> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.tellius.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.tellius.com/kaiya/kaiya-skills/how-to-create-a-new-skill.md).
# How to create a new Skill
The **Skills & Context** area is where you see and manage everything Kaiya uses to reason about your business. You reach it from the tab bar at the top of the page: **All layers**, **Skills**, **Phrase learning**, **Query learning**, and **Memory**.
### The four context layers
The left-hand **Context Layers** panel lists the four layers that feed Kaiya's reasoning for a request, ordered from the foundational platform instructions through to your own tenant's skills.
### System Prompt (read-only)
The **System Prompt** layer holds the base instructions Kaiya uses when planning and summarizing. It is read-only reference and is divided into two sub-layers:
* **Implementation Layer:** the core entries that make Kaiya operate correctly, such as *Agentic Insights – Planner*, *Agentic Insights – Workflow Planner*, *Agentic Insights – Summary*, *Agentic Insights – WebSearch*, and *CMS – Anchor Decision*.
* **Behavioural Layer:** Kaiya's default behaviour across the platform.
Selecting any entry opens a read-only view with a short description and the full instruction text shown as a numbered, scrollable block with a line count and a **Copy** button. You cannot edit anything in this layer from this page.
### Business View Context (read-only)
The **Business View Context** layer holds the schema, grain, and vocabulary passed to Kaiya with each active Business View. Selecting a Business View opens a read-only view. The content block shows that Business View's tables, measures, dimensions, and any model-specific notes (including warnings such as the data engine in use. Like the System Prompt, this layer is reference only) it is set by the workspace and cannot be edited here.
#### Domain Skill (curated by Tellius)
A **Domain Skill** holds industry-specific rules and sensible defaults for a vertical. Only super users can change it; everyone else sees it as read-only. A Domain Skill is made up of a **Description** and one or more **Sections** (covered in detail below). Its lifecycle is shown with a **Live** badge and a **Revert to draft** button.
#### Anatomy of a domain skill
A domain skill has:
* **Name:** the name of the domain skill.
* **Description:** a single line describing what the skill does.
* **Sections:** one or more sections, each with its own name, description, and detail.
#### What a section is
A **section** breaks a domain skill into the distinct things it teaches Kaiya.
When you click **Add section**, a **New section** is created in place with its own editable **Name**, its own **Description**, and its own **Detail** body (markdown). You author this content directly inside the domain skill.
#### Create a domain skill
1. Click on **New skill**.
2. Under **Layer**, choose **Domain Skill** (*Curated by Tellius · super only*).
3. Enter a **Name** for the skill.
4. Write the **Description** one line on what the skill does (placeholder: *"Describe what this skill does…"*).
5. Click **Add section**, give the section a name, and fill in its **Description** and **Detail**. Click **Done** to collapse it. Repeat for each distinct thing the skill should teach. Before you add any, the area reads *"No sections yet — add the sections that hold this skill's rules and vocabulary."*
6. Click **Create Skill** to save, or **Cancel** to discard.
{% hint style="warning" %}
Domain skills are **editable by super users only**. Other roles can read them but cannot create or change them.
{% endhint %}
#### Custom Skill (your tenant's own)
A **Custom Skill** captures your organization's own vocabulary, preferences, and business rules. The detail header shows the skill's lifecycle state, when it was last updated, and the context it is associated with — for example, *Live · updated 5h ago · Chest*. A Custom Skill is made up of a **Description**, a **Detail** body, and one or more **Labels** (covered below).
#### Anatomy of a custom skill
Each custom skill has the following parts:
* **Name:** a short name for the skill
* **Description:** a single line stating when and why the skill applies
* **Detail:** the actual instructions Kaiya follows when the skill applies. It accepts markdown and is shown as a numbered block with a line count and a **Copy** button.
* **Labels:** one or more routing tags that control which parts of Kaiya receive this skill (auto-generated by Kaiya after you publish a Skill).
#### Labels
Labels control routing. They determine which Kaiya pipeline steps receive a skill's detail when they run.
Labels are auto-generated: when you write a skill's details and description, Kaiya reads them and assigns the labels it judges relevant. You can then **override** the result with the checkboxes: adding or removing labels yourself. For example, a skill described as applying to PDF exports is auto-tagged **PDF Export**, which you can confirm or change.
Open the dropdown to see the options:
* **Simple Analysis:** routes the skill to the standard, single-step analysis path.
* **Chart Generation:** routes the skill to the chart-building step.
* **Summary Generation:** routes the skill to the result-summary step.
* **PPT Export:** routes the skill to the PowerPoint export step.
* **PDF Export:** routes the skill to the PDF export step.
* **DOCX Export:** routes the skill to the Word export step.
* **Deep Analysis:** routes the skill to the multi-step Deep Insights analysis path.
* **Deep Summary:** routes the skill to the Deep Insights narrative-summary step.
* **Default:** applies the skill to all prompts in the engine, rather than to one specific step. This is the broad, always-on routing; every other label targets a single capability.
Select one or more options using the checkboxes. Each selected label appears as a removable chip, and you remove one by clicking the × on its chip.
#### Create a custom skill
1. Click on **New skill**.
2. Under **Layer**, choose **Custom Skill** (*Your tenant's own*).
3. Enter a **Name** for the skill.
4. Write a one line description on what the skill does and when it applies
5. Fill in the **Detail:** the rules, vocabulary, and routing the skill should follow. It accepts markdown with YAML front-matter
6. Click **Create Skill** to save, or **Cancel** to discard. While you are creating it, the skill appears in the left list as **Untitled skill** with a **NEW** tag.
{% hint style="success" %}
Skills move through two states: Draft and Live. A live, published, active skill, shown with a green dot in the left list and a **Live** badge in the detail view. Use **Revert to draft** to pull a Live skill back into draft state for editing.
{% endhint %}
{% hint style="info" %}
Enabled skills are matched and **applied automatically** during a Kaiya conversation, based on each skill's description and label routing, in the same way Phrase learning, Query learning, and Memory are applied. To see which skills and other context were used in a given answer, open the **thought process** dropdown on that Kaiya response.
{% endhint %}
When more than one layer applies to the same request, they resolve in this order:
**Custom Skill › Domain Skill › Behavioural Layer**, with the **Implementation Layer** as the foundation that is never overridden by a skill.
{% hint style="info" %}
Skills are selected by matching their description to the query intent, then routed by their auto-generated label to the relevant engine path. For **Deep Insights**, skills are scoped to the planner only. The SQL executor and summary generator run with skills disabled, so any downstream change results from the changed plan rather than those steps reading a skill.
{% endhint %}
### How Domain Skills and Custom Skills relate
The difference between custom and domain skills are how they are organized and who owns them:
* A **Custom Skill** is a skill at the **custom level:** your tenant's own, authored directly in the Custom Skill layer.
* A **Domain Skill** is a namespace (an organizing container) at the domain level, curated by Tellius. The **sections** inside a domain skill are themselves skills at the domain level. The same underlying object type as a custom skill, grouped under the domain skill's name.
Each skill stays self-contained. Grouping sections under a domain skill organizes them.
---
# Agent Instructions
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## Querying This Documentation
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```
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