Skills are instruction packages that teach agents how to handle new domains. Install a skill for code review, PDF processing, or spreadsheet analysis, and your agents immediately know how to approach those tasks, no coding required.
What skills do
Think of a skill as a set of expert instructions. When you install a "code review" skill, agents learn how to analyze code for bugs, suggest improvements, follow best practices, and produce structured review feedback. The skill tells the agent what to look for, what tools to use, and what steps to follow.
Skills can include:
- Structured instructions and workflows
- Templates and reference documents
- Helper scripts and tools
How agents use skills
When you start a conversation, the platform loads all available skills into the agent's context. The agent then applies them automatically when relevant.
For example, if you installed a PDF skill and say "Summarize this PDF," the agent uses the skill's instructions to extract text, identify key sections, and produce a structured summary. You don't need to say "use the PDF skill." The agent knows.
Skill scopes
Skills exist at three levels:
| Scope | Available to | Use case |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in | All agents, always | Core capabilities that ship with Frona |
| Shared | All agents in your instance | Skills you install from the registry |
| Agent-scoped | One specific agent | Specialized skills for a single agent |
Controlling which skills an agent uses
By default, agents can use all installed skills. You can restrict this in agent settings:
- All skills (default). The agent can use any built-in or shared skill.
- Specific skills. Only the skills you select are available.
- No skills. The agent relies only on its base capabilities.
This is useful when you want a focused agent. For example, a "Data Analyst" agent that only has data-related skills and doesn't get distracted by unrelated instructions.
Tips
- Start with shared skills. Most skills work well as shared (available to all agents). Only scope to a specific agent if you need strict isolation.
- Skills complement tools. Tools give agents capabilities (like running code). Skills give agents knowledge (like how to do a code review well). The best agents have both.
- Check for built-in skills first. Frona includes baseline skills out of the box. Browse the registry for more.
Next steps
- Installing & Managing Skills. Browse the registry and install skills.
- Creating & Configuring Agents. Control which skills each agent can access.