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Skills let you save a set of instructions and reuse it across projects, instead of pasting the same text into every project. This article explains the types of skill, how to create and share them, and how to attach them to a project.
Skills, instructions and templates
These three things are easy to confuse. They differ in how much they include and where they're stored.
| Where it lives | What it includes | When to use it |
Instructions | One specific project | A standing brief in that project's Instructions tab | Small changes to one project, or one-off projects |
Skill | Your personal library or your organisation's library | A reusable block of instructions that you can attach to any project | The same way of working that you want across many projects |
Template | Your organisation's library | Instructions, uploads, connectors, actions and collaborators: a full project blueprint | Recurring workflows that also use the same uploads and connectors |
Most people start by pasting instructions into one project. When they find themselves pasting the same instructions into several projects, they publish those instructions as a skill. If the workflow also needs the same uploads and connectors, they combine the skill into a template.
Types of skill
There are two types of skill:
Personal skills are created by you. Only you can see and use them.
Org skills are created by organisation admins. Everyone in your organisation can see and use them.
What a skill is
A skill is a small bundle of content with:
A name and a short description.
A body of instructions, written in Markdown.
Optionally, files that the AI can read when it needs them.
When you attach a skill to a project, its name and description are added to the prompt for that project's chats. When a message needs the full instructions, the AI reads the body of the skill. If the skill includes files, the AI can also open those when it needs them.
When to create a skill
Create a skill when most of these are true:
The instructions are stable enough that you'd reuse them across many projects.
Other people in your team would benefit from using them.
You want everyone who uses them to get output in a consistent format.
The instructions don't depend on a specific set of uploads. If they do, create a template instead.
Don't create a skill if the instructions only make sense with one particular knowledge base. A template is better for that.
Create an org skill
Org admins can publish skills for the whole organisation.
Open the Skills area from the org admin menu.
Click + New skill.
Enter the following details:
Name: The name users see when they choose the skill, for example "Customer account health playbook".
Description: One sentence that explains what attaching the skill does to a project.
Instructions: The Markdown body. These instructions are added to any project that attaches the skill.
Files (optional): Supporting documents that the AI can read when needed.
Click Publish.
After you publish a skill, everyone in your organisation can see it in the Attach skill list when they set up a project.
Copy a personal skill to your organisation
You can turn a personal skill into an org skill. You need admin permissions to do this.
Open the personal skill's card.
Click the three-dot menu.
Click Copy to organisation.
This creates a copy of the skill for your organisation. Your personal skill stays the same, and you can update it separately from the org skill.
Import and export skills
You can move skills between organisations, or share them with other people.
Import skills
Upload one of the following:
A zip file that contains one or more skill folders.
A single skill folder that has a SKILL.md file at its root.
A SKILL.md file with its supporting files.
The folder structure is kept automatically.
Export skills
To export several skills at once:
Select the skills you want to export.
Download them as a single zip file. Each skill is saved in its own folder.
You can import the zip file back into Access Evo Researcher, or into any other skill library.
To export one skill:
Open the skill's card.
Click the three-dot menu.
Click Export.
Attach a skill to a project
Once an admin has published skills, you can attach them to individual projects.
Open the project.
Open the Instructions tab.
Click Attach skill.
Choose a skill from the list. You can attach more than one.
Click Save.
After you attach a skill, it's available in every chat in the project. The AI sees the skill's name and description, and reads the full instructions when a message needs them.
Start a new chat to see the effect. Existing chats keep their history, but they use the skill from your next message.
To remove a skill, detach it from the project. The skill no longer applies to new messages. Detaching a skill doesn't change the chat history.
📌 Note: Your personal skill and any copy of it in your organisation are separate. Changes to one don't affect the other.
Set a default skill
You can set any personal or org skill as a default. A default skill is attached automatically whenever one of the following is created, so you don't need to add it each time.
To set a default, open the skill's create or edit window and turn on one or more of the options under Default skill:
New projects: The skill is attached automatically to each new project.
New templates: The skill is attached automatically to each new template.
New chats: The skill is attached automatically to each new chat.
If none of these options is on, the skill isn't a default. You can still attach it to a project by hand.
A project created from a template uses the template's skills instead of your defaults.
The scope of a default depends on who owns the skill:
An org skill set as a default applies across your organisation.
A personal skill set as a default applies only to your own new projects, templates and chats.
Tips for writing skills
Write the instructions as a brief. A skill is combined with whatever is in a project's Instructions tab, so write it to sit alongside other context rather than replace it.
Keep each skill focused. A skill that covers QBR follow-ups, escalation summaries and renewals will do all three less well. Split it into separate skills.
Name the skill after the task. "Renewal-risk assessment" tells users what the skill does. "CS team skill 4" doesn't.
Test the skill in a real project. Attach it to a project with your usual uploads and run a typical chat. Check that the output is what you expected before you share the skill.
Show version changes in the description. If you change the instructions, update the description (for example, "v2: tightened wording") so users know what has changed.