Skills
Skills extend Bolt Cowork's behavior for specific tasks. A skill is a SKILL.md file with a YAML frontmatter header and a Markdown body that provides instructions to the runtime LLM provider.
Skill Scopes
Skills are loaded in the following order. A skill with the same name in a later scope overrides earlier ones.
| Scope | Location | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Bundled | cmd/bolt-cowork/skills |
Default skills embedded into the binary |
| Global | ~/.bolt-cowork/skills/ |
Your personal skills, available in all projects |
| Project-local | ./bolt-skills/ |
Skills specific to one project |
Built-in Skills
| Skill | Description |
|---|---|
file-organizer |
Organizes files by type into directories |
summarizer |
Summarizes file contents |
code-reviewer |
Reviews code for issues |
git-helper |
Helps with git operations |
project-scaffolder |
Creates project structures |
pdf-converter |
Converts files to PDF |
Skill File Format
---
name: my-skill
description: What this skill does (used for keyword matching)
auto_trigger: true
tags:
- files
- automation
priority: 10
requires_approval: false
---
# Instructions for the runtime provider
Provide detailed instructions here in Markdown.
The provider receives this content as additional context when the skill is active.
Frontmatter Fields
| Field | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
name |
Yes | - | Unique skill identifier |
description |
Yes | - | Used for keyword matching |
auto_trigger |
No | false |
Automatically activate based on user command |
tags |
No | [] |
Used for categorization and search |
priority |
No | 0 |
Higher priority skills are injected first |
requires_approval |
No | false |
Ask for approval before activating |
Activating Skills
Automatic
If auto_trigger: true, Bolt Cowork matches keywords from the skill's metadata against your command. Matching is designed to work without exact casing, so Review, review, and related lower-case prompt text can all activate the same skill.
In --approval full, skill activation can prompt for approval. In plan-only, dangerous-only, and none, skill approval is skipped and matched skills are accepted automatically.
Manual
Use /use <skill-name> to activate a skill for the next task:
/use code-reviewer
This is a one-shot activation. The skill is automatically deactivated after the task completes.
Creating a Skill
Use the built-in command to create a new skill interactively:
/skill create
Bolt Cowork will prompt you for a name, description, and scope (global or project-local), then generate a SKILL.md template.
Or create the file manually in ~/.bolt-cowork/skills/ or ./bolt-skills/.
TUI Skill View
In v0.4.3, the skills modal supports pagination. When more than eight skills are loaded, use the left and right arrow keys to move between pages.