Skills

A skill holds instructions that Annota Brain follows whenever a request matches its description, such as the steps of a procedure, the format of an answer, or the rules of your firm. Skills use the open Agent Skills format, so you can write them in the app or import them.

How Brain uses skills

• Automatically. Brain sees the name and description of every skill available to you. When a question matches a description, Brain reads that skill and follows it.
• On request. You can choose up to 5 skills for one question. See Use a skill in a question.

Skills available to you are your own and the ones shared with you. The answer shows which skills Brain followed, for example Followed the skill vat-returns. Brain runs no code: it reads only Markdown and plain text files.

Create a skill

1. In Brain, open Skills and select New skill.
2. Enter a Name. It is written in lowercase with hyphens as you type, such as vat-returns.
3. Enter a Description: what the skill does and when Brain should use it. Brain relies on it to decide when the skill applies.
4. Write the Instructions in Markdown.
5. Select Create skill. The skill page opens.

The name can use lowercase letters, numbers, and single hyphens, up to 64 characters. The description is required and can be up to 1,024 characters. Each name can be used once in the organization.

Import skills

1. In Skills, select Import.
2. Choose a ZIP Archive in the Agent Skills format, with a folder for each skill holding its SKILL.md.
3. Select Import.

If you already have a skill with the same name, the import saves it as a new version. Scripts and files that are not Markdown or plain text are left out, and the app lists them under Some files were left out.

Update a skill

You change a skill by uploading a new version.

1. Open the skill and select Upload new version.
2. Choose a ZIP archive with the skill’s folder and its SKILL.md, or with SKILL.md at the root.
3. Select Import. The content becomes the next version.

On the skill page, Details shows who created it, its Version, its Shared version, and its dates. Under Files you can pick a version, read each file as Preview or Source, and copy it.

Use a skill in a question

1. In the question box, type / at the start of your question.
2. Pick a skill with the up and down arrows and press Enter, or select it.
3. Finish your question and send it.

You can also select Add (the + button) and pick skills under Skills. Chosen skills apply to that question only.

To stop Brain from using a skill someone shared with you, turn off Use in my answers on the skill or in the Skills list. This changes only your own answers.

Share a skill

A skill is private to you until you share it.

1. Open the skill and select Share.
2. Add members or groups under Members and groups, or set Organization access to share it with everyone.
3. Under Shared version, choose which version people see.
4. Select Save changes.

People you share with can view the skill and Brain uses its shared version in their answers. When your latest version is newer than the shared one, the list shows it, for example Version 3, version 2 shared. Depending on your organization’s sharing policy, only organization owners and admins can share with the whole organization. See Sharing and access.

Delete a skill

Open the skill and, under Danger zone, select Delete next to Delete skill, then confirm with Delete skill. The skill and all its versions are deleted and Brain stops using it. Answers that used it keep its name. Only the owner or an organization owner or admin can delete a skill.

Limits

Limit	Value
Skills you own	100
Shared skills per organization	50
Files per skill	32
Size per file	64 KB
Total size per skill	256 KB
Import archive	4 MB
Versions kept per skill	50 (saving another removes the oldest)
Skills chosen for one question	5

Tip

Write a clear, specific description. Brain picks skills by their description, so “Prepare a quarterly VAT return from invoices” works better than “VAT”.

Next steps

• Ask questions
• Sharing and access
• Sources and citations