#Skills — Reusable Playbooks Your AI Can Run

A skill is a saved playbook your AI can follow — a repeatable way to do something useful with your stuff, like filing a document, tracking what's expiring, or formatting a list for printing. You don't have to re-explain the steps each time. Just ask, and the assistant reaches for the right skill.

Skills come in two flavors: a starter set that everyone gets, and your own, which you can add. Both live together in your Skills folder.

#What It Does

Skills turn "how do I get the AI to do X the way I like?" into "just ask." Each skill is a short set of instructions the assistant follows, using your inventory, documents, tags, and location. The assistant notices when a request matches a skill and runs it — or you can ask for one by name.

Because skills are just instructions (not code), they're transparent: you can read exactly what a skill does, and edit your own.

#The Starter Set

Everyone starts with three first-party skills:

• Auto-Filer — drop in a receipt, warranty, manual, or photo of paperwork and it gets classified, retitled, summarized, tagged, and filed in the right folder.
• Renewals & Warranty Watch — scans your documents and inventory for expiry, renewal, and warranty-end dates, builds one sorted list, and sets reminders ahead of each.
• Print / Share Pack Formatter — formats any collection or set of documents into a clean, print- or share-ready layout (checklist, table, grouped by location, with or without photos and values).

These are read-only — they stay up to date automatically and you can't change them. (You can always add your own version alongside.)

#How to Use It

#iOS App & Web

The easiest way: just ask in chat.

• "I just added a receipt — can you file it?" → runs Auto-Filer.
• "What do I need to renew soon?" → runs Renewals & Warranty Watch.
• "Format my Garage collection for printing." → runs Print / Share Pack Formatter.

Or browse them:

• "What skills can you run?" → the assistant lists everything available to you (the starter set plus any you've added).

#Adding Your Own Skill

You own your Skills folder, so you can add your own playbooks:

1. Ask the assistant to "create a new skill" (or write a markdown document in your Skills folder).
2. Give it a clear name and a one-line description of when to use it, then the steps you want followed.
3. From then on, "run my <skill name>" — or just describe the task — and the assistant follows your steps.

Your own skills are private to you. The starter set is shared with everyone; your additions are yours.

#Using Your Skills in Claude or ChatGPT

Your skills travel. If you connect ambientChat to Claude or ChatGPT (via the MCP integration — see "MCP Tools"), those assistants can list and run your skills too, working against your real inventory and documents.

#Tips & Tricks

• Be specific in a skill's description. The description is how the assistant knows when to reach for it. "Use when I drop in a receipt or warranty" triggers far more reliably than "filing."
• Let it suggest. You usually don't need to name a skill — describe the task and the assistant picks the right one.
• Read before you trust. Ask "show me the Auto-Filer skill" to see exactly what it does.

#Known Limitations

• Skills are instructions, not code. They guide the assistant through steps using your existing tools; they don't run custom scripts or generate pixel-perfect files (that's coming later). For most everyday tasks, instructions are all you need.
• The starter set is read-only. You can't edit the first-party skills — but you can create your own version with the changes you want.
• Quality depends on your data. A filing or renewals skill can only work with the documents and items you've added.

#Version History