---
title: "About custom skills"
slug: "about-custom-skills"
updated: 2026-10-13T07:37:59Z
published: 2026-10-13T07:37:59Z
canonical: "help.gong.io/about-custom-skills"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.gong.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# About custom skills

> **Who can use this**: Any team member
> 
> **Available on**: Gong Foundation

A skill is a set of instructions you write once and reuse across your agents, so each agent follows the same approach to a task such as deal analysis, qualification, objection handling, or account action planning. Without skills, you repeat that guidance in every agent's instructions.

## How skills differ from agents

An agent does the work: it runs a task, either when you trigger it manually or automatically. A skill is guidance that an agent follows while it works. A skill never runs on its own.

|  | Agent | Skill |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What it is | A configured agent that performs a task | A reusable set of instructions |
| Runs on its own | Yes | No, it applies only when an agent that uses it runs |
| Reuse | Set up separately each time | One skill can be added to many agents |
| What it changes | What the agent does | How the agent approaches a task |

A skill doesn't give an agent new tools or data.

## When to use a skill

Use a skill when the guidance is worth sharing or maintaining on its own:

- **Several agents need the same guidance.** Write it once and add it to each agent, instead of pasting it into every agent's instructions.
- **You want to update the guidance in one place.** When you publish a change to the skill, every agent that uses it follows the new version. Without a skill, you edit each agent.
- **The guidance applies to only one step of an automated agent.** Add the skill to that Generate with AI step, and the other steps don't follow it.

Put the guidance in the agent's instructions instead when it only applies to that one agent, such as what the agent should produce and who it's for.

Learn more about [creating and managing skills](/docs/create-and-manage-custom-skills).

## How agents use skills

An agent uses a skill only when you add it to that agent. When the agent runs, Gong adds the skill's instructions to the agent's own instructions.

For a manually triggered agent, you add skills to the agent, and they apply throughout its run. For an automated agent, you add skills to a Generate with AI step, and a skill added to one step isn't available to the others.

A skill belongs to the workspace where you create it. You can add it only to agents in that workspace, and it doesn't appear in your company's other workspaces. To use the same guidance in another workspace, create the skill there.

Learn more about [adding skills to agents](/docs/add-custom-skills-to-agents).

## Draft and published skills

Save a skill as a draft while you work on it, and publish it when it's ready. Only published skills can be added to agents. After you change a published skill, every agent that uses it follows the updated instructions as soon as you publish the change. Running an agent that uses skills doesn't require permission to manage them.

Any team member can access this feature if they have the required permissions.

Gong’s core platform for gaining advanced visibility into your revenue operations. Also the prerequisite license needed for Gong’s add-on packages. Access to features depends on your [company’s plan and your assigned seat](/v1/docs/plans-and-seats).