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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.elementum.io/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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What Are Skills?

Skills are reusable capability modules that agents can discover and run at runtime. Each Skill has a name, description, prompt instructions, and one or more configured tools. Instead of wiring every tool into each agent manually, you build Skills once in the Skills Directory; agents then find and use them dynamically based on context.

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When to Use Skills vs Tools

Agents can take action through both tools and Skills. The right choice depends on how tightly coupled the capability is to a single agent versus how broadly it needs to be shared.
ConsiderationToolsSkills
ScopeConfigured directly on one agentCreated once in the Skills Directory, available to many agents
SetupAdmin adds and configures each tool on the agentAdmin builds the Skill once; agents discover it at runtime
ReusabilityMust be recreated on every agent that needs itShared across any agent with Skills enabled
MaintenanceUpdate each agent individually when logic changesUpdate the Skill once and all agents pick up the change
Best forCapabilities specific to a single agent’s purposeCommon capabilities used across multiple agents or apps
Start with tools when an agent needs a one-off capability. Promote a tool to a Skill when you find yourself configuring the same automation on multiple agents.

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Create a Skill

App admins create and manage Skills under Intelligence → Skills.
  1. Open Intelligence in your app.
  2. Click the Skills tab at the top of the page.
  3. Enter a name, description, prompt instructions, and one or more tools.
  4. Click Create Skill.
Skill fields:
  • Name and Description — How the Skill is identified and when it should be used
  • Prompt instructions — Instructions the agent follows when executing the Skill
  • Tools — One or more tools that implement the Skill’s behavior. Skills support the same tool types as agents: Run Automation, Create Record, Update Record, Search Records, AI Search, and Run Agent. Configuring tools on a Skill follows the same workflow as configuring tools on an agent — for field-by-field setup steps for each tool type, see Configure Agent Tools.
Skills that use Create Record, Update Record, Search Records, AI Search, or Run Agent run natively in Elementum — you don’t need to build a separate automation to wrap them. Use Run Automation when you want the Skill to trigger an existing On-Demand automation.
Lifecycle status:
StatusBehavior
DraftNot available to agents; use for work-in-progress
ActiveAvailable to agents when Skills are enabled
DisabledTemporarily hidden from agents; can be re-enabled
Only Active Skills appear when agents search or use Skills at runtime. Draft Skills never appear in search.

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Add Skills to an Agent

  1. In Intelligence, select an agent.
  2. Click Configure.
  3. Choose the Skills you’d like the agent to have access to (including All App Skills).
  4. Click Save.
If you know an agent will always need a specific Skill, add up to 3 preloaded Skills the agent can access immediately — skipping the runtime search step.
The Enabled Skills setting controls the agent’s access level:
ModeBehavior
NoneAgent has no Skills (default for new agents)
AllAgent can discover and use all active Skills in the app
SelectedAdmin picks specific Skills from a checkbox table
In Selected mode, use the checkbox table to choose exactly which Skills the agent can use. This gives fine-grained control when you have many Skills but want each agent to use only a subset.

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Runtime Behavior

When Skills are enabled (any mode other than None), the agent automatically receives discovery tools — no manual tool setup is required. At runtime, the agent uses Skills in three steps:
  1. Search — The agent calls the Skill search tool to find Skills relevant to the user’s request.
  2. Details — For a chosen Skill, the agent retrieves the name, description, instructions, and configured tools.
  3. Execute — The agent runs the Skill’s behavior by invoking its configured tools. Create Record, Update Record, Search Records, AI Search, and Run Agent tools execute natively in Elementum; Run Automation tools trigger the linked On-Demand automation.

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Operational Notes

  • Only Active Skills surface at runtime; Disabled Skills do not.
  • New agents default to None; enable Skills explicitly if you want the agent to use them.
  • After changing a Skill’s status or an agent’s Enabled Skills mode, allow a moment for the agent to see the updated set.

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Troubleshooting

If an agent isn’t using the Skill you expect, work through the checks below.

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Confirm the Skill is Active

Skills must be Active to surface at runtime. Open Intelligence → Skills and confirm the Skill’s status reads Active. If it doesn’t, select the Skill and click Activate in the top right corner.

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Make the Name and Description Discoverable

Agents discover Skills by searching the name and description. If either is too generic, the agent may not find the Skill — or it may pick up the wrong one. Use specific, task-oriented wording that reflects when the Skill should be used.

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Review the Conversation History

Open the agent’s conversation history and check what happened during the request:
  • Is the agent trying to discover Skills at all? If the agent answers without searching, it may not realize a Skill is relevant. Adjust the agent’s prompt to point it toward the Skills Directory for the kind of request you’re testing.
  • Is the agent running the Discover Skills tool? If the tool isn’t being called, prompt the agent differently so it knows to search for an existing Skill before attempting to act on its own.
  • Are the wrong Skills coming back? Look at the query the agent used to search. Either refine the Skill’s name and description to better match how the agent phrases the request, or update the agent’s instructions to guide it toward better search queries.