Skills

Skills are reusable, task-specific instruction sets that tell Mesa how to handle a particular type of work. Think of a skill as a saved playbook for a recurring task, like always formatting output as a memo or running a specific compliance checklist during contract review. Once created, Mesa can apply a skill automatically, or you can invoke it yourself.

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Skills vs. preferences

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Create a skill

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Let Mesa write the skill for you

You don’t have to build a skill by hand. When you’ve just walked the agent through a task in a conversation, ask it to save the approach: “turn this into a skill,” “remember how to do this next time,” or “make this reusable.” The agent interviews you as needed, drafts the instructions, and saves the skill to your Customization page, where it behaves exactly like one you wrote yourself. It’ll ask before changing or removing an existing skill.

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Download a skill’s files

Open a skill from the Skills section to edit it. Each file attached to the skill has a download button on its row, so you can retrieve a copy of any file the skill uses.

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Share a skill

Skills you create are private until you share them. Hover over one of your skills in the Skills section and click the share icon. The Share popover works the same way as for any item; see Share an item. People with Can edit access can change the skill’s instructions and files, and their changes apply for everyone the skill is shared with. People with Can view access can open the skill and use it, but not change it. Only you, as the owner, can share the skill with the whole organization or archive it. Archiving a skill stops Mesa from using it for you and for everyone you’ve shared it with.

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Skills shared with you

When a teammate shares a skill with you, you get a notification. The skill appears in your Skills section with a Shared by label and an Inactive badge. Mesa doesn’t use an inactive skill until you click Activate.

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Hide or remove a skill

Hover over a skill and click the hide icon to take it out of your list. On your own skills, the icon is labeled Hide skill. On skills shared with you, it’s labeled Remove from your skills. Mesa stops using a hidden skill, and it no longer appears in the Skills picker on the chat box. To bring a skill back, switch the toggle at the top of the Skills section from Active to Hidden, hover over the skill, and click Restore skill.

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Pin a skill for your organization

Owners can make a skill active by default for everyone in the organization. Share the skill with your organization first, then hover over it and click the pin icon (Pin as an organization default). Pinned skills show a Pinned badge. A pinned skill is active for every member who can see it, so they don’t have to click Activate. Pinning doesn’t share the skill: members still need access through a share. Members can still hide a pinned skill for themselves. To undo it, click Unpin for your organization.

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Use a skill in a conversation

Mesa can see your own skills, the shared skills you’ve activated, and skills pinned for your organization. It applies them automatically when a request matches a skill’s description. To invoke one explicitly, click the Skills button on the Home or New Conversation page and select the skill you want Mesa to use.

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Write instructions that work

• State what the skill is for, what it should output, and any rules it must follow.
• If you attach code or scripts, describe what each function or command does and how Mesa should use it.
• For document templates, put the template structure directly in the instructions and tell Mesa to follow it.
• Keep skills task-specific; move anything that should apply everywhere into Preferences.

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