Skills
Reusable instructions agents can pull in on demand, grouped by where they live.
Skills are reusable instructions an agent pulls in on demand instead of you re-explaining a workflow in every conversation. Write (or install) a skill once, for "how we do code review here," "how to cut a release," "how to triage an incoming bug," and any agent that recognizes the task as relevant can load it automatically.
Manage skills from Settings → Extensions → Skills.
How skills get used
You don't invoke a skill by name in normal use. An agent reads each skill's description and decides on its own whether the current request matches, then pulls in that skill's instructions before it starts working. This is why a skill's description matters: it's the trigger condition the agent matches your request against, not just a label for you.
Skills are grouped by where they live:
- Global: skills you or your team have added, available in every project
- Built-in: ships with CDE, available everywhere by default
Use New skill to add your own.
Global
| Skill | What it does | When it's used |
|---|---|---|
find-skills | Discovers and installs agent skills relevant to what you're asking | When you ask what skills are available, or describe a workflow and want to see if a matching skill already exists before you write one |
Built-in
CDE ships a set of skills covering common repo and product workflows out of the box:
| Skill | What it does | When it's used |
|---|---|---|
customize-orgn | Creates or edits your Orgn configuration: agents, skills, plugins, and MCP servers | When you ask to add, change, or clean up any of your AI Customization settings |
frontend-ui-ux | Designs and implements polished user interfaces and experiences | When a task involves building or refining UI, even without an existing design to work from |
git-master | Handles commits and Git history work: staging, rebasing, and related operations | When you ask to commit, clean up history, or otherwise manage Git state |
grill-with-docs | Interviews you rigorously to sharpen a plan or design while producing supporting docs | When you want a plan or design pressure-tested before committing to it |
handoff | Compacts the current conversation into a handoff document for another agent | When you're switching agents or sessions and want the new one to pick up full context |
improve-codebase-architecture | Scans a codebase for architectural improvement opportunities | When you ask for a structural or architectural review, not just a bug fix |
prd-creator | Guides a structured product-requirements interview and produces a PRD | When you're scoping a new feature and want a proper requirements doc out of the conversation |
prototype | Builds a disposable prototype to validate state, logic, or interface ideas | When you want to test an idea quickly without committing to production-quality code |
tdd | Develops features and fixes bugs test-first, red-green-refactor | When you ask for a feature or fix and want tests written before the implementation |
to-spec | Turns the current conversation into a written specification | When a discussion has converged on an approach and you want it captured as a spec |
to-tickets | Breaks a plan or specification into dependency-aware, agent-ready tickets | When you have a spec or plan and need it split into actionable work items |
triage | Classifies and verifies issues and external pull requests | When you're going through an issue queue or reviewing incoming PRs and want them sorted first |
Built-in skills ship with the app and may be added, renamed, or removed across CDE releases, check Settings → Extensions → Skills for what's actually available in your version.
Next steps
- Agents: Origin Agent, subagents, and where skills fit in
- Plugins: install bundles that can add more skills
- Settings overview: the full settings map