Skills Overview

Skills are JavaScript functions that extend your AI agent's capabilities. When deployed, they become available as tools that the AI can invoke during conversations.

Based on the official Skills documentation: Skills Overview - Cloodot

What Are Skills?

Skills are custom JavaScript/TypeScript functions that enable AI agents to:

• Fetch and present data (informational)
• Perform operations that change state (action)
• Present interactive UI for continued interaction (interactive)

Skill Types

Informational Skills

Fetch and return data without side effects.

Examples:

• Weather lookup
• Stock prices
• Knowledge base search
• Inventory check

Characteristics:

• Read-only operations
• No external state changes
• Fast execution
• Return data to display

Action Skills

Perform operations that change external state.

Examples:

• Create calendar events
• Send emails
• Update CRM records
• Process orders

Characteristics:

• Modify external systems
• Require configuration/credentials
• May have side effects
• Return confirmation/results

Interactive Skills

Present UI elements for continued user interaction.

Examples:

• Multi-step forms
• Approval workflows
• Guided tutorials
• Customer surveys

Characteristics:

• Collect user input
• Enable ongoing conversation
• Dynamic response generation
• Maintain interaction state

Tool Call Flow

When a user requests an action, skills execute through this flow:

1. Tool Discovery

   • AI agent analyzes available skills
   • Examines skill parameters and descriptions

2. Parameter Extraction

   • Agent extracts relevant data from conversation context
   • Maps user request to skill parameters

3. Skill Invocation

   • Platform executes the skill with extracted parameters
   • Runs in isolated sandbox environment

4. Response Processing

   • Output is validated and formatted
   • Errors are captured and returned

5. Context Integration

   • Results are integrated back into the conversation
   • AI generates appropriate response to user

When Skills Are Called

Skills are triggered in these scenarios:

• User Request: User explicitly asks for an action ("book a meeting", "check inventory")
• Contextual AI Decision: AI determines that invoking a skill would help resolve the conversation
• UI Interaction: User clicks skill-related buttons or carousels
• Future: Scheduled or event-driven executions (planned feature)

Skill Context

When a skill executes, it receives rich context about the conversation:

{
  "conversationMetadata": {
    "id": "conv_12345",
    "participantInfo": "customer details",
    "channelType": "whatsapp"
  },
  "organizationContext": {
    "settings": "org settings",
    "timezone": "America/New_York",
    "customFields": {}
  },
  "messageHistory": "recent messages for context",
  "userProfile": {
    "contactInfo": "customer info",
    "preferences": "user preferences"
  }
}

This context enables skills to provide personalized, relevant responses.

Key Concepts

Skill Definition

A skill definition includes:

• slug: Unique identifier (alphanumeric + underscores)
• name: Display name
• description: What the skill does
• prompt: How to describe it to the AI
• definition: JavaScript/TypeScript code with handler function
• parameters: Input schema expected from AI
• response: Output schema returned to AI
• buttons: Optional quick action buttons

Handler Function

All skills require a handler function:

async function handler(input) {
  const { config, parameters, context } = input
  
  // Your skill logic here
  
  return {
    message: "Response to AI",
    // ... other fields
  }
}

Input Structure

{
  config: Record<string, any>           // Configuration values
  parameters: Record<string, any>       // Input from AI tool call
  context: {
    conversationId?: string
    organizationId?: string
    // ... organization context
  }
}

Advanced Topics

Skill Development

• Creating Skills - Step-by-step guide to building your first skill
• Skill Schema - Understand skill definition format and validation rules
• Best Practices - Design patterns, optimization, and advanced techniques

Integration & Deployment

• Skill Sets - Organize skills into reusable Skill Sets
• AI Agent Configuration - Configure your agent to use custom skills
• MCP Servers - Connect skills to external services via MCP

Related Features

• Knowledge Base - Enhance skills with knowledge base integration
• Custom Fields - Use custom fields in skill parameters and responses
• Integrations - Connect skills to external APIs and services

Next Steps