> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cloudsquid.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Skills
> Packaged instructions, reusable code, and templates that teach a project a new capability.
A **skill** is a package the agent can pick up and use: instructions, reusable code, and templates bundled together. It's the same idea as Claude skills — a capability you hand the agent once and it applies whenever the task calls for it.
Where an [SOP](/concepts/sops) says *how this process works*, a skill says *how to do this thing* — and it can be used by any process that needs it.
## Skill or SOP?
| | **SOP** | **Skill** |
| ------------ | -------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| Scope | One process | Reusable across processes |
| Content | Decision rules, tolerances, escalation | Instructions plus code and templates |
| Example | "Match on name + postal code, email as tiebreaker" | "Generate the weekly automation report in our format" |
| Changes when | The process changes | The capability changes |
Rules of thumb:
* If it's a **judgment call about this process**, it belongs in the SOP.
* If it's a **repeatable piece of work with a fixed output shape** — a report format, a document template, a transformation you'd otherwise re-explain — make it a skill.
* If you find yourself pasting the same instructions into two different projects, that's a skill.
## What's in a skill
A skill is a folder containing a `SKILL.md` file with the skill's name and description, followed by the instructions themselves. Supporting files — scripts, templates, examples — live alongside it in the folder and the instructions point at them.
The name and description matter: they're how the agent knows the skill exists and when to reach for it. "Weekly automation report — produces the ops summary xlsx from a reconcile table's cases" is discoverable. "Report helper" is not.
Skills can carry **secrets** (an API key a script needs). Those are stored encrypted and injected as environment variables when the agent runs, so they never sit in the instruction text.
## Managing skills
Skills are managed per project in the **Customize** panel (**Connect** in the sidebar), under the **Skills** tab, alongside **Connectors** and **MCP Servers**. You can:
* **Upload a skill folder** containing a `SKILL.md` at its root.
* **Create one with the agent** — describe the capability in the chat and have it write the skill.
Once added, the skill is available to that project's agent — it appears in the agent's context with its name and description, and the agent opens the full instructions when it needs them.
Start by writing the instructions as a chat message that worked. When you've had to send it twice, turn it into a skill.
Process rules, as opposed to reusable capabilities.
The other way to extend what the agent can do.