---
title: "Browse and assign skills"
description: "The Skills panel, the Skill Viewer, drag-to-agent, the X-to-remove button, and the recent-skills shortcut."
slug: guides/working-with-skills/browse-and-assign-skills
section: guides
subsection: working-with-skills
canonical_url: https://cerevisor.com/docs/guides/working-with-skills/browse-and-assign-skills
last_verified: 2026-05-18
last_verified_version: "1.2.0"
updated_at: 2026-05-18T15:08:18.053416+00:00
---

## The Skills panel

Open the panel from the right sidebar. It lists every skill Cerevisor found on launch, merged from `~/.claude/skills/` and `~/.cerevisor/skills/`.

### Layout

Skills are grouped by category (research, content, design, etc.). Each row shows:

- The skill's icon and name.
- A one-line summary (from the skill's description).
- Tags as small pills.
- A category indicator on the left edge.

### Panel controls

- **Resize:** Drag the left edge (180–520 px range).
- **Collapse:** Click the chevron in the header (collapses to a 34 px strip).
- **Search:** Type in the search box at the top to filter.
- **Reset Skills:** Button to force a full rescan + re-embed of all skills.

## Assigning a skill

Two ways.

### Drag onto an agent

Drag a skill row from the panel onto any agent card. The agent's skill slots highlight as you drag. Drop on any slot: the skill is added.

Each agent can hold up to **6 skills** (the `MAX_ABILITY_SLOTS` constant). Adding a 7th triggers a "skill slots full" toast.

### From the Agent Config popup

Open Agent Config (click the agent's role badge). Find the **Skills** section. Click an empty hexagon slot to open a skill picker. Pick from the list.

The picker shows the same merged skill registry as the side panel.

## Viewing a skill

Two ways to read a skill's full documentation:

- **Double-click** a skill row in the Skills panel.
- **Double-click** an equipped skill hexagon on any agent card.

This opens the **Skill Viewer**: a read-only rendered markdown viewer with syntax highlighting.

The Skill Viewer's buttons:

- **Edit in Workshop**: opens the Skill Workshop with this skill loaded (trial/paid only).
- **Open in file explorer**: reveals the skill's folder in your OS file explorer.
- **Close**: dismisses the viewer.

## Removing a skill from an agent

Hover the equipped skill's hexagon. An **X** button appears in the top-left of the slot. Click it.

Removal is immediate, no confirmation. Use Ctrl+Z to undo.

## Recent skills

Cerevisor remembers the last six skills you assigned. They appear in a "Recent" group at the top of the Skills panel for one-click access.

## The find_skills tool

Agents can themselves search for relevant skills via the `find_skills` tool. The tool runs a semantic + keyword search and returns the top matches. Agents typically use this when they recognize they need a capability but don't know if it exists.

This is why a well-written skill description is important: agents won't find a skill they should use if the description doesn't surface for the relevant query.

## Compatibility hints

Some skills only work with specific providers (e.g. skills that depend on Anthropic-specific tools). Cerevisor surfaces compatibility in the Skill Viewer header and via a small badge on the skill row in the panel.

The `skill-preflight` gate also checks compatibility before a workflow runs and blocks the run if an assigned skill won't work with the resolved provider. See [Skill compatibility with providers](./skill-compatibility-with-providers.md).

## The "skills:updated" event

When Cerevisor's background LLM-summary pass finishes (a few seconds after launch), the Skills panel updates with richer descriptions. You don't need to do anything: the panel re-renders automatically.

If you've just added a new skill folder by hand (e.g. by cloning a skill repo into `~/.claude/skills/`), use the **Reset Skills** button to force a fresh scan.