# How do I give my AI teammate new skills? (/connect/skills-and-plugins)



## What are Skills? [#what-are-skills]

Skills extend what your AI teammate can do. A teammate without any skills can still read and write messages, reason about text, and use its built-in knowledge — but it can't touch anything outside the conversation. Skills close that gap: they're what let a teammate search the web, run code, read a GitHub repository, send an email, or fetch data from an external API instead of just talking about doing it.

<LivePreview component="AssistantSkills" />

## Why Skills Matter [#why-skills-matter]

### The Problem: Knowledge Without Action [#the-problem-knowledge-without-action]

A teammate that can only reason from its training data and the conversation in front of it hits a ceiling fast. It can't check today's exchange rate, can't see the PR you just opened, can't look inside your codebase, and can't send the email it just drafted. Every one of those requires reaching outside the chat — which a model can't do on its own.

### The Solution: Scoped, Reviewed Actions [#the-solution-scoped-reviewed-actions]

A skill is a scoped grant of one specific capability, installed on one specific teammate. Instead of giving every teammate unrestricted access to everything, you install exactly the skills a given teammate's job requires — a coding teammate gets GitHub and a shell; a research teammate gets web search; a support teammate gets your ticketing tool. Each skill declares upfront exactly what it can access, so scope stays visible and reviewable rather than implicit.

## How Skills Work [#how-skills-work]

Skills can be installed from three sources:

* **Marketplace** — official and community-contributed skills, reviewed by Helio
* **GitHub URL** — install a skill directly from a public GitHub repository
* **Upload** — upload a skill package file

Each AI teammate manages its own skills — the same skill can be installed on multiple teammates (a GitHub skill on your Software Engineer AND your Code Reviewer, for example), but nothing is shared or granted automatically between them. To manage a teammate's skills:

1. Open your DM with them and click the **gear icon** in the header
2. Pick **Skills** in Teammate Settings

## Skill Categories [#skill-categories]

| Category                 | What's in it                        |
| ------------------------ | ----------------------------------- |
| **One-Person Company**   | Running a solo business end to end  |
| **Life Services**        | Everyday personal tasks and errands |
| **Developer Tools**      | Coding, testing, and dev workflows  |
| **Website Deployment**   | Building and shipping websites      |
| **Education & Learning** | Study, research, and teaching       |
| **Investment & Finance** | Markets, budgeting, and analysis    |
| **Content Creation**     | Writing, media, and design          |
| **News & Info**          | Feeds, monitoring, and briefings    |
| **Productivity**         | Notes, tasks, and planning          |
| **Office Collaboration** | Docs, sheets, and team tools        |
| **Business Operations**  | CRM, ops, and back-office           |
| **Data Analysis**        | Databases, spreadsheets, and BI     |
| **Knowledge & Learning** | Documentation and knowledge bases   |

## Real-World Use Cases [#real-world-use-cases]

Each of these is a real gap a skill closes, not a hypothetical:

* **Need current information?** A web search skill lets a teammate check something that changed after its training data ended, instead of guessing.
* **Need code touched?** A GitHub skill lets a teammate read a real repository, open a real PR, or check real commit history.
* **Need something sent?** An email skill lets a teammate send the message it drafted instead of handing you the draft to send yourself.
* **Need external data?** An API skill lets a teammate fetch live data from a third-party service directly into its reasoning.

## Benefits [#benefits]

| Benefit                 | Description                                                                                 |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Scoped                  | A skill is installed per-teammate, not workspace-wide — nothing gets access it doesn't need |
| Reviewed                | Catalog skills are curated and reviewed by Helio before listing                             |
| Transparent permissions | Every skill states upfront exactly what it can access                                       |
| Reusable                | Install the same skill on as many teammates as need it                                      |
| Flexible sourcing       | Helio's curated catalog, a public GitHub URL, or an attachment                              |

## Installing skills [#installing-skills]

Start an installation from:

* **Browse** — Helio's curated discovery catalog; each entry carries a direct GitHub source
* **GitHub URL** — ask the teammate to install a public repository directly
* **Attachment** — attach a skill archive in the DM and ask the teammate to install it

[Browse capabilities →](/connect/skills-and-plugins/browse-capabilities)

## Tips for Choosing Skills [#tips-for-choosing-skills]

| Tip                                               | Description                                                                                                 |
| ------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Read permissions before installing                | Check what the skill can access — network, files, external APIs — on its listing page before you install it |
| Match the skill to the job                        | Install only what a specific teammate's work actually requires, not everything available                    |
| Prefer the catalog when it exists                 | A catalog entry has been reviewed by Helio; a GitHub URL install has not                                    |
| Use GitHub URL for anything custom or in progress | Faster to iterate on your own skill before it's catalog-ready                                               |

## Common Questions [#common-questions]

**Can I install the same skill on more than one teammate?**
Yes. Skills are installed per-teammate, so the same skill — a GitHub skill, for example — can be added to as many teammates as need it.

**Does a skill need extra configuration, like an API key?**
Some do. There's no per-skill settings editor; instead you hand credentials to the teammate through the surface that fits: store an API key in the [Vault](/connect/vault) and grant access, connect an OAuth account under **Tools**, or just tell the teammate in conversation and it keeps the detail in [Memory](/ai-teammates/memory).

**Are skills installed from a GitHub URL reviewed by Helio?**
No. Only entries in Helio's curated catalog go through Helio's review process. Only install a GitHub skill from a repository you trust.

**Can I install a skill from a local file instead of the catalog or GitHub?**
Yes — attach the skill archive in your DM with the teammate and ask it to install it.

<Cards>
  <Card title="Browse capabilities" href="/connect/skills-and-plugins/browse-capabilities" description="Find a reviewed skill or plugin for the job." />

  <Card title="Install a skill" href="/connect/skills-and-plugins/install" description="Step-by-step installation for any skill source." />

  <Card title="GitHub skills" href="/connect/skills-and-plugins/github-skills" description="Install skills directly from a GitHub repository." />
</Cards>