# Skills

Last validated Nov 10, 2026

A skill is a packaged set of instructions, with optional supporting files, that a model loads when a task calls for it. Skills turn a workflow that you would otherwise explain in every conversation into a repeatable task. Aperture gives your organization one place to create, organize, and share skills, then delivers them to Aperture Chat and to any agent connected to Aperture over MCP.

Aperture works with three kinds of skills:

* **Personal skills** belong to one user. You create, import, and edit them in Chat, and only you can use them. Administrators can turn off personal skills for some users.
* **Library skills** come from your organization's skills library. Aperture administrators add sources to the library and decide who can discover each source. Users choose which of those skills to add to **Your skills**.
* **Built-in skills** ship with Aperture and appear under **Aperture** in Chat. The **Skill Creator** skill helps you write new skills in Chat.

Access to library skills is based on identity. A grant decides who can discover each source. The same visibility applies in Chat and in every agent that connects to Aperture.

## Use cases

Skills help teams share the way they work with AI instead of copying instructions between people and agents:

* **Share team practices**: Publish your team's review checklists, operating procedures, and writing guides as library skills so everyone works from the same instructions.
* **Adopt third-party skills safely**: Sync skills from a Git repository or a site that publishes skills, and approve each upstream change before your users receive it.
* **Use the same skills in every agent**: Add a skill once and use it in Chat and in any agent connected to Aperture over MCP that supports skills.
* **Limit skills to the right people**: Make a source visible to everyone, to specific groups, or only to yourself while you test it.
* **Track adoption**: Find out which skills people use, and where, from the **Skill Activity** page.

## Prerequisites

Before you can use skills, you need the following prerequisites:

* A running [Aperture gateway][docs-get-started].
* To use skills: a user account that can sign in to [Aperture Chat][docs-chat].
* To manage the skills library: the [Aperture admin role][docs-set-up-admin-access].
* To use library skills from an agent: an agent connected to the Aperture MCP endpoint, `/v1/mcp`. Refer to [Use Aperture with your tools][docs-use-your-tools].

## Get started

To share a skill with your organization, an administrator adds a source to the skills library and chooses who can discover it. Each user then adds the skills they want and uses them in Chat or in an agent.

### Step 1: Add a source to the skills library

An administrator adds a source from a Git repository or a site that publishes skills.

1. \[Missing snippet: aperture\_admin\_nav.mdx]
2. Select **Add source**.
3. Paste a link to a Git repository, a folder in a repository, or a site that publishes skills, then select **Find skills**.
4. Review the **Display name** and **ID**, then choose how updates arrive:
   * **Reviewed** (default): You approve each change first. Until then, users keep the version you approved.
   * **Trusted**: Changes in the source reach users automatically, within an hour.
5. Select **Continue**, choose which skills to add, then select **Continue** again.

### Step 2: Choose who can discover the source

In the **Visibility** step, choose who can discover the source's skills, then select **Add source**:

* **Everyone**: Everyone can discover these skills.
* **Only me** (default): Only you can discover these skills. Use this to test a source before you share it.
* **People and groups**: Specific people or groups.

Aperture saves your choice as a grant in the Aperture configuration. Nothing in the library is visible until a grant makes it visible.

### Step 3: Add the skill to Your skills

Each user chooses which visible skills to add.

1. Open [Aperture Chat][docs-chat] and select **Skills** in the sidebar.
2. Select the **Discover** tab. Skills are grouped by source, and built-in skills appear under **Aperture**.
3. Select **Add** next to the skill you want.

### Step 4: Use the skill

In Chat, type `/` at the start of a message or `$` anywhere in a message, then select the skill. The model can also load a skill on its own when its description matches the task.

In an agent connected to Aperture over MCP, your personal skills and the library skills you added are available without further setup. Agents that support skills over MCP list and load them. Built-in skills are available only in Chat.

## Common scenarios

The following guides cover tasks for users and administrators:

* [Use skills][docs-use-skills]: Find and add library skills, create personal skills, and use skills in Chat and in agents.
* [Manage skills][docs-manage-skills]: Add sources and collections, review updates, control who can discover skills, and monitor adoption.

## Resources

* [System connectors][docs-system-connectors]: The skill tools that agents and Chat use to list, inspect, and manage skills.
* [How grants work][docs-how-grants-work]: How Aperture evaluates grants, including the `skills` and `enable_skill_authoring` fields.
* [Chat sandbox][docs-chat-sandbox]: The isolated environment that skills such as **Skill Creator** use to run code.
* [Chat interface reference][docs-chat-reference]: The controls on the Chat **Skills** page.

## Limitations

Skills have the following limitations:

* Tagged devices can't use skills, even when a grant names their tag.
* Private repositories work only on `github.com`. An administrator connects GitHub in Chat to add one. Private sources are always reviewed, and Aperture checks them for updates only when an administrator selects **Check for updates**.
* Agents receive library and personal skills only if they support skills over MCP or MCP resources. Built-in skills are available only in Chat.
* Grants can only add access to skills. You can't use a grant to hide a skill that another grant makes visible.

[docs-chat-reference]: /docs/aperture/reference/chat#skills

[docs-chat-sandbox]: /docs/aperture/chat-sandbox

[docs-chat]: /docs/aperture/chat

[docs-get-started]: /docs/aperture/get-started

[docs-how-grants-work]: /docs/aperture/how-grants-work

[docs-manage-skills]: /docs/aperture/how-to/manage-skills

[docs-set-up-admin-access]: /docs/aperture/how-to/set-up-admin-access

[docs-system-connectors]: /docs/aperture/connectors/system-connectors#skill-tools

[docs-use-skills]: /docs/aperture/how-to/use-skills

[docs-use-your-tools]: /docs/aperture/use-your-tools