Create & manage skills

In this help doc

Learn what Skills are and how to create, manage, and use them.

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Skills are reusable instructions that teach Notion AI how to complete a specific type of work. They’re written and maintained as Notion pages. You can mark any page as a skill and run it with Notion Agent whenever you need it.

  • Use skills for repeatable tasks like "Proofread," "Explain," or "Reformat."

  • Skills are pages, so you can organize and share them like any other page in Notion.

  • Notion Agent can also use your skills on its own when they're relevant to what you ask, so you don't always have to run them yourself.

  • Find and manage all your skills in the Skills tab of your Library.

When you select text on a page, the text selection menu includes built-in skills like Improve Writing, Proofread, Explain, and Reformat. Any skill you or your team has created can be added to the menu, replacing or supplementing the defaults.

To keep Notion AI fast and reliable, Business and Enterprise plans include a usage allowance for certain Notion AI features, including skills.

Use a skill when your task is:

  • Repeatable: You or your team does this often.

  • Contextual: It should run on a specific selection or page right now.

  • Consistent: You want the same structure or quality every time.

A simple rule of thumb is that if you’d copy and paste the same prompt twice, it's a good candidate for a skill.

  • Executive-ready rewrites (tone, length, format).

  • Turning meeting notes into action items or a recap email.

  • Converting drafts into a specific template (FAQ, PRD summary, spec skeleton).

  • Standardizing formatting across documents (bullets, headings, style).

  1. Go to Library in your sidebar and open the Skills tab.

  2. Select + Add a Skill.

  3. Create a new skill page.

Your Library can have several tabs, so the Skills tab may not be the first one you see. You can also get there from:

  • SettingsNotion AISkills.

  • In Notion Agent chat, type / to see your skills. Then, select See all skills in Library.

From any page, select ••• at the top, then select Use as a Skill.

You can also ask Notion Agent to mark a page as a skill for you. Skill pages show a banner at the top, so you can tell them apart from regular pages.

You can run skills automatically or from the editor by highlighting text, hovering over a block, or typing / next to content.

In chat with Notion Agent, type / to see a menu of all the skills you've added, or type / followed by the skill's name to run one directly.

Notion Agent can use your skills without you calling them by name. Describe what you need, and if a skill is a good fit, Notion Agent can use it automatically. Here's how it works:

  • Automatic use is on by default, so Notion Agent can start using a skill as soon as it's ready.

    • If you want a skill to only run when you ask for it, turn off the toggle next to Use automatically, either in the Skills tab of your Library or on the skill page.

  • A skill needs a description to run automatically, and only skills that live in a skills database have one. If your skill is a standalone page, add it to a skills database first. Learn more about skills databases below.

  • Notion Agent reads the description to decide whether the skill is a good match, so keep it clear and specific.

Select a body of text, then choose a skill from the text selection menu.

Only skills with the Add to text editor menu option turned on appear in these menus. You can manage this from the Skills tab in your Library. Your custom skills appear first, followed by the built-in defaults: Improve Writing, Proofread, Explain, and Reformat.

In the slash menu:

  • Type /skill next to content to browse your available skills. The slash menu only shows skills when there's content on the line, because a skill needs something to run on.

  • In chat with Notion Agent, you can also type / followed by the skill's name to go straight to a specific skill. This shortcut doesn't work on a page unless there's content next to it.

In the block menu:

  • Select the ⁚⁚ icon that appears when you hover over a block to open the block menu.

  • Select Skills.

  • Choose a skill to run it on that block.

Skills are available on text, headings (H1, H2, H3), quote, callout, bulleted list, numbered list, to-do, toggle, image, and synced blocks. Skills won't appear on empty blocks or block types not in this list. If you apply a skill to a block that has content nested inside it, the skill includes that nested content too.

A skills database gives your team one place to create and manage skills together. Every page you create in it becomes a skill automatically, and each skill gets a description property. Notion Agent reads that description to decide when to use the skill on its own.

  • Create a new page, select Database, then choose Skills (or Database - InlineSkills).

  • Or select + next to a teamspace name and choose the same option.

  1. Open the database and select •••More settings.

  2. Select Turn into Skills database.

This adds Description, Files, and Tags properties to the database. From then on, every page created in it becomes a skill.

Edit a skill

You can edit a skill from the text selection menu or the block menu.

To edit a skill's content from the text selection menu, hover over its name and select the pencil icon. You can also open a skill's page from its skills database to edit it.

Manage skills from your Library

  1. Go to Library in your sidebar, and open the Skills tab.

  2. From there, you can view your existing skills, add new skills, and open any skill page to edit it.

  3. To choose which skills appear in the text editor, the slash menu, and the block menu, select

    Add to text editor menu or Remove from text editor menu next to each skill page.

Manage skills from your text editor

Highlight any text, then select Manage Skills next to your skills in the menu.

  • The Library's Discover tab shows skill pages that others have shared with you, so you can browse what your team has built.

  • Found one you want? Select Enable for me to add it to your own skills. You'll see a confirmation as soon as it's added.

Because skills are pages, sharing works the same way it does for any other page in Notion.

  • If you share a skill with someone, they can run that skill once they have access to the skill page.

  • If they can edit the skill page, their edits will change the skill.

  • View skills you've created, skills shared with you, and skills in your workspace by going to Library in your sidebar and opening the Skills tab.

  • Shared skill pages behave like regular pages, so they also show up under Shared in your Library.

There are a few ways to remove a skill, depending on what you want:

  • Delete the skill completely: A skill is just a page, so you can move it to trash like any other page. This works for skill pages inside a skills database too. Keep in mind that deleting the page removes the skill for everyone who uses it.

  • Remove a skill you added: If you added a skill from the Discover tab and don't want it anymore, you can toggle it off in the Skills tab of your Library. This only removes the skill for your Agent. It stays available for everyone else.

  • Turn a skill page back into a regular page: Select ••• at the top of the page → Use with AI, then uncheck Use as AI skill. The page and its content stay right where they are. It just stops being a skill.

You can use your skills with other AI tools too:

  • Run skills on AI Meeting Notes: Open your Notion Agent from the face icon in the bottom corner of the meeting note page to see useful skills. Choose which Skills can appear on your meeting notes in SettingsNotion AISkills.

  • Download a skill: From a skill page, download it to a folder on your computer so local tools like Claude Code can use it.

  • Use your Notion Agent to help brainstorm or write skills.

  • Start with a common workflow you do weekly, like rewriting, recapping, summarizing, or formatting.

  • Write your skill like a strong prompt, including the goal, inputs, constraints, and desired output format.

  • Make output requirements explicit, like "return 5 bullets" or "include risks and next steps."

  • Keep the skill page short and link to longer references when needed.

  • Iterate over time by updating the skill page as you learn what works best.

  • Give each skill a clear description of what it does and when to use it. This helps Notion Agent pick the right skill on its own.


FAQs

Can Custom Agents use Skills?

Yes! Since skills are just pages, any Custom Agent with access to a skill page can use it. To set this up:

  • Open the Custom Agent.

  • Go to Tools and access, and add the skill page.

After that, the agent will follow the content of the skill page when it runs.

How are Skills different from instructions and Custom Agents?

  • Skills are on-demand actions you trigger when you need them, for a specific task or selection.

  • Agent instructions are persistent preferences that apply to every Notion Agent response (your "default mode").

  • Custom Agents are autonomous: they can run in the background, be triggered by events (like a schedule or a new page), and be shared with your team. Each Custom Agent has its own instructions and connections.

How can I remove a Skill?

To remove a skill, you can:

  • Delete the skill page by moving it to Trash. This removes the skill for everyone.

  • Turn off a skill you added by going to LibrarySkills and toggling it off. This removes the skill for you, but not for anyone else.

  • Turn a skill page back into a regular page by selecting ••• at the top of the page → Use with AI, then uncheck Use as AI skill. The page and its content stay right where they are. It just stops being a skill.

Why won’t my skill run automatically?

Automatic use only works for skills that live in a skills database, because that’s where the skill description is stored. Move your skill page into a skills database, then add a clear description. Automatic use turns on by default once the skill is in a skills database and has a description.

If you’d rather run the skill yourself, turn off automatic use in the Skills tab of your Library or on the skill page.


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