Skills give Elle, the AI assistant in Aha! software, reusable instructions for work you do again and again. Elle applies the most relevant skill automatically when your request matches it, so your work follows your standards without you setting up each chat.
You can use skills on every paid Aha! plan, wherever you use Elle.
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Overview
A skill is a set of instructions you no longer have to repeat. Each one has a name, a short description, the instructions themselves, and optional reference files such as a style guide, a glossary, or an example of the output you want.
Elle reviews your available skills with every prompt and applies the one that best fits your request. You can also select a skill yourself when you already know which one you want. Either way, Elle shows you which skill it used.
Action |
User permissions |
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Create and manage personal skills |
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Create and manage workspace skills |
Skills work well for the tasks your team repeats, such as:
Running a market analysis using your own framework
Summarizing customer feedback into themes and next steps
Structuring a feature specification in your preferred format
Drafting a stakeholder update in your team's style
Aha! software gives you several ways to shape what Elle produces, and they solve different problems:
Skills: Guidance Elle references to complete a specific type of work. Elle selects the right one for you.
Connectors: Access to systems outside Aha! software. Skills decide how work is done; connectors decide what Elle can reach.
Requests and instructions: Saved prompts you select at the start of a chat.
Personal memory: What Elle knows about you and the way you work, carried from one chat to the next.
If something is mostly static about you, that is memory. If it is guidance for a particular kind of work, that is a skill.
Skills use AI credits like any other work you do with Elle.
Default skills
You do not have to start from scratch. From your Elle chat, click the + button, then Skills to see a list of default skills for common product development work alongside your own. Click any skill to invoke it, or click Manage skills to move to the AI capabilities settings for your workspace.
Here are a list of some of the default skills:
Strategy: Goal format, Persona alignment, Roadmap alignment
Ideas: Idea prioritization summary, Feedback prioritization
Features: Feature definition, Product requirements document, Release backlog refinement, Feature scoring, Acceptance criteria
Writing and communication: External communication style guide, Feature how-to article, Release notes
Each one defines how that kind of work should be done. The Goal format skill sets the structure and naming your goals follow. The Acceptance criteria skill sets how many scenarios to write and requires you to cover error states and edge cases, not just the expected path. The Release notes skill sets the voice, the level of detail, and the habit of describing a change in terms of what you can now do.
You can use a skill from Aha! as it is, or treat it as a starting point. To customize, download the skill, adjust the instructions to match how your team works, and upload it as your own.
Create a skill
You can build a skill with Elle, write one yourself, or upload one you already have.
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Click the User menu, then go to:
Settings -> Personal -> AI capabilities to create a skill only you can use.
Settings -> Workspace -> AI capabilities to create a skill for a workspace.
Select the Skills tab, then click Add skill.
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Choose how you want to start:
Create with Elle: Describe what the skill should do, including the writing style, the output format, and when to use it. Elle drafts the full instructions from your description, and you can edit them directly or ask Elle to adjust them.
Write instructions: Enter the instructions yourself.
Upload skill: Upload a skill folder, a SKILL.md file, and any reference files it uses.
Give the skill a name and a one-line description. The description helps Elle judge when the skill applies, so make it specific about the kind of work it covers.
When you upload a skill, your SKILL.md file must include name and description front matter and stay 32 KB or smaller. The full package must stay 30 MB or smaller.
Name your skill file SKILL.md. If you export a file from another tool, you might need to adjust its formatting before you upload it.
You can also ask Elle to turn a chat into a skill. When Elle produces something you want to repeat, ask it to save that approach as a skill rather than describing the task again next time.
Write skill instructions
Instructions are the heart of a skill. Elle reads them every time it applies the skill, so they should describe how you want the work done rather than restating the task.
Explain the steps, the structure, and the standards you expect.
Reference Aha! records directly in the instructions when a skill should always consider the same source material.
Keep the instructions focused on one type of work. A skill that tries to cover several unrelated tasks is harder for Elle to match to a request.
Reference a connector when a skill should always check an external system. Elle makes the tool calls as part of the workflow rather than waiting for you to ask.
A skill can only use a connector you have already authenticated. If a teammate runs a workspace skill that reaches an external system, it runs under their own connection, so they see only what they have access to in that tool.
Skills can reference other skills, so you can build small, reusable pieces and compose them rather than repeating the same guidance in several places.
To change a skill later, open it from the Skills tab and edit the instructions directly on the Instructions tab. Your changes save in place.
For best results, keep instructions under 500 lines.
Add reference files
Reference files give Elle extra context when it applies a skill, such as a brand voice guide, a product glossary, a data schema, or examples of the output you want.
Open a saved skill and select the Files tab. The tab lists your files at left, and when you select one, Aha! shows a preview alongside it. From here you can:
Upload a file you already have.
Create a new reference file and write it in place.
Select a file to preview it, then click Delete to remove it.
Supported formats are MD, TXT, JSON, YAML, CSV, TSV, HTML, CSS, JS, XML, PDF, DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PNG, and JPEG.
Elle opens a reference file when the work calls for it, and names the file it read, so you can see exactly which guidance shaped the result. The Files tab appears once you save the skill.
Keep reference files to what the skill genuinely needs. Every file adds time and cost to the responses that use the skill. Pointing Elle at one good example is usually cheaper and faster than giving it many files to read.
Personal and workspace skills
Where you create a skill determines who can use it and when. You need workspace owner permissions to create a workspace skill. Any contributor in the workspace can use a workspace skill once it exists.
Personal skills: Available to you anywhere you use Elle, in any workspace. Create them in Settings -> Personal -> AI capabilities. Use these for guidance about how you work.
Workspace skills: Available when you work in that workspace, and when Elle uses records from that workspace as context. Create them in Settings -> Workspace -> AI capabilities. Use these for standards your whole team should follow.
Elle can use personal and workspace skills together in the same chat. The Skills tab lists the skills created at that level.
Use a skill
Most of the time you do not need to do anything. Describe the task you want done, and Elle applies the skill that fits.
To choose a skill yourself:
Type
/in any Elle chat and select the skill you want.Or click the + button in the prompt window, select Skills, then select the skill.
As Elle works, it shows each skill it read by name. If a skill has reference files, Elle names the file it opened as well. When more than one skill applies to a request, Elle shows each one it used.
Elle never applies a disabled skill, whether you select it yourself or leave the choice to Elle.
You can use skills everywhere you use Elle, including on a record, in the text editor, and from the navigation bar.
Manage skills
The Skills tab lists your skills with each skill's name and one-line description. Search the list to find a skill, and select one to open it.
When you open a skill, Aha! shows its instructions in a panel. Click Details to open the full skill page, which shows when the skill was last updated and who created it.
From the More options menu you can:
Select Disable skill to stop Elle from using it. The change takes effect immediately, and the skill stays in your list so you can turn it back on.
Select Download skill to save the skill file, which you can upload into another Aha! account or share with a colleague.
Select Delete skill to remove it. Deleting a skill cannot be undone, so Aha! asks you to confirm first.
Disabling a skill is the safer choice when you are unsure. Elle never applies a disabled skill, and you do not lose anything.
Use skills with scheduled tasks
Skills help Elle complete work the way you want. Scheduled tasks extend that benefit to recurring work, giving Elle the instructions it needs each time it reviews, summarizes, or drafts something for you.
For example, use your feedback prioritization skill when Elle summarizes new customer feedback each week. Or select your release notes skill when Elle drafts an update about recently launched features.
Choose the skills you want a scheduled task to use when you create it. This helps Elle follow the same guidance each time the task runs.
Best practices
Start with work you already repeat: The best first skill is a task you have explained to someone more than once, or one that everyone on your team handles a little differently.
Write a specific description: Elle uses the description to decide when a skill applies. A vague description means the skill applies at the wrong moment, or not at all.
Build from output you liked: When Elle produces something close to what you wanted, ask it to save that approach as a skill rather than rewriting the prompt next time.
Keep each skill to one job: Several focused skills that reference each other work better than one skill that tries to cover everything.
Revisit them as your process changes: A skill captures how you work today. Update it when your standards change.