# Skills A MAIA skill takes a method you have worked out and returns a run you can repeat. It records the criteria, the steps, and the output format, and it runs in any county. Updated: 2026-09-30. Source: https://maia-analytics.com/docs/capabilities/skills ## What it answers You worked out a filter that finds the right sites. A skill saves it, so the next run starts from your method and not from a blank box. A skill is not tied to a place. The method you wrote for one county runs in the next. ## Scopes | Scope | Who sees it | Who can change it | | --- | --- | --- | | Personal | You | You | | Workspace | Everyone in the workspace | Editors and admins | | System | Everyone | No one. These are MAIA's ready-made skills | A ready-made skill is read-only. To change one, customize a copy. MAIA then proposes your copy to you instead of the original, and the original stays in the list for everyone else. ## Types | Type | What it does | | --- | --- | | Workflow | Runs end to end, starting from an empty project | | Enrichment | Adds a value worked out from the columns a row already has | | Agent column | Builds one column that sub-agents research | Over MCP the type is the `kind` parameter of `save_skill`. A workflow can appear in the starter gallery on the new-project screen. ## Three ways to start one | Way | How | | --- | --- | | You pick it | Type `/` in the chat and choose a skill | | MAIA proposes it | MAIA offers a matching skill on a card. It runs only when you choose **Run** | | Over MCP | Pass `skill` to `create_project` or `send_message`, or use the `run_skill` prompt | ## What a run looks like A skill with several phases runs as a plan. MAIA shows the phases as a checklist and marks each one pending, in progress, completed, or skipped. A plan holds up to 50 phases. ![The skill's plan in the chat: a checklist headed Ten-site ESG solar shortlist 5/5 with five phases, each crossed out with a check mark, and View activity (29) below it.](https://maia-analytics.com/product-shots/docs/chat-plan@2x.png) A skill's plan in the chat. Each phase is checked off as it finishes. ## What a skill contains Every skill has a name, a description, and a body. Over MCP the body is the `instructions` parameter. | Part | What it is for | Limit | | --- | --- | --- | | Name | The words you would say to run it | 120 characters | | Description | What the skill does and when to use it. A vague description means MAIA never proposes the skill | 400 characters | | Body | The instructions for the run | 32,000 characters | The body has a recommended layout in four parts. It is guidance, and a skill that does not fit it is still valid. | Section | What goes in it | | --- | --- | | What it finds | One or two sentences of intent | | Criteria and thresholds | Every number you might change later, named | | Steps | The order of work | | Output format | The columns you want, with one example | ## How MAIA reads a skill MAIA does not read every skill on every turn. It sees one line per skill: the name and the description. When a run calls for a skill, MAIA loads the full instructions. Two things follow from that. - **The description does the routing.** It is all MAIA sees before it loads the skill. Say what the skill does and when to use it. - **Loading is not running.** MAIA can read a skill to answer a question about it without starting a run. ## Save, change, or share a skill MAIA can write a skill for you from the work in a conversation. It never saves one silently. 1. Ask for it in the chat, in your own words. > **You ask:** Save this as a workspace skill called Industrial infill filter. 1. Read the card MAIA shows. Check that the skill names no county, city, or project, and that its description says when to use it. 2. Choose **Approve**. Saving, updating, and deleting a skill each need your approval on a card. To change a skill later, ask MAIA in the chat or edit it under your account, on the **Knowledge & skills** tab. That is also where you move a personal skill to the workspace. Three things to know before you save: - **Saving with an existing name replaces your skill of that name.** - **A workspace skill is visible to everyone in the workspace.** Save to yourself first if the method is still changing. - **MAIA saves, changes, or deletes one skill per message.** To do two, ask twice. ## Limits - **No hard-coded places.** A skill must not name a county, a city, or a project. It reads the place from the project it runs in. - **It must survive missing data.** Records vary by county. Write the skill to check which columns a county has before it filters on one. - **Workspace skills need the editor role.** A viewer cannot change them. - **Over MCP, `save_skill` writes your personal skills only.** Workspace skills are edited in the web app. The connector is turned on per workspace. ## Related - [Knowledge](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/capabilities/knowledge) holds the context a skill should not repeat. - [Compound](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/using-maia/compound) explains when to turn a run into a skill. - [Prompts](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/mcp/prompts) lists the ready-made MCP prompts, including `create_skill`.