Define the job.
A reusable skill is a set of instructions for one recurring task. Specify what information it accepts, what it should produce, and when it should ask for help. A customer-follow-up skill, for example, needs the customer’s request, an approved policy, and the action the team can actually take.
Show what good looks like.
Include a worked example and a simple review checklist. Ask the model to flag missing facts instead of inventing them. Keep business instructions separate from incoming documents, which may contain irrelevant or malicious instructions.
Test the awkward cases.
Try incomplete requests, conflicting information, and inputs outside the intended task. Record failures and update the instructions. Require human approval for external messages or changes to business systems until the workflow has been deliberately reviewed for that use.
Put it to work
A useful skill combines instructions, examples, and checks—not just a clever prompt.