Build Your First Skill

The fastest way to a good skill is to do the job once with the AI, get the result right, then ask it to write down how. This page walks through that with a real example: a weekly summary of meeting notes.

1. Do the job once, together

Pick a job you do often. Choose the folder it needs as the workspace, then ask for the result in full:

Read all meeting notes in this folder from the last 7 days. Write a summary
with: decisions made, open questions, and actions with owner and due date.
Save it as weekly-summary-<today's date>.md.

Correct the AI until the result is what you want. Each correction ("owners as first names only", "group actions by owner") is something the skill will remember.

2. Ask the AI to turn it into a skill

Turn what we just did into a skill called weekly-summary. Include the
corrections I made.

The AI writes the skill's SKILL.md, checks its format and tells you where it saved it:

• With a workspace open, it goes into the workspace's .agents/skills/ folder, so everyone who opens the folder gets it
• Without a workspace, it goes into this computer's skills, for you alone

3. Read what it wrote

Open the skill in Settings › Skills, or ask "show me the weekly-summary skill". Check two things:

• The description says what the skill does and when to use it. This is what the AI reads to decide whether your request matches.
• The steps match how you want the job done, including your corrections

See How a Skill Is Written for each part.

4. Test it in a new chat

Start a New chat and ask in your own words, without naming the skill:

Summarise this week's meetings.

If the AI uses the skill, the description works. You can also run it directly by typing /weekly-summary.

If the AI does not pick it up

The description is too narrow or too vague. Ask: "Update the weekly-summary description so it is used when I ask for a summary of meetings or notes."

5. Improve it as you use it

Every time the result is off, fix it in the chat, then ask: "Update the weekly-summary skill with that." A skill gets better each time you use it.

If you edit SKILL.md yourself outside Cowork, ask the AI to "reload skills", or start a new chat, so it reads the new version.

Next steps

• How a Skill Is Written The parts of SKILL.md, scripts and other files
• What Makes a Good Skill Scope, descriptions, checks and sharing
• Skill Examples Complete skills you can copy and adapt
• Scheduled Tasks Run your skill every week by itself