Teach a new skill
How do I teach Sydekick a new skill?
You teach a skill by describing the job in plain English, the way you would brief someone new. Open Sydekick → Skills, then Teach a new skill. The form turns your sentence into a name, some trigger phrases and a set of instructions, shows you all three to correct, and offers a practice run before anything is saved.
Key facts
| Where it lives | Sydekick → Skills → Teach a new skill |
| Steps | Describe it, check Here is what I understood, keep or change the approval switch, optionally Try it first, then Save it |
| Nothing is saved until | You select Save it. Continue, Modify and Try it first save nothing |
| Practice run | Runs your draft once on real data and spends credits; writes and sends are previewed, not performed |
| Saving | Takes about fifteen seconds and restarts your agent |
| Names | Lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens |
| After saving | You can Put it on a schedule, View the skill or choose Not now |
Steps
Open Sydekick → Skills and select Teach a new skill.
In What should it do?, describe the job, then select Continue.
Check Here is what I understood. Edit the Name, the Trigger phrases (comma separated) and How it will do it.
Leave Ask my approval before anything goes live on unless you trust the skill completely.
Select Try it first to watch a practice run, then Yes, save this skill if it came out right, or Adjust it to change it. Or select Save it straight away.
Wait about fifteen seconds while the agent restarts. When the page says the skill is ready, say one of its trigger phrases in chat or pick it from the skill selector.
If the skill should apply to a client that already has its own skill list, choose that client in the top bar on the Skills page and switch the new skill on.
Describe the job, don't script it
Write the outcome and the shape of it: "Every Monday, check each client's Google listing for missing hours or a missing phone number and draft a short summary of what needs fixing." You do not need to name tools or spell out steps.
There are three other ways in. Ready-made briefs sit under Or start from one of these., grouped like the library (Reviews, Posts and social, Listings). If your team or clients keep asking for something your assistant does not handle, Suggested for you on the Skills page turns it into a brief. And the skills directory lists skills published for other AI agents, which carry over only as a starting point you must adapt. Choosing any of them fills this box for you to edit.
Check what it understood
Continue does not save anything. It turns your sentence into three editable fields, with your original sentence kept above them so you can compare.
Read this as a first draft, not a plan. The name and the trigger phrase are taken from the opening words of your brief, and How it will do it starts out as your own sentence, so a rambling brief produces a clumsy name and a phrase nobody would say out loud.
- Trigger phrases are what people type in chat to run this. Give it two or three natural ones, comma separated, such as "listing gaps, check listings for gaps", not the auto-filled slug.
- How it will do it is the actual instruction. Rewrite it as steps if the job has an order.
Modify takes you back to the brief.
Leave the approval step on
The switch Ask my approval before anything goes live is on by default and says why: "Everything it produces waits in Approvals for your yes." Turn it off and the product warns, plainly: "It will publish without asking. Only turn this off once you trust it."
That choice is written into the skill's instructions rather than kept as a separate setting, so it travels with the skill. After you save, it lives in the instruction text: you change it by editing that text under Change it, not by finding a switch. It is an instruction to the agent, not a hard stop, so when you first put a new skill to real work, check that its output actually turned up in Inbox → Approvals rather than assuming it did.
Watch it try before you save
Try it first runs the skill once, below the form, under Watch it try. While it runs the page says it is running a practice; afterwards it shows This practice used N credits. A real run will differ., the steps it took, and What it produced marked Preview, with the line Nothing was sent, published or saved. Then it asks Did that come out right? with Adjust it and Yes, save this skill.
A practice run is not free and not entirely harmless. It reads your real data, runs real lookups, and spends credits. What it does not do is publish or send: tools that write or post show a preview instead, and a tool that cannot preview fails rather than acting. Point it at a single client rather than the whole account to keep the credits low. Practice runs are not available to client-scoped team members. See agent credits and usage.
Saving restarts your agent
Save it takes about fifteen seconds, and the screen says so: "The first save for a new skill restarts your agent, so it takes about fifteen seconds." Wait for it rather than reloading. When it comes back the page reads <name> is ready: say one of the trigger phrases in chat, or pick the skill from the selector.
Two failures are worth recognising. "Created, but your instructions could not be written, so it does not do what you described yet. Open it and use Change it." means the skill exists but does nothing yet. "Created, but your agent could not restart, so it will not use this skill until it does." means it will not be used until the restart succeeds. A name that is already taken is refused; pick another.
The ready page asks Should it run on its own? with Put it on a schedule, which opens the playbook flow with your brief, View the skill and Not now. A skill has no schedule of its own: "Playbooks handle the when."
Make sure the right clients can use it
A new skill is available to a client only if that client has no list of its own, or if you switch it on for them. If a client already has some skills switched off on the Skills page, a skill you teach later is not added to their list. Choose that client in the top bar and switch the new skill on. See finding and understanding skills.
Changing it later
Open the skill and select Change it to edit its trigger phrases and instructions. Saving restarts the agent, and the page says Saved. Your agent is restarting to pick it up. Anyone on your team with access to the Skills page can teach or change skills, and a skill is shared across the agency: it shows as taught by a teammate to everyone else.
Skill, memory, or playbook?
The three are not interchangeable.
A skill
- Is
- a job it does when asked
- You get it by
- teaching it here
- Runs when
- you say a trigger phrase, or pick it in the composer
A memory
- Is
- a standing fact or preference it reads every time
- You get it by
- adding it under Agent → Memory
- Runs when
- never on its own — it shapes other work
A playbook
- Is
- a routine on a schedule
- You get it by
- creating one under Playbooks
- Runs when
- on its schedule, or when you run it
The form watches for this. Write something that reads like a preference rather than a job and it offers to save it as a memory instead.
What you'll see when it's done
- A skill on the Skills page, shown as taught by you, with the trigger phrases you set
- Its approval instruction in the skill's text
- The skill running when you say one of its phrases, with its drafts waiting in Inbox → Approvals
Watch out for
- Switching the approval step off is hard to undo. Edit the instruction text under Change it to put it back, and check the next real run.
- Names and phrases come from your first words. Rename the skill and rewrite the phrases before you save.
- Saving restarts the agent. It takes about fifteen seconds; wait for the ready page before you test the skill.
Questions people ask
Can I save a skill without trying it?
Yes. Save it is available straight after Continue. Trying first is optional, but it is the only way to see the output before the skill exists.
Can Sydekick create a skill for me from a conversation?
Teaching a skill is done with the form on this page. Try the new skill once before you rely on it.
Where does the approval choice go after I save?
Into the skill's instruction text. Open the skill and select Change it to read or change it.