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

# Skills

> Reusable, named instruction sets the agent follows — personal, org, and system skills.

A skill is a reusable, named set of instructions that Swan can follow — a written-down way of doing something, so you (or anyone in your org) don't have to re-explain it every time. Skills show up in the dashboard under Skills ([agent.getswan.com/skills](https://agent.getswan.com/skills)), and Swan can also load and follow one during a conversation or a trigger run.

## Three kinds of skills

* **Personal skills** — visible only to you. When you create a skill ([agent.getswan.com/skills/new](https://agent.getswan.com/skills/new)) and mark it personal, it lives in your own space (shown in the UI as your personal skills workspace, filterable with `?scope=personal`) and can only be used in your own conversations and personal triggers.
* **Org skills** — shared across the whole organization. Any org member can see and use them; they're the default kind unless you mark a skill personal (filterable with `?scope=org`).
* **System skills** — provided by Swan itself, shared across every organization. They're read-only: you can't edit or delete them, but Swan can load and follow them. System skills aren't shown in the Skills page — they work in the background rather than as something you browse. New orgs also ship with a small set of default org skills (for example, a company-qualification skill) that you can see and edit like any other org skill.

## Nesting

A skill can have sub-skills nested under it — useful for breaking a large playbook into sections (an overview skill with detailed sub-skills for specific scenarios). Sub-skills aren't loaded automatically with the parent; Swan fetches them by name or ID when the parent skill's instructions call for it.

## Editing and permissions

Editing skills — creating, updating, or deleting any skill (personal or org) — is restricted to **Admins** by default. Members can view org and personal skills but can't create or modify them unless an Admin grants that permission (see [roles and permissions](../administration/roles-and-permissions)). Marking a skill "personal" controls who can *see and use* it, not who can *edit* it.

Every edit to a skill's instructions is versioned with a change summary, and past versions can be reviewed and restored from the skill's page in the UI (`https://agent.getswan.com/skills/{skillId}`).

## Skill vs. trigger vs. memory

These three get confused because they all shape agent behavior, but they answer different questions:

* A **[skill](skills)** is a reusable *how-to* — instructions for performing a task, invoked by name.
* A **[trigger](../triggers/how-triggers-work)** is an *automation* — a source (a schedule, a webhook, a CRM event) plus instructions plus toolkits, running unattended. A trigger's instructions can reference a skill to reuse existing know-how instead of repeating it.
* **[Memory](memory)** is freeform *facts*, not instructions — notes Swan should remember, not steps it should follow.

If you find yourself repeating the same instructions across multiple triggers or conversations, that's the signal to turn them into a skill instead. Swan applies the same principle itself: when it gets something working that took figuring out — like a [direct API integration](../integrations/direct-api-access) — it documents the working recipe as an org skill so later runs and teammates reuse it.

## Common questions

**Can I turn a personal skill into an org skill, or vice versa?**
Skill visibility is set when it's created. Ask an Admin to recreate the content under the scope you need if you want to change it.

**Can members create their own personal skills?**
By default, creating and editing any skill — personal or org — requires Admin permissions. Ask your Admin to make the skill for you, or to grant your role skill-management permission.

**Are system skills something I need to manage?**
No — they're maintained by Swan and applied automatically where relevant. You can't edit or delete them.

**Can I reorder skills in the sidebar?**
No — skills are listed in creation order (newest first); there's no manual sort or drag-and-drop ordering.

**How is a template different from a skill?**
A [template](templates) is a ready-made play you install to create your own trigger or skill. Once installed, it becomes a normal org or personal skill/trigger that you can edit like any other.

**Does a skill know how well it's performing?**
No — a skill can't see its own usage or performance metrics while running. That data, where available, lives in analytics.