A skill is a workflow you give the agent: a name, a short description of when to use it, and the instructions the agent should follow. The agent can put a skill to use on its own when the task fits, or you can ask it to use a specific skill.
Skills are shared with everyone in the workspace. Once one person has worked out a good way to quality-check a bid, the whole team can follow the same approach.
Administrators can find skills under Library → Skills. Members can use skills through the agent, but cannot see the page for managing them.
Skills or AI instructions?
The two are easy to mix up, but they do different jobs:
AI instructions give the agent background, tone, preferences, and standing rules across tasks.
A skill is pulled in when the task fits. It's an approach for one kind of work, such as "review the compliance matrix" or "select reference projects".
Think of AI instructions as the house rules, and skills as the recipes.
Create a skill
Go to "Library" → "Skills".
Click "Create skill".
Give the skill a name. Use plain language — the name has to be unique, but it doesn't have to be technical.
Write a short description of when the agent should use the skill. This one matters: the description is what the agent reads when deciding whether the skill fits the task.
Write the instructions the agent should follow. Be concrete, and put the steps in order.
Click "Create". The skill is active from the start.
A workspace can have up to 50 active skills at a time. Deactivate a skill to free up space without deleting its content.
The description is what lets the agent find the skill on its own. "Check the compliance matrix before submission" works better than "Miscellaneous quality assurance".
How the agent uses the skill
The agent sees the name and description of every active skill, and pulls in the instructions when a task fits. You can also ask for one directly — "use the compliance matrix skill" is enough, you don't need to type a technical name.
The agent can read skills but not change them. Only workspace administrators create and edit skills. Skills are used through the agent, so contributors don't have them. Read more about roles and permissions.
Edit, deactivate, or delete
Click the three dots on the skill's row:
Edit — adjust the name, description, or instructions. The change is available to the team when the agent loads the skill again.
Deactivate — the skill stays, but the agent stops using it. Useful when an approach is outdated and you don't want to lose the content.
Delete — removes the skill for the whole workspace.
The list shows active skills by default. Choose "All" to see deactivated ones too — they're marked "Inactive".
Two skills you can copy
Create one skill at a time. Copy the name, description, and instructions into their respective fields. Adapt the content to the way your team works.
1. Check the bid against the requirements
Name: Check the bid against the requirements
Description: Use when we want to review a bid before submission and find requirements that lack a response or supporting documentation.
Instructions:
Identify which tender and bid the user wants to check. Ask if this is unclear.
Read the procurement documents and bid documents. State which sources you used.
Create a table with each requirement, its source, where it is answered, and anything missing.
Distinguish between missing answers, unclear answers, and unsupported claims. Write "needs clarification" when you do not have enough evidence to reach a conclusion.
Check that names, dates, and figures are consistent across the documents.
Summarise what the team should check first. Do not change documents until the user asks you to.
Example of use: "Use 'Check the bid against the requirements' on the bid I have open. Give me a list of what we need to follow up."
2. Select relevant reference projects
Name: Select relevant reference projects
Description: Use when we need to find documented projects that meet the reference requirements in a tender.
Instructions:
Read the tender's reference requirements. Identify requirements for subject area, scope, time period, and number of references.
Search the knowledge base for projects that may fit.
Create a short comparison showing each project, documented facts, the source, and the requirements the project may meet.
Do not invent contract values, dates, contact people, or delivery scope. Clearly mark missing information.
Suggest a selection and explain your choices. Ask the team to confirm the details before using them in the bid.
Example of use: "Use 'Select relevant reference projects' for this tender. Show me what information we are missing."
These examples give the agent a procedure to follow. They do not guarantee that every requirement will be found or every assessment will be correct.
Your own skills and built-in skills
Cobrief also includes built-in skills, including one for visualisation. These come with the agent and are managed by Cobrief. The list under Library → Skills shows the workspace's own skills.
Type / in the agent's message field to choose an available skill. You can also ask for it in plain language.
Tips
Start with one skill for the workflow you repeat most often.
Write the instructions like a recipe, with steps in order, rather than as one long paragraph.
Say what the agent should do when something is unclear — for example "flag claims that need verification" instead of letting it guess.
Keep skills small and specific. One skill per workflow works better than one big skill meant to cover everything.
If an approach is still being trialled, deactivate it rather than deleting it.