AI skills
Skills are reusable directives that focus the assistant on a specific job, such as writing copy or checking accessibility. Turning one on layers its instructions, and any reference notes attached to it, onto whichever provider you already have connected.
Quick overview
- Open the assistant, then click the skills button in the panel header, or type
/in the chat box. - Pick a built-in skill, or one of your own, from the list that appears.
- The skill activates for the provider you are currently using. Each provider remembers its own active skill.
- Chat normally. The skill's instruction and any reference documents now shape every reply.
- Type
/skillsany time to see the full list with current assignments, or/offto return to the default assistant. - Build your own in AI settings: set a name, icon, description, and instruction, add reference documents if you need them, then assign it to one or more providers.
Detailed reference
Built-in skills
| Skill | Focus |
|---|---|
| Design Assistant | Layouts, color palettes, typography, and visual hierarchy, backed by notes on contrast, alignment, repetition, and proximity |
| Copywriter | Headlines, taglines, and business-card text, offered as several variations at once |
| Brand Strategist | Positioning, brand personality, and color psychology for a consistent identity |
| Translator | Translates design text between languages and flags length changes that affect layout |
| Accessibility Checker | Checks color contrast and readability against WCAG guidelines |
| Variations Generator | Reads a page's Design Fields and produces many content variations in a single pass |
Slash commands
| Command | Result |
|---|---|
/<skill-name> | Activates that skill for the current provider, for example /copywriter |
/skills | Lists every skill, built-in and custom, and shows which provider each one is assigned to |
/off or /none | Deactivates the active skill and returns to the default assistant |
The slash menu filters live as you type, arrow keys move through it, and Enter or Tab activates the highlighted entry. A checkmark marks whichever skill is already active for your current provider. Add text after the command to activate a skill and send that message in the same step, for example /translator Translate this to German.
Per-provider activation
Each provider you connect keeps its own active skill, so activating Translator on OpenAI does not carry over to Claude until you activate it there too. The same skill can be assigned to more than one provider at once from the skill manager's provider checkboxes, not only the one currently selected in chat.
Anatomy of a custom skill
A skill is presented like a small folder: one main instruction file plus a folder of reference documents.
| Part | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Name and icon | How the skill appears in the list and the slash menu, picked from a built-in icon set |
| Description | A one-line summary shown in the list and next to the slash command |
| Instruction | The main directive the assistant follows while the skill is active |
| Reference documents | Optional extra notes, such as a style guide or glossary, added and titled one at a time, appended after the instruction |
Managing skills
Built-in skills are read-only, but Duplicate makes an editable copy with the same instruction and references, which you can then rename and rewrite while the original stays untouched. Custom skills can be edited, duplicated, or deleted at any time, and deleting one also clears it from every provider it was assigned to. Manage all of this from AI settings.
Tips
Duplicate before you customize
Built-in skills cannot be edited directly. Duplicate one to get an editable starting point instead of writing an instruction from scratch.
Skills ride your provider
A skill does not need its own key. It shapes the assistant that runs on the provider you already connected.
Provider keys stay on the server
A skill runs on whichever provider you connected. For every built-in provider your key is encrypted at rest and never returned to the browser, with each call going through the server. A custom endpoint is the exception: its key is stored locally and called directly, since it targets a URL you control. See Bring your own AI key.
Related
- AI chat assistant for how the assistant sends messages and edits the canvas
- Text and typography for applying what a skill like Copywriter suggests
- AI Studio for skills and kits outside the editor
- Bring your own AI key for how provider keys are connected and protected