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

# Create a skill from chat

> Turn a useful OpenWork chat into a reusable skill

<Note>
  **Choose where the skill lives.** A local workspace skill is free and requires no OpenWork Cloud sign-in. When you are signed in and ask OpenWork to create a skill “for me,” it creates a private Cloud plugin that only you can access. Owners and admins can publish managed team skills through [Collections](/docs/cloud/share-with-your-team/collections).
</Note>

Do the work once in chat before you turn it into instructions.

## Turn a useful chat into a personal Cloud skill

1. Finish the task in chat and keep the thread open.
2. Ask in plain English: `Turn what we just did into a reusable skill for me`.
3. OpenWork saves the skill in your OpenWork Cloud organization as a private plugin. You receive access automatically; it is not written into your workspace or shared with anyone else.
4. Give the skill a clear name if OpenWork asks, then let it confirm what it saved. In the desktop app you get a rich confirmation card with the skill name and a link to it in your Library.
5. Use it later by name in chat, or describe the same kind of task and let OpenWork trigger it when it matches.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/differentai/G_aByASj8f7wF0oT/images/skill-created-mcp-app-card.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=G_aByASj8f7wF0oT&q=85&s=a2c7325d3a684b8941f41ade91417f75" alt="Chat with the skill-created confirmation card showing the new skill, its plugin, and an Open in Library link" width="2880" height="1800" data-path="images/skill-created-mcp-app-card.png" />
</Frame>

## Other ways to create a skill

Every path creates the same thing: a skill inside a plugin in your OpenWork Cloud organization.

* **Desktop, from the Library**: open `Settings` > `Library`, filter to `Skills`, and click `Add skill`. This requires being signed in to OpenWork Cloud; the skill is created as a private plugin in your organization.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/differentai/G_aByASj8f7wF0oT/images/library-skills-add-skill.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=G_aByASj8f7wF0oT&q=85&s=224cb8709e734717230511623059dc03" alt="Library filtered to Skills with the Add skill button" width="2880" height="1800" data-path="images/library-skills-add-skill.png" />
</Frame>

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/differentai/G_aByASj8f7wF0oT/images/library-create-skill-modal.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=G_aByASj8f7wF0oT&q=85&s=81f22687c306af75cac14bf515509e85" alt="Create a skill modal with name, description, skill body, and who can use it" width="2880" height="2000" data-path="images/library-create-skill-modal.png" />
</Frame>

* **Cloud dashboard**: organization admins create and edit skills inside a plugin from `Plugin Directory` — open a plugin and add a skill to it.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/differentai/G_aByASj8f7wF0oT/images/cloud-plugin-add-skill.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=G_aByASj8f7wF0oT&q=85&s=9a163edf3aa8fea6c00fe0ab394654d1" alt="Cloud dashboard plugin page with its skills and the Add skill button" width="2880" height="1800" data-path="images/cloud-plugin-add-skill.png" />
</Frame>

<Frame>
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/differentai/G_aByASj8f7wF0oT/images/cloud-skill-editor.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=G_aByASj8f7wF0oT&q=85&s=49cf3ef2b5a10382fced5ab6a18e79a9" alt="Cloud dashboard skill editor reached from a plugin's Add skill button" width="2880" height="2320" data-path="images/cloud-skill-editor.png" />
</Frame>

* **From chat**, as described above.

## Change or share it only when you choose

1. To refine it, ask for the change in chat, such as `Make the skill ask before sending email`.
2. To share it with teammates, add its plugin to a Collection and grant that Collection by following [Publish and copy a skill](/docs/start-here/do-work-with-it/publish-and-copy-a-skill).

<Note>Creating the skill does not publish it. Sharing is a separate step you choose.</Note>

## Keep a skill local to one workspace

A local skill is a `SKILL.md` file inside your workspace (for example `.opencode/skills/<name>/SKILL.md`). If you explicitly ask for a local skill in chat, OpenWork creates only that file and does not make a Cloud copy. Local skills need no Cloud account and remain available in `Settings > Library`, but OpenWork Cloud cannot assign or update them for your team.
