Skills
A skill library that extends Ari: search, install, and write skills from chat
A fixed feature list ages the day it ships. Ari can look up a skill for the job in front of you, install it after a safety check, and use it from the next message on.
By Michael Saul, founder, Saulutions
What a skill is
A skill is a written playbook that teaches Ari how to do a kind of work well: how to write a cold email, review a lease, plan a training block, or follow a team's style guide. Ari loads a skill when the conversation calls for it, so the expertise is there exactly when it matters and stays out of the way the rest of the time.
Skills are how Ari grows past what was built in. A fixed list of features covers what the makers thought of; a skill library covers what you actually need this week.
Search, install, use
Ask in plain words: "find me a skill for writing grant applications". Ari searches the open skills.sh library by keyword and shows you what fits. Pick one and Ari installs it in seconds, by name, from a GitHub link, or from an owner/repo path.
Before anything is saved, every skill gets an automatic safety scan, and a skill the scan refuses is never stored. An AI review can also reject a skill, and a rejected skill is never stored either. You can keep up to 50 skills installed.
Write your own, and keep them current
If no skill fits, describe what you want and ask Ari to write one. The new skill is yours, and Ari uses it from then on.
Pause skills you are not using and turn them back on anytime. When the author of an installed skill publishes an update, ask Ari to refresh it; the new version goes through the same review.
Computer skills with scripts
Some skills come with scripts that run code. Those run on Ari's private cloud computer, and you add them from the Skills page in the web app with a GitHub link or a zip file.
A computer skill is reviewed for safety first, then waits for your approval of the exact files you saw. If the skill changes, it needs approving again, and you can revoke it anytime.
Skills versus a fixed integration list
Integrations connect Ari to your accounts: Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Tasks, Google Drive, Todoist, and Notion. Skills teach Ari how to do the work. Together with the live browser and Ari's computer, they are how Ari handles a job no one built a feature for.
Skills do not add MCP servers, and Ari does not install a skill that requires one.
Frequently asked questions
Can Ari find and install new skills?
Ari searches the skills.sh library and installs the skill you choose, after an automatic safety scan. Ari installs skills when you ask, from chat.
Where do Ari's skills come from?
From the open skills.sh library, from GitHub, or written by Ari for you. Every one gets an automatic safety scan before it is saved.
Can I write my own Ari skill?
Yes. Describe what you want Ari to know how to do and ask Ari to write the skill. You can pause, resume, and update skills anytime.
Are skills safe to install?
Every skill gets an automatic safety scan before it is saved, and an AI review can also reject it. A skill the scan refuses or the review rejects is never installed. Skills with scripts also need your approval of the exact files, and a changed skill needs approving again.