Agents, skills, and workflows
Agents, skills, and workflows each make work repeatable in a different way. Learn what each one is, who runs it, and when to use it.
Agents, skills, and workflows are three ways to make work repeatable. An agent does a job, a skill is a procedure to follow, and a workflow is a fixed series of steps.
Compare them
Section titled “Compare them”| What it is | Who runs it | When to use it | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agent | A saved AI assistant with its own name, instructions, model, skills, and allowed actions. | A person with run permission starts a task. A manager can also put it on a schedule. People can ask it in a Slack channel. | The job needs judgment, and you want to hand it off again and again. |
| Skill | A reusable step-by-step procedure. | It never runs alone. An agent or a chat follows it. | You want the AI to follow the same procedure every time. |
| Workflow | A reusable automation made of steps. Each execution is a run. | A trigger starts it, such as a schedule, a table change, or another app. A person with run permission can also start it. | The steps are the same every time, and the order matters. |
Agents
Section titled “Agents”An agent is a saved AI assistant. You share it with people and teams.
Each piece of work you give an agent is an agent task. A task is private to you. It keeps its history, its result, and the credits it used. You find your tasks in My agent tasks.
An agent works with the permissions of the person who asked, narrowed by the agent’s own limits. An agent never gets more access than that person has.
You create an agent in two ways:
- Select Create in chat and describe the agent’s job.
- Select Configure manually and fill in each step.
Each agent has four permission levels:
| Permission | What it lets a person do |
|---|---|
| Read | See the agent. |
| Invoke | Start tasks with the agent. |
| Edit | Change the agent’s instructions. |
| Manage | Change access and execution, and activate the agent. |
Skills
Section titled “Skills”A skill is a reusable procedure that an agent can follow. A skill adds steps to follow. It never adds tools or permissions.
You get a skill in two ways:
- Select Ask chat to make a skill.
- Select Import skill and enter a source URL.
A skill manager reviews each saved version of a skill before agents use it.
Workflows
Section titled “Workflows”A workflow is a reusable automation. You describe it in chat, review its diagram, and save it. Each time it executes, that is a run.
A workflow can start in several ways:
- A person runs it manually.
- A schedule starts it.
- A table row changes.
- A web request or a connected app starts it.
A workflow can include steps such as an agent step, a condition, a delay, a question for a person, and row changes.
Where to find them
Section titled “Where to find them”The sidebar group Agents & workflows holds Agents, Skills, and Workflows. Your agent tasks are in My agent tasks.