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Skills are reusable procedures for the Slate agent. Each skill is a package built around a SKILL.md file — instructions Cowork loads when a request matches, so the agent follows your procedure instead of improvising one.

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Where to Find It

Go to Assets → Skills in the sidebar. The page has two tabs: Built-in skills and Custom skills.
Skills page showing the built-in skills gallery with category filters and enable switches

Skills — built-in gallery and custom skills

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Built-in Skills

The built-in tab is a gallery of skills managed by Slate, filterable by category. Each card shows the skill’s name, category, and description, with a switch to enable or disable it for your workspace. Click a card to preview the full skill. From the preview you can:
  • Enable or disable the skill.
  • Customize as new skill — enter an ID for the copy and click Create custom skill. Slate creates an editable, workspace-owned copy from the latest managed version and disables the managed original so they don’t overlap.

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Custom Skills

The custom tab holds skills your workspace owns. Three ways to add one:
  1. Ask Cowork to create a skill for you.
  2. New skill — author one in the editor: give it a Name (this becomes the skill ID) and a Description, write the SKILL.md from the provided template, then click Create skill.
  3. Import — upload a .zip containing <skill-id>/SKILL.md (plus optional contract and scripts). Imported scripts always run sandboxed.
Each custom skill row has an enable/disable switch and a menu with Download (.zip), Re-import (.zip), and Delete (removes the skill and its stored archive). A broken skill shows a Repair button in place of the switch.
A skill that fails validation shows Broken — re-import needed and drops out of the agent’s skill index. Skills can also show Repairing or Orphan. When any skill is in one of these states, a Repair button appears in the header. Repair rebuilds these skills from the copies Slate has stored, without a re-import. If Repair can’t fix a skill, re-import a fixed package.

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Editing a Skill

Click a custom skill to open its files. Markdown and scripts in imported skills are editable in place — pick a file, edit, and Save. Built-in skills are read-only. Markdown files open in Doc view. Switch to Markdown to edit the raw file, including its frontmatter. The Description field controls when Cowork uses the skill — the first 200 characters are the trigger.

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Using Skills in Cowork

Enabled skills join the agent’s skill index — Cowork applies them automatically when a request matches. To force one, type /skill in the Cowork input box and pick it; the agent starts with that procedure and follows it.

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What’s Next

  • Cowork — where skills get used
  • Memory — what the agent learns across runs
  • Recipes — full multi-step procedures with inputs and review gates