> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.spinnable.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Skills

> How workers learn and save reusable workflows

## What are Skills?

Skills are **reusable workflows** that your workers learn and save. When a worker successfully handles a complex process, they can turn it into a skill — a packaged set of instructions and code they'll remember and execute reliably every time.

Think of skills like training an employee on a specific procedure. Once they've learned it, they can do it consistently without you explaining the steps each time.

<Info>
  Skills are sometimes called "Hard Skills" because they're concrete, learned capabilities — as opposed to general intelligence or conversational ability.
</Info>

## When to Use Skills

Skills are perfect for:

* **Repeatable processes** — Tasks you do regularly with the same steps
* **Company-specific workflows** — Procedures unique to your business
* **Multi-step operations** — Complex tasks involving multiple tools or data transformations
* **Quality-critical work** — Processes where consistency matters

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Good for Skills" icon="check">
    - Weekly sales report generation
    - Invoice processing workflow
    - Customer onboarding checklist
    - Data extraction and formatting
  </Card>

  <Card title="Not Needed for Skills" icon="xmark">
    * One-time tasks
    * Simple questions or lookups
    * Tasks that change every time
    * General conversation
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Real Example: Invoice Processing

Here's how a skill might work in practice:

**The process:**

1. Receive invoice PDF via email
2. Extract key data (vendor, amount, date, line items)
3. Format data into a structured format
4. Add row to Google Sheets tracking spreadsheet
5. Send confirmation to accounting team

**Without a skill:** You'd explain these steps each time, and the worker might handle them slightly differently.

**With a skill:** The worker saves this as "Invoice Processing" and executes it the same way every time — reliably, consistently, and without needing repeated instructions.

## How to Create a Skill

Creating a skill is conversational. When your worker successfully completes a complex process:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Complete the task successfully">
    Work with your worker to handle the process. Make sure the output is what you want.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Ask them to save it">
    Simply tell your worker: "Save this as a skill" or "Remember how to do this."
  </Step>

  <Step title="Name and describe it">
    Your worker will ask what to call the skill and confirm what it should do.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Use it later">
    Next time, just reference the skill: "Run the invoice processing skill" or "Process this invoice like we set up."
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  **Pro tip:** After creating a skill, test it with a new example to make sure it works as expected. Provide feedback if anything needs adjustment.
</Tip>

## What's Saved in a Skill

When a worker creates a skill, they save:

| Component             | What it includes                                  |
| --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| **Instructions**      | Step-by-step process documentation                |
| **Code**              | Any scripts or transformations needed             |
| **Tool requirements** | Which tools the skill needs (Gmail, Sheets, etc.) |
| **Examples**          | Reference inputs and outputs                      |

## Skills and Worker Development

Workers improve over time as they learn more skills. You can think of it like professional development:

* **New workers** start with general capabilities
* **Experienced workers** have built up a library of skills specific to your business
* **Specialist workers** might have deep expertise in one area through many related skills

<Note>
  Skills belong to individual workers. If you want multiple workers to have the same skill, you'll need to teach it to each one (or have one worker handle that specific process).
</Note>

## Managing Skills

To see what skills a worker has learned, you can ask them directly:

* "What skills do you have?"
* "Show me your skills"
* "What processes have you learned?"

Your worker will list their skills with descriptions of what each one does.

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="How Workers Learn" icon="brain" href="/concepts/how-workers-learn">
    Understand the broader learning system
  </Card>

  <Card title="Training & Feedback" icon="chalkboard-user" href="/guides/training-feedback">
    Best practices for teaching your workers
  </Card>

  <Card title="Managing Workers" icon="users" href="/guides/managing-multiple-workers">
    Organize workers around skills and roles
  </Card>

  <Card title="Scheduling Tasks" icon="clock" href="/guides/scheduling-tasks">
    Automate skill execution on a schedule
  </Card>
</CardGroup>