Skills

Skills

Skills are reusable instruction sets that capture your institutional knowledge. Attach them to any task to ensure consistent quality, tone, and approach across all your AI operations.

Why Skills?

Without skills, you’d need to repeat common instructions in every task prompt:

❌ Task 1: "Write in our brand voice: professional but friendly..."
❌ Task 2: "Write in our brand voice: professional but friendly..."
❌ Task 3: "Write in our brand voice: professional but friendly..."

With skills, define once and reuse everywhere:

✅ Skill: "Brand Voice" → Attached to all tasks

Skill Types

Writing Skills

Define tone, style, and formatting preferences:

• Brand voice guidelines
• Technical writing standards
• Email etiquette rules

Domain Skills

Capture industry-specific knowledge:

• Product terminology
• Industry regulations
• Competitive landscape

Process Skills

Document step-by-step procedures:

• Analysis frameworks
• Quality checklists
• Review processes

Creating Skills

Via Dashboard

1. Navigate to Skills in the sidebar
2. Click New Skill
3. Enter a name and description
4. Write your skill content in Markdown
5. Click Save

Via Chat-Based Builder

1. Navigate to Skills → New Skill
2. Select Chat Builder
3. Describe what you want the skill to do
4. AI helps you refine the content
5. Review and save

Via SDK

import Oct from '0ct';

const client = new Oct({
  apiKey: process.env.OCT_API_KEY
});

const skill = await client.promptly.skills.create({
  name: 'Brand Voice',
  description: 'Our company writing style guidelines',
  content: `
## Brand Voice Guidelines

### Tone
- Professional but approachable
- Confident, not arrogant
- Clear and concise

### Style
- Use active voice
- Avoid jargon unless necessary
- Keep sentences under 25 words

### Formatting
- Use headers to organize content
- Include bullet points for lists
- Bold key terms on first use
  `,
  category: 'writing'
});

Via Dashboard AI Generation

The dashboard includes AI-powered skill generation:

1. Navigate to Skills → New Skill
2. Select Chat Builder
3. Describe what you want the skill to accomplish
4. AI helps you refine the content interactively
5. Review and save when satisfied

Via Dashboard Import

Import skills from external sources:

1. Navigate to Skills → New Skill
2. Select Import
3. Paste a URL or GitHub link
4. Content is fetched and formatted as a skill

Skill Content Format

Skills use Markdown for rich formatting:

# Skill Name

## Purpose
What this skill helps the AI do.

## Guidelines

### Section 1
- Point A
- Point B
- Point C

### Section 2
Detailed instructions here...

## Examples

### Good Example
> This is what we want to see...

### Bad Example
> This is what to avoid...

## Checklist
- [ ] Did you do X?
- [ ] Did you check Y?
- [ ] Did you verify Z?

Attaching Skills to Tasks

During Task Creation

const task = await client.promptly.tasks.create({
  name: 'Weekly Newsletter',
  prompt: 'Write this week\'s newsletter covering...',
  modelId: 'openai/gpt-4o',
  frequency: 'weekly',
  scheduledDay: 'friday',
  scheduledTime: '10:00',
  skills: ['skill_brand_voice', 'skill_newsletter_format']
});

Update Existing Task

await client.promptly.tasks.update('task_abc123', {
  skills: ['skill_new_guidelines']
});

Skill Application Order

When multiple skills are attached, they’re applied in order:

1. First skill’s content
2. Second skill’s content
3. …
4. Task prompt

This allows you to layer context:

• Base guidelines (skill 1)
• Domain knowledge (skill 2)
• Specific instructions (task prompt)

Managing Skills

List Skills

const skills = await client.promptly.skills.list();

for (const skill of skills.data) {
  console.log(`${skill.name}: ${skill.category}`);
}

Get Skill Details

const skill = await client.promptly.skills.get('skill_abc123');
console.log(skill.content);

Update Skill

await client.promptly.skills.update('skill_abc123', {
  content: '# Updated Guidelines\n\nNew content here...'
});

Delete Skill

await client.promptly.skills.delete('skill_abc123');

Skill Categories

Organize skills by category for easy discovery:

Category	Use Case
writing	Tone, style, formatting
analysis	Frameworks, methodologies
domain	Industry knowledge
process	Procedures, checklists
template	Output formats

// Filter by category
const writingSkills = await client.promptly.skills.list({
  category: 'writing'
});

Best Practices

Keep Skills Focused

Each skill should do one thing well:

✅ "Email Tone Guidelines" - focused on email communication
❌ "All Writing Rules" - too broad, hard to maintain

Version Your Skills

Include version info for tracking changes:

# Brand Voice v2.1

Last updated: February 2026
Changes: Added section on inclusive language

Test Skills Thoroughly

Before widespread use, test skills on sample tasks:

// Create a test task
const testTask = await client.promptly.tasks.create({
  name: 'Skill Test',
  prompt: 'Write a sample email using these guidelines',
  modelId: 'openai/gpt-4o',
  frequency: 'once',
  skills: ['skill_new_guidelines']
});

// Trigger and review
const run = await client.promptly.tasks.run(testTask.id);

Document Examples

Always include good and bad examples:

## Examples

### ✅ Good
"Thanks for reaching out! I'd be happy to help..."

### ❌ Avoid
"Your request has been received. Someone will contact you."

Common Skill Templates

Brand Voice

# Brand Voice

## Personality
We are: Helpful, Professional, Friendly
We avoid: Robotic, Salesy, Condescending

## Language
- Use "we" and "you" over "the company" and "the user"
- Contractions are encouraged (we're, you'll, it's)
- Avoid jargon; explain technical terms

## Formatting
- Short paragraphs (2-3 sentences)
- Bullet points for lists
- Bold for emphasis, not ALL CAPS

Analysis Framework

# SWOT Analysis Framework

When analyzing any topic, structure your response as:

## Strengths
What advantages exist? What works well?

## Weaknesses
What could be improved? What's lacking?

## Opportunities
What possibilities exist? What trends are favorable?

## Threats
What obstacles exist? What risks are present?

Always conclude with actionable recommendations.

Next Steps

• Configure Destinations - Deliver task results
• Explore Tasks - Advanced task configuration
• Connect Sources - Add data connections