Skill use

A Skill describes a reusable way to perform a task, including its steps, output format, and checks. For recurring tasks such as organizing feedback, writing reports, or reviewing code, an agent can read the Skill and apply its instructions to different inputs.

OpenViking stores and retrieves Skills; the agent reads the instructions and carries out the task. In this guide, you will add a feedback-brief Skill and use VikingBot to process two sets of feedback, then compare how the same workflow applies across conversations.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, prepare the following:

• OpenViking service and CLI: Configure your connection using the quickstart.
• VikingBot: Enable VikingBot on the service and configure its model. See VikingBot for setup instructions. This guide uses ov chat to generate briefs, which incurs model usage costs.
• Skill directory permissions: This guide adds the Skill to the shared directory viking://agent/skills/. Your account needs write access to that directory. The CLI and VikingBot should connect to the same service with accounts that can access the Skill.

Download the feedback-brief Skill package and open a terminal in the download directory. The package includes SKILL.md and sample inputs in English and Chinese.

Add the sample Skill

Extract the package to create the feedback-brief directory:

unzip feedback-brief-v1.zip

Add the directory to OpenViking. The --wait option waits for Skill processing to finish so you can inspect the content next.

ov add-skill ./feedback-brief -p viking://agent/skills --wait

List the Skills and check that feedback-brief appears:

ov skills list

Read SKILL.md to see the instructions the agent will follow:

ov read viking://agent/skills/feedback-brief/SKILL.md

This Skill asks the agent to use only the supplied input and produce the following content in the input language:

Content	Requirements
Facts	Preserve supplied facts and numbers, and cite input IDs
Actions	Use a table with action, owner, and evidence columns; distinguish suggestions from facts and mark missing owners as Unspecified
Open questions	List missing information and mark missing dates as Undecided

The Skill asks the agent to return the brief in the conversation. After importing it, use a conversation to have the agent read and apply it. If you have already added this sample, check its content and continue.

Generate a brief

The first input contains a duration, a suggested improvement, and an undecided date. Provide the feedback in a new conversation and specify the Skill path so VikingBot can follow its instructions:

ov chat --session feedback-skill-a -m "First discover and read viking://agent/skills/feedback-brief/SKILL.md. Follow that Skill for this input and return the result only in the conversation: Feedback A: Offline export takes 8 minutes. The pilot administrator suggests a progress indicator. The release date is undecided."

The brief should contain Facts, Actions, and Open questions. Compare it with the input:

• Facts preserve the 8-minute export duration and cite input ID A.
• Adding a progress indicator appears as a suggested action, with the owner marked Unspecified.
• The release date remains Undecided and appears under Open questions.

You can also check tool call records or service logs to confirm that VikingBot read SKILL.md. This helps verify that the brief was generated using the specified Skill.

Reuse with another input

Provide a second input in another conversation to see whether the agent applies the same workflow. A new conversation keeps the previous feedback out of this task's conversation history. When repeating the walkthrough, replace the sample session names with new ones.

ov chat --session feedback-skill-b -m "First discover and read viking://agent/skills/feedback-brief/SKILL.md. Follow that Skill for this input and return the result only in the conversation: Feedback B: The registration template lacks an issue category field. There are 3 duplicate reports. No owner is specified."

This brief should preserve the missing category field and the 3 duplicate reports, cite input ID B, and mark the owner as Unspecified. Suggested actions might include adding the category field and merging duplicate reports, clearly labeled as suggestions based on the input.

Compare the briefs: their content should reflect the different inputs, while the three-section structure, action table, and evidence references remain consistent. See the sample briefs and Skill read records for examples of the output format.

Check the result

Check	Expected result
Skill added	feedback-brief appears in the Skill list and SKILL.md is readable
Agent read the Skill	Tool call records or logs include a read of SKILL.md
Workflow reused	Both briefs contain the three required sections, an action table, and input IDs
Content matches the input	Numbers and facts remain accurate, suggestions are labeled, and missing information remains open

Model-generated wording can vary. Use the input facts and Skill requirements to evaluate the result.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	What to check
The Skill does not appear in the list	Check the import result. If it reports an error, use the message to check the service connection, directory permissions, or model configuration
The CLI can read the Skill but VikingBot cannot	Check that both use the intended service and accounts, and that VikingBot's identity can read the directory
The conversation has no Skill read record	Confirm that the Skill path in the prompt is readable and check VikingBot's OpenViking tool configuration
The brief does not follow the required structure or content rules	Confirm that the agent read the Skill, then identify the differences and ask it to revise the brief against the instructions

Next steps

To reuse your own workflow, write its instructions in SKILL.md and add it to OpenViking. See the Skills reference for the format, update options, and integration with other clients.

To have an agent use a Skill to produce maintainable knowledge-base files, continue to Context compilation. To remove the sample afterward, identify feedback-brief in Studio and confirm it is the Skill you added before deleting it.