folders

Folders help you organize Skills into logical groups for better navigation and management. You can create folders, move Skills between folders, and control folder access within team projects.

Create a Folder:

In the Skills dashboard right panel, locate the Folders section.
Select + Create Folder.
Enter a folder name (up to 128 characters).
Select Save.

Move a Skill to a Folder:

Hover over a Skill card: A “Move to folder” icon (folder with arrow) appears on the card.
Click the folder icon: Opens a menu with folder options.
Select a folder from the list: The menu displays:
- + Create Folder option at the top
- A scrollable list of existing folders
- Pinned folders are marked with a pin icon
- The current folder (if any) is highlighted and marked with a checkmark
The Skill is moved to the selected folder.

View Folder Contents: Click any folder in the Folders panel to filter the Skills list to show only Skills in that folder. The folder name appears in the header, and the Skills count updates to reflect the filtered view. Click X to close the folder view and return to the full list.

Manage Folders: Each folder card in the right panel has a three-dot menu (⋮) with the following options:

Action	Description
Rename	Change the folder name
Pin to top	Pin the folder to the top of the folders list
Delete	Permanently remove the folder (Skills inside are moved back to the main list, not deleted)
Manage Access (Team projects only)	Control which team members can view the folder

Remove a Skill from a Folder:

Open the Skill card’s three-dot menu (⋮).
Select Remove from Folder.
The Skill returns to the main Skills list and the folder icon is removed from its card.

Folders are available in team and personal projects. In team projects, folder access can be restricted to specific users. The Public project does not support folders.

Folder Permission Management

In team projects, you can control which users can view and modify specific folders by setting permission exceptions. By default, users retain the permissions granted by their project roles. Permission exceptions can only restrict access. Access Folder Permissions:

In the Skills dashboard right panel, locate the folder in the Folders list.
Select the folder’s three-dot menu (⋮).
Select Manage Access.
The Manage Permissions dialog opens.

Add Permission Exceptions:

In the Manage Permissions dialog, select + Add Exception.
Search for and select one or more users from the project.
Choose a permission level: Read-only or No access.
Select Add. The selected users are added to the permissions table.

Permission Levels:

Permission Level	Description
Read/write (default)	User can view folder contents and modify folder settings
Read-only	User can view folder contents but cannot modify folder settings or move Skills
No access	User cannot see the folder or its contents

Edit Permission Exceptions:

To modify an existing exception, locate the user in the permissions table and select the Edit (pencil) icon in the Actions column. Change the permission level to your desired setting and select Save.
To remove an exception and return the user to default permissions, change the permission level to Read/write (default). When saved, the user is removed from the exceptions table and inherits permissions based on their project role.

Permission exceptions apply only to the folder itself. Users with no access to a folder cannot see it in their folders list or view its contents.

Create a Skill

You can create a Skill from the Skills page, directly from the agent editor, or from chat using the Skill Builder module.

Create from Chat:You can also create and update Skills directly from chat using the Skill Builder module. When enabled, you can describe your skill requirements in natural language, and the conversation will create or update the Skill for you. The created skill automatically opens in Canvas mode for review and is added to your project. See Skill Builder for details.

From the Skills Page

Select the + (Create) button in the top section of the left sidebar, or go to the Skills page and select Create in the empty state if no Skills exist yet.

Alternatively, use the global + Create button in the sidebar and select Skill from the dropdown. The New Skill form opens with two accordion sections: General and Instructions.

In the General section, complete the following fields. Then, in the Instructions section, enter your skill instructions in the Markdown or CodeMirror editor.
Field Required Example
Name Yes code-reviewer
Description Yes Reviews code for quality issues and suggests improvements.
Tags No qa, review

Field	Required	Example
Name	Yes	`code-reviewer`
Description	Yes	`Reviews code for quality issues and suggests improvements.`
Tags	No	`qa`, `review`

Name rulesName must use lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens only. It must not start or end with a hyphen. The maximum length is 64 characters. It must not contain claude or anthropic.

In the Instructions section:

Use the toggle button group in the section header to switch between Edit mode and Preview mode.
A character counter at the bottom of the editor shows the remaining characters. The maximum is 5000 characters.

Example instructions:

## Code Review

When reviewing code, always:
- Check for security vulnerabilities (SQL injection, XSS, hardcoded secrets).
- Flag functions longer than 40 lines and suggest splitting them.
- Verify that all public methods have meaningful names and are documented.
- Confirm error handling is present for all external calls.

Format your response as:
1. **Summary** — one sentence verdict.
2. **Issues** — bulleted list with file and line references.
3. **Suggestions** — concrete fix for each issue.

Select Save in the tab bar at the top of the page.

After you select Save, the Skill configuration page opens. It shows the Skill name in the tab bar and the General and Instructions * sections in the left panel. The right panel contains a test chat panel where you can interact with the Skill directly to verify its behavior.

Upload a Skill Icon

In the General section, the Skill icon is editable when your role includes the upload icon permission.

Open the Skill editor.
In General, select the Skill icon.
Upload a new icon or select an existing icon from the icon gallery.
Select Save.

The selected icon is stored in the Skill version metadata and is shown in Skill lists, attached Skill cards, and mention lists. If needed, you can also remove an uploaded icon from the icon gallery.

Generate a Skill with AI

Instead of filling in the form manually, select Generate with AI in the General section header to open the Generate skill dialog.

Describe what you want the Skill to do in the input field. Example prompt:

Create a skill that reviews pull request descriptions. It should check that the PR
has a clear summary, lists affected components, includes test coverage notes,
and flags any missing ticket references.

ELITEA drafts a Name, Description, and Instructions for you.
Review and edit the draft in the dialog.
Select Approve to apply it to the form, then select Save.

Edit a Skill with AI

You can also refine an existing Skill with Edit with AI.

Open an existing Skill.
Select Edit with AI.
Describe the changes you want.
Select Generate Draft.
Review the generated draft step by step.
Select Save or Save as Version.

Test a Skill

After you save a Skill, the right panel of the Skill editor contains a test chat panel. This stateless, ephemeral chat lets you interact with the Skill directly without creating a saved conversation. Use it to verify instructions before you attach the Skill to any agent.

Test conversationsTest conversations are ephemeral. They are not saved and disappear when you leave the page or clear the chat.

Select the LLM Model & Settings

Before sending a message, you can choose which AI model processes the Skill and optionally fine-tune its parameters.

Select the model chip in the chat input bar to open the model selector dropdown.
Choose the model from the list, for example gpt-4o or gpt-5.1.
Select the Model Settings icon next to the model chip to adjust generation parameters.

Reasoning Models (e.g. GPT-5.1)
Standard Models (e.g. GPT-4o)

Parameter	Description
Reasoning	Controls the depth of logical thinking and problem-solving.

Level	Behavior
Low	Fast, surface-level reasoning with concise answers and minimal steps
Medium	Balanced reasoning with clear explanations and moderate multi-step thinking (default)
High	Deep, thorough reasoning with detailed step-by-step analysis (may be slower)

Parameter	Description
Creativity	Controls response randomness. Lower values produce focused, deterministic outputs; higher values produce more varied and creative responses.

Level	Behavior
1	Highly focused and deterministic outputs
2	Mostly focused with slight variation
3	Balanced between focus and creativity (default)
4	More varied and creative responses
5	Maximum creativity and diversity

Max Completion Tokens (All Models)

Option	Description
Auto	System sets the token limit automatically (default)
Custom	Manually enter a specific token limit for responses

Use Voice Capabilities

The Skill test chat panel supports the same voice features as the agent chat interface.

Voice Input

Dictate prompts into the chat input field. Transcribed text is inserted at the cursor in real time.

Text-to-Speech

Have Skill responses read aloud. Pause and resume playback from a mini-player pill in the input area.

Speaking Mode

Hands-free voice loop. ELITEA records, sends, speaks the response, and listens again — automatically.

Voice Input Select the microphone icon in the message input toolbar to start recording. Speak your prompt. A live transcript appears in the input field as you talk. Select Stop to finish. The final transcript is committed to the input field.

Voice inputVoice Input uses a server-side automatic speech recognition (ASR) model if it is configured in Settings > AI Configuration. Otherwise, it falls back to the browser Web Speech API. If neither is available, the microphone icon is hidden.

Text-to-Speech A Read out button appears in the action bar below each Skill response. Select it to start playback. The text is highlighted as it is read. A playback pill in the input area provides Pause and Resume controls.

Text-to-speechWhen a text-to-speech (TTS) model is configured in Settings > AI Configuration, ELITEA uses it for audio generation. Otherwise, playback falls back to the browser SpeechSynthesis API.

Speaking Mode Speaking Mode is a continuous, hands-free voice loop. Leave the input field empty, then select the voicewave icon shown in place of the Send button to activate it. ELITEA records your speech, sends your prompt after three seconds of silence, plays back the response, and then starts listening again. Select ✕ in the voicewave pill to exit.

Create & Manage Versions

Skills support versioning, allowing you to maintain multiple iterations of a Skill without breaking existing agents that depend on it. Every Skill has a base version, and you can create additional named versions to test changes, iterate on improvements, or maintain different variants for different use cases. Key Version Concepts:

base version: The always-present initial version of every Skill. Cannot be deleted.
Default version: The version agents use when a Skill is attached without specifying a particular version. Can be changed to any version except those currently attached to agents.
Named versions: Additional versions you create (e.g., “v2”, “updated-for-api-v3”). Each must have a unique name within the Skill.
Version selector: Dropdown in the Skill editor tab bar that shows all versions, their creators, and creation dates.

Common Version Operations:

Operation	How to Access	Description
Create version	Save As Version button in tab bar	Save current changes as a new named version
Switch versions	Version selector dropdown in tab bar	Navigate between existing versions to view or edit
Set default	⋮ menu > Set as a default	Make a version the default for agent attachments
Compare versions	⋮ menu > Compare Versions	View side-by-side differences and selectively merge changes
Delete version	⋮ menu > Delete	Remove a version (not available for base or default versions)

For detailed information about version management patterns, best practices, naming conventions, and the complete Compare Versions workflow, see Entity Versioning. The reference documentation describes agent versioning, but skill versioning works the same way.

Export a Skill

Open the Skill and go to the version you want to export.
Select the ⋮ overflow menu in the tab bar.
Under the VERSION section, select Export.
A .md file for the current version is downloaded to your machine.

Import a Skill

On the Skills page, select the Import icon button in the top toolbar.
A file picker opens. Select the .md export file from your machine.
The Import parameters dialog appears, showing:
- PROJECT — a project selector (defaults to the currently selected project). Change it to import the Skill into a different project.
- MAIN ENTITY — a preview card showing the Skill name, type, description, and instructions from the file.
Select Import to create the Skill, or select Cancel to abort.

Imported versionImported Skills are always created with the base version, regardless of the version stored in the export file.

Fork a Skill

You can fork a Skill version from the Skill editor or from ELITEA Catalog.

Open the Skill version you want to reuse.
Open the ⋮ overflow menu.
Select Fork.
Complete the import flow.

The fork action uses the Skill fork export payload and creates a copy in your selected project.

Publish a Skill

Skills can be published to ELITEA Catalog and later unpublished.

Open the Skill version you want to publish.
Open the ⋮ overflow menu.
Select Publish.
Complete the publish flow.

The publish flow validates the Skill version, then publishes it to ELITEA Catalog. Published Skills can be listed in the public catalog and reused in other projects.

To remove a published Skill, open the same menu and select Unpublish. For the full flow, see Skill Publishing.

Use Skills from ELITEA Catalog

Published Skills are available in ELITEA Catalog. From the catalog, you can:

Browse published Skills by category
Open Skill details
Export a published Skill
Fork a published Skill into your project
Attach a public Skill to one or more agents in the current project

The catalog also tracks public Skill counts and refreshes when a Skill is published or unpublished.

When you attach a public Skill from ELITEA Catalog, the system sends the selected public Skill version to one or more agent versions in the current project. For the full flow, see ELITEA Catalog

Attach a Skill to an Agent

Skills are attached at the agent version level, not to the agent as a whole. You must save the agent before Skills can be attached.

Skill limitA maximum of 5 Skills can be attached to a single agent version. The counter in the Skills section shows how many are currently attached (e.g., 2/5 skills added).

In Agents, open the agent you want to configure.
In the agent configuration form, scroll to the Skills accordion section (below the Instructions and Toolkits sections).
Select the + Skill button to open the skill picker dropdown.
- The button is disabled and shows a tooltip if the agent has not been saved yet (Save the agent first, then add skills) or if the 5-Skill limit has been reached (Maximum number of skills reached).
Search for the Skill by name in the Search skills… field, or browse the list.
Click a Skill to attach it. It attaches immediately using the Skill’s base version.
- Skills already attached to the agent version are excluded from the list to prevent duplicates.

To create a new Skill from the agent editor:

Select + Skill in the Skills accordion.
Select Create new at the bottom of the picker dropdown.
You are taken to the Skill creation form.

If the selected attached version is later deleted, the Skill card shows this warning banner:

The attached skill version no longer exists. Select a valid version or remove this skill.

If no Skills are attached to the agent, the mention list in chat shows:

No skills attached to this agent

Change the Attached Version

Each attached Skill card shows the currently active version name below the Skill’s name. To change which version the agent uses:

On the Skill card inside the agent Skills section, select the version name, for example base.
A Versions dropdown appears, listing all available versions.
Select the version you want. The attachment is updated automatically. The old version is detached and the new version is attached.
The selected version is highlighted with a check mark.

Use Skills in Chat

When an agent has one or more Skills attached, users can invoke a Skill explicitly during a chat conversation by typing ~ (tilde) followed by the Skill name in the chat composer.

In a chat conversation with an agent that has Skills attached, type ~ in the message input.
A Mention skill dropdown appears above the input, listing all Skills attached to that agent.
- If no Skills are attached, the dropdown shows: “No skills attached to this agent”.
Type additional characters to filter the list, or use the arrow keys to highlight a Skill.
Press Enter or select the Skill name to insert it as a mention token in your message.
Send the message. The agent receives and executes that Skill’s instructions for this turn.

Delete a Skill

Delete warningDeleting a Skill removes it from all agents it is attached to. This action cannot be undone.

Open the ⋮ menu in the editor tab bar.
Under the SKILL section, select Delete skill.
Enter the Skill name to confirm, then select Delete.

Troubleshooting

The Skills Menu Item Is Missing from the Sidebar

The Save Button Is Disabled on the Skill Creation or Edit Form

The Save button requires all of the following:

Name is non-empty and matches the allowed pattern (lowercase letters, digits, hyphens; no leading/trailing hyphens; no claude or anthropic).
Description is non-empty.
Instructions are non-empty.
At least one field has been changed since the last save.
None of the three fields exceed their character limits.

Check the character counters next to each field and the validation error messages below the inputs.

The + Skill Button in the Agent Editor Is Disabled

Two conditions disable the button:

Agent not yet saved — save the agent first. The tooltip reads “Save the agent first, then add skills”.
Limit reached — the agent version already has 5 Skills attached. Remove one before adding another. The tooltip reads “Maximum number of skills reached”.

A Skill Card Shows a Warning Banner

The banner “The attached skill version no longer exists. Select a valid version or remove this skill.” means the specific named version attached to this agent has been deleted from the Skill. Either select a different version from the version dropdown on the card, or remove the Skill and re-attach it.

Save As Version Fails with 'A Version with That Name Already Exists'

Each version name within a Skill must be unique. Choose a different name. Also note that the name base is reserved and cannot be used as a custom version name.

Import Fails or Does Not Create the Skill

Only .md files exported from Elitea are accepted.
Ensure the target project is selected correctly in the Import parameters dialog.
If the Skill name in the file contains uppercase letters, spaces, or invalid characters, the import will be rejected. Edit the file or re-export from a corrected Skill.

Guides & References

Skill Builder — Create and update Skills directly from chat
Agents — Configure agents and attach Skills, Toolkits, and MCPs
Project Context — Define shared background context injected into every AI interaction
Entity Versioning — Version management patterns for agents, pipelines, and Skills
Export and Import — Exporting and importing Elitea entities

Welcome to ELITEA

Key Concepts

Reference

Platform Overview

Overview

Reusable

On-Demand

Versioned

Access Skills