What an agent skill is
An agent skill is a reusable set of written instructions - a way to put down a procedure once instead of explaining it in every conversation. A skill has a name, a short description of when it should be used, the instructions themselves, and optionally up to ten attachments such as a logo, a font or a PDF of guidelines.
You find them under Agent skills in Settings, or through Manage skills in the Agent settings menu inside the agent panel.
Creating a skill
Create skill asks for four things: a Name, a Description (a short summary of what the skill does), the Instructions the agent should follow, and whether to Share with the organisation.
đĄNote: A skillâs Name and its organisation sharing cannot be changed after it is created. To change either, use Duplicate skill and set them on the copy.
In the skills table, Shared with organisation tells you which ones everybody can use, and Created by Alva marks the ones that come with the product - those are read-only.
Using one
Type / in the agent to list the skills available to you and pick one. They are marked Global for the skills that come with Alva and Organisation for the ones your organisation wrote. The agent can also reach for a skill on its own when your request matches its description - which is why the description is worth writing carefully.
Skills work the same way inside a workflowâs instructions. See Chatting with Alva Hiring Agent.
Telling the agent how to work with you
Agent personalisation is separate from skills, and has two tabs:
Custom instructions - one instruction applied to every response, in every conversation, up to 25,000 characters. Always answer in Swedish and keep responses concise is the kind of thing that belongs here.
Memory - facts the agent has picked up about you. Open one to see where it came from, and delete anything it should forget.
đĄNote: Use Custom instructions for anything the agent should always keep in mind. Memory is what it noticed on its own, and deleting an entry does not stop it from learning the same thing again.
Who can do what
Managing your own skills and your own personalisation comes with Use Alva Agent. Creating and editing skills the whole organisation shares needs Manage skills for the organisation. See An Introduction to Alva Hiring Agent.
Any Questions?
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