> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://partner-help.letsdothis.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Skills

> Teach Nova a multi-step workflow once, then run it any time with a single command.

<Info>
  Skills are available to everyone on your team who has access to Nova. If Nova
  doesn't appear in your dashboard sidebar, see [Getting started with
  Nova](/docs/nova/getting-started-with-nova).
</Info>

Skills are reusable workflows that Nova follows when completing a specific
task, especially one involving multiple steps or specific requirements. If you
find yourself giving Nova the same detailed request every week, such as a
referral report formatted a particular way, save it as a skill. From then on
you can run the whole workflow with a single command, and everyone gets the
same consistent output every time.

Skills are different from [custom instructions](/docs/nova/custom-instructions).
Instructions are background preferences Nova applies to every conversation.
A skill is a playbook for one specific task that Nova only uses when that task
comes up.

## Creating a skill

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Skills page">
    Click **Nova** in the dashboard sidebar, then **Skills**. The page shows
    **Your skills** (workflows you or your team have set up) and
    **From Let's Do This** (built-in skills that are ready to use).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click Create new skill">
    A panel opens with four fields:

    * **Name this skill.** A short, plain name for the workflow, up to 80
      characters.
    * **Shortcut.** The command you type in a chat to run the skill straight
      away, for example `referral-report`. Use lowercase letters, numbers, and
      hyphens, between 2 and 40 characters.
    * **When should Nova use this?** Describe the kind of workflow the skill
      should handle, and include words someone might use when asking. Nova
      reads this to detect when the skill is relevant. Between 20 and 500
      characters.
    * **What should Nova do?** Write out the steps Nova should follow. The
      more specific you are, the better the result. Up to 5,000 characters.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save the skill">
    Click **Save skill**. The skill is now live, and you can type its
    `/shortcut` in any chat to run it.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Names and shortcuts must be unique across the skills you can see, so if a team
or built-in skill already uses a name, pick a different one. You can have up to
50 personal skills at a time.

### Let Nova draft it for you

You don't have to write a skill by hand. Click **Create one with Nova** in the
create panel, or just ask Nova in a chat to help you make a skill. Nova may
also offer to save a workflow as a skill after you finish a multi-step task
together. When it does, a **New skill** card appears in the chat and you choose
**Save skill** or **Skip**. Nothing is saved without your say-so.

## Using a skill in a chat

There are two ways a skill gets used:

* **Type its shortcut.** Type `/` at the start of the chat input to see a list
  of your skills with their descriptions. Pick one, or keep typing to filter.
  You can send the shortcut on its own to run the skill, or mention it inside a
  longer request.
* **Let Nova pick it.** Nova automatically uses a skill when your request
  matches its description. That's why a clear "When should Nova use this?"
  field matters.

When Nova uses a skill, the response shows a "skill used" note with the skill's
name, so you always know when a saved workflow shaped the answer. Once a skill
is active in a conversation, Nova keeps following it for your follow-up
messages in that thread. Nova can use up to 5 skills in a single response.

## Sharing a skill with your team

New skills are personal by default. Only you see them. To make one available to
everyone, open the skill's menu on the Skills page and choose
**Share with team**. Everyone in your organization can then use it in their
Nova chats, and anyone on your team who manages skills can edit or archive it.
Sharing moves the skill rather than copying it, so it stops being a personal
skill.

Each person on your team can turn any shared or built-in skill off for
themselves with **Disable for you** in the skill's menu. That only affects
them. The skill stays available to everyone else.

## Editing and archiving

Open a skill's menu and choose **Edit** to change any field. Built-in skills
from Let's Do This can't be edited, but you can disable them for yourself.

To remove a skill, choose **Archive**. Nova stops using it, but nothing is
deleted, and you can restore it from the **Archived skills** section later.
Archiving a team skill affects everyone on your team, so the confirmation
dialog will warn you first. If someone claimed the skill's name or shortcut
while it was archived, the restored skill gets a numbered variant of its old
name so nothing clashes.

## If a save is rejected

**What happens:** you see a `Skill text rejected` message when saving.

**Why:** every skill is checked for text that reads like an attempt to change
how Nova fundamentally behaves, such as instructions to ignore its guidelines
or pretend to be something else. Occasionally a legitimate phrase can trip
this check.

**What to do:** reword the flagged part in plain terms, describing the task
rather than instructing Nova to take on a new persona, and save again.

## If someone edited the skill at the same time

**What happens:** you see an `Out of date` message when saving, and the skill
list refreshes.

**Why:** a teammate changed the skill after you opened it, and saving would
have overwritten their edit.

**What to do:** reopen the skill and apply your change on top of the latest
version.