Skills

Some things you ask for the same way every time: a weekly report in a particular format, a code review against your team's checklist, a summary in your house style. A skill captures that once, so you can invoke it instead of describing it.

What a skill is

A skill is a set of instructions, and optionally reference files, that tells Dropstone how to do a specific kind of task. When a task matches, Dropstone loads the skill and follows it.

A skill is different from memory. Memory is what Dropstone learns from you as you go, applied automatically. A skill is something you author deliberately, for a defined job, and invoke when you want it.

Using a skill

Open Skills from the sidebar to see what is available. Skills you have created and skills provided by Dropstone are listed together.

In a conversation, ask for the task and name the skill if you want to be explicit:

You:  use the weekly-report skill on this data

Dropstone can also pick a skill on its own when a request clearly matches one.

Creating a skill

Open Skills, then Skill Studio. Give the skill a name and a short description of when it applies, then write the instructions. Be specific about the output you want: the format, the sections, the tone, what to leave out.

You can attach reference files to a skill, a template, an example of the finished result, a style guide, and Dropstone will use them.

Test the skill in a conversation, refine the instructions, and it is ready. Skills are private to your account.

Skills and memory together

The two reinforce each other. A skill says how to do the task. Memory says how you like things done in general. Dropstone applies both: it follows the skill's structure, and it follows your standing rules within it.

If you find yourself correcting the same thing every time a skill runs, put that correction into the skill's instructions.