Adding a skill to the agent

Skills define what an agent can do at runtime. While knowledge gives the agent information to reference, skills allow it to take actions—such as calling APIs, executing code, querying databases, interacting with external systems, or invoking other agents.

This flow allows you to attach new capabilities to an agent directly from the Builder Canvas through the Add Skill to Agent workflow.

Understanding skills

Qore has seven kinds of skill. They differ in who provides them, how much you set up, and what they suit. Before adding a skill, find the kind that fits the job.

Kind	Where you add it	Provided by	What you set up	Use it when	Details
Built-in skills	Pre-attached Skills tab	Uptiq, on every agent	Nothing. Enable the ones you need	The agent needs the basics: reasoning, web search, knowledge search, code, files, and documents	General skills, Document skills
Skill Library skills	Skill Library tab	Uptiq	A form for each skill	The agent must reach your own systems or run your own logic: an HTTP API, code, an MCP server, or web crawling	Skill Library
MCP Marketplace servers	MCP Marketplace tab	Third parties, curated in the catalog	Connect the server	A catalog server already does the job, such as market data, SEC filings, search, or scraping	MCP Tools
Integrations	Add Integrations on the canvas, and Apps & Services	Integration Hub	Connect the service	The action involves a SaaS product with a pre-built connector, such as Stripe or Twilio	Apps & Services
Custom skills	Custom Skills tab	You	Upload a folder with a SKILL.md file	The agent should follow your own procedure or know-how, such as a house style or a review checklist	Custom skills
Flows	Flows tab	You, built in Flows	Choose a flow	The job is a fixed, multi-step process that should run as one step	Use flows with agents
Agents	Agents tab	You, as another agent in the project	Choose an agent	Another agent is better suited to part of the job, so this agent hands that part to it	Add another agent

Start with what already exists. Enable a built-in skill, or connect a catalog server or integration, before you configure or build your own. Built-in skills and connectors need the least setup.

If you are unsure where to begin, start with the Skill Library tab.

Add a skill to the agent

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Step 1—Open the Add Skill flow

From the Builder Canvas, select + Add Skill in the Skills section below the agent node.

Opening the Add Skill flow from the canvas.

This opens the Add Skill to Agent dialog.

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Step 2—Choose a skill source

The dialog is organized into multiple tabs to help you discover skills from different sources.

Tab	Description
All	Every skill from every tab
Skill Library	Skills by Uptiq that you configure for your own systems and logic: MCP Server, API Call, API Call Advanced, JavaScript Code, Python Code, Structured Data Query, Web Crawler, Document Extraction, and Document Summarizer. See Skill Library
Flows	Flows you can add to the agent as a skill. + Create Flow makes a new one; see Create a flow
Agents	Existing agents that you can reuse as sub-agents
MCP Marketplace	MCP servers, grouped by category. See MCP Tools
Custom Skills	Upload your own skill, a folder with a SKILL.md file and up to 10 supporting files. See Custom skills
Pre-attached Skills	The built-in General and Document skills, in two lists: Active Skills, and Skills you can add, each with an Enable button. See General skills and Document skills

Switching tabs automatically filters the available skill list.

Add another agent as a skill

The Agents tab lists the other agents in the project, each with its name and description. The agent you're editing isn't listed.

Selecting an agent attaches it straight away. There is no form or confirmation step. The agent appears in the canvas's Skills list as an Agent skill, and the skill count goes up by one.

The attached agent becomes a sub-agent. Like any skill, it's chosen by its description, so make sure each agent's description says what it's for.

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Step 3—Search for a skill

Use the Search Skills field to quickly filter skills by name or capability.

Search results are scoped to the currently selected tab.

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Step 4—Select the skill

Select a skill to open its configuration form.

Each skill card includes:

• Skill name
• Capability summary
• Skill type
• Author or provider attribution

The configuration experience varies depending on the selected skill type.

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Step 5—Configure and save

Configure the selected skill based on its runtime requirements.

Examples:

Skill	What you configure
API Call	URL, method, authorization, headers, query parameters, and input and output schemas. API Call Advanced adds a request body
JavaScript Code, Python Code	Name, description, timeout, code, and input and output schemas
MCP Server	Connection name and remote server URL, with optional OAuth client credentials and headers
Web Crawler	A Firecrawl MCP connection. Add your Firecrawl API key, or a $secret reference to it, to the pre-filled URL
Agent	Agent selection and invocation configuration

For every Skill Library skill, see Skill Library.

Secrets and variables can be referenced dynamically using:

• $secret.{name}
• $agent.{name}

This enables reusable and secure runtime configuration.

What happens after adding a skill

Once saved, the skill becomes available to the agent during runtime execution.

The agent planner can now decide when to invoke the skill based on the incoming user request and the agent instructions.

The Builder Canvas and Agent Config views are also updated to reflect the newly attached capability.

Common issues and troubleshooting

The agent does not use the skill

Possible causes:

• The agent instructions do not describe when the skill should be used
• The skill description is too generic or unclear
• Another skill is being prioritized by the planner

Improving the skill description and refining agent instructions usually resolves this.

The skill fails during runtime

Check:

• Authentication and credentials
• Endpoint configuration
• MCP server availability
• Runtime syntax or dependency errors

Use Monitoring and execution traces to inspect failures in detail.

An MCP server won't connect

• It fails at Next on an OAuth server: the server may not support dynamic client registration. Enter the OAuth Client ID from its OAuth app under Advanced Settings.
• The sign-in pop-up didn't open: select Connect to Authorize.
• Every tool call fails as unauthorised: the server may expect client credentials. Turn on Authenticate M2M (OAuth client credentials) and reconnect.
• It shows Initialize: it was imported without its credentials. Select Initialize and enter them.

See MCP Tools.

The required skill cannot be found

Try switching to the All tab to search across every source.

If the capability does not exist yet, create it through Custom Skills or connect it via MCP integrations.

Why skills matter

Skills are the operational layer of the agent runtime.

Without skills, agents can only generate responses. With skills, agents can execute workflows, retrieve live data, interact with systems, automate tasks, and orchestrate multi-step business actions.

The most effective agents combine:

• Strong knowledge sources
• Well-defined instructions
• Carefully selected runtime skills

This combination enables agents to move beyond conversational responses into real operational execution.

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Maintained by Abhishek Paul AI-assisted, human-approved