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.
You can also invoke a skill directly by typing / in the composer. Pick /weather Lisbon from the popover and the skill runs even if the agent wouldn't have picked it on its own. Skills authored with disable-model-invocation: true only appear in this / dropdown — they never auto-trigger. This is useful for specialist tools you want to consciously invoke. See Chatting with Agents for the slash-command UI.
Skill scopes
Skills exist at four levels. When more than one provides a skill of the same name, the most specific wins (agent, then personal, then shared, then built-in):
| Scope | Available to | Who installs it | Use case |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agent-scoped | One specific agent | You | Specialized skills for a single agent |
| Personal | Your agents | You (self-service) | Skills you install into your own library |
| Shared | Every agent on the server | Admins only | Skills made available to the whole instance |
| Built-in | Every agent, always | Ships with Frona | Core capabilities |
Personal skills are the default when you install something — they're scoped to your account and don't affect anyone else, so no admin rights are needed. Installing a skill at the Shared scope, where every user on the server gets it, is admin-only.
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
- Personal by default. Skills you install land in your own library, available to your agents only. A shared (server-wide) install, where everyone gets the skill, is admin-only. Scope to a specific agent when 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.