Decide whether to create a skill
Evaluate whether a new skill improves Assistant outcomes for a specific workflow.
Before you create a new skill, validate that it improves Assistant's result for the domain and scenario you want to support. A skill is most useful when it makes a repeatable workflow work better or more consistently instead of restating behavior that already works well without extra instructions.
To measure the impact of a skill, compare repeated runs of the same prompt in the same project state with and without the skill. This determines whether the added instructions produce a measurable improvement in Assistant's responses or actions.
If the workflow depends on project-specific APIs or fragile multi-step operations, you might also consider whether the skill should reference supporting files or use static utility functions.
Prerequisites
Before you start, make sure you:
- Install and set up Assistant.
- Identify a specific workflow or domain scenario you want to improve.
Compare results with and without the skill
To evaluate whether you need a skill:
- Choose a specific domain and scenario you want to improve.
- Run the same prompt in the same project state at least three to four times without the skill.
- Run the same prompt in the same project state at least three to four times with the skill, or with the proposed additions to the skill.
- Compare the outcomes from both sets of runs.
- Confirm whether the skill produces an effective improvement.
A useful comparison focuses on whether the skill improves the quality or consistency of the outcome for the target workflow.
After you decide to create a skill, the next step is to add the skill files in one of the scanned locations. For more information, refer to Create skills from the filesystem.