You don't need a developer to create a skill in SharePoint. You describe what you want; the AI proposes the skill; you accept, edit, and use.
Takeaway 1
Skills are best created inside SharePoint — the agent understands context that external editors don't.
Takeaway 2
You create skills with conversational utterances. The AI proposes, you accept or refine.
Takeaway 3
Edits are conversational too — "make it 10 words instead of 5" rewrites the skill instantly.
What is a Skill — and Why Make It Here?
A skill is a reusable, named instruction that the SharePoint agent can run on demand. You define what the skill does once. From then on, any matching user utterance triggers it. Think of it as a saved macro that the AI can read, edit, and improve.
The author prefers building skills inside SharePoint, not in an external editor. The in-app agent already knows the site's lists, libraries, and permissions — so it can offer richer suggestions and check feasibility as it builds.
You can still edit the resulting skill file directly to add deeper context — special phrasing, edge cases, formatting rules — but the starting point is a conversation, not a file.
"Skills are written like code, in an IDE somewhere." They're written in natural language, inside the chat panel of the SharePoint site that will use them. The skill file is a byproduct of the conversation, not the place you start.
The Create-a-Skill Utterance
To create a new skill, you simply say "create a skill called name that does this thing." In the demo: "Create a skill called super simplify. Should take all the given text, summarize it down to no more than five words." The agent recognizes the intent, proposes a skill, and shows you a preview before saving.
The create-a-skill utterance is intent-based, not template-based. You describe the behaviour in your own words and the agent fills in the trigger, the system prompt, and any helper instructions.
If the proposal isn't quite right, you go back and forth — "make it shorter," "trigger on 'tldr' too," "don't strip punctuation." Each clarification updates the proposal. When it looks right, the agent saves the skill and it becomes available immediately.
Editing a Skill In Place
Once a skill exists, you can edit it the same way you created it. "Edit the super simplify skill to make it 10 words instead of 5." The agent finds the skill, updates the relevant instruction, saves, and confirms. Next call uses the new rule.
Edits are reversible and atomic. You don't have to re-create the skill or worry about syntax — just tell the agent what you want changed.
Behaviour shifts immediately. In the demo, the author tests with "super simplify Charles Dickens," and the response respects the new 10-word cap. No deploy step, no version cutover.
"I'll break the skill if I edit it." You won't. The agent guards the schema; it edits the human-language section. If something does go wrong, the skill still exists — you can simply ask to revert or re-describe what you want.
Listing What You Have
"What skills do you have installed?" returns the catalogue — every skill in the current site, with a short description for each. Use this when you forget what's available, or when you're handing off the site to someone else.
The skill list is itself a conversational query. You don't need to open an admin panel — just ask, in chat, and the agent enumerates.
For deeper detail, you can also ask the agent to write a Markdown reference of every installed skill — turning the live catalogue into a saved document. The author does exactly this in the demo, producing a "March 2026 admin skills reference" file with one prompt.
Flashcards — Foundations
01 · Foundations
AI Skill
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A named, reusable instruction the SharePoint agent runs when a matching utterance is detected. The author defines it in plain language inside the chat panel.
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01 · Foundations
Create-Skill Utterance
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A conversational prompt like "create a skill called X that does Y." The agent reads the intent and proposes a full skill the author can accept, refine, or reject.
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01 · Foundations
Edit Skill
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An in-place conversational edit — "make the super-simplify skill use 10 words instead of 5." The agent updates the skill file and the new behaviour applies on the next call.
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01 · Foundations
Skill Listing
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A conversational query — "what skills do you have installed?" — that returns the full per-site catalogue with a short description for each entry.