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Skills System

Skills are installable capability modules that give avatars specific powers. An avatar without skills can only generate text. An avatar with the right skills can search the web, execute code, generate images, send emails, manage files, and much more.

What Are Skills?

A skill is a discrete unit of functionality that an avatar can invoke during a conversation. Skills are:

  • Modular --- each skill does one thing well.
  • Installable --- you add only the skills an avatar needs.
  • Permissioned --- skills can require user approval before executing sensitive actions.
  • Composable --- an avatar can combine multiple skills in a single response (e.g., search the web, then generate an image based on the findings).

Built-in Skills

Karma One ships with a comprehensive set of built-in skills available to all users:

| Skill | Description | |---|---| | Web Search | Search the internet for current information and return summarized results. | | Code Execution | Run Python, JavaScript, or shell commands in a sandboxed environment. | | Image Generation | Generate images from text descriptions using Gemini or sovereign models. | | Image Analysis | Analyze and describe the contents of uploaded images. | | Document Export | Export conversation content as PDF, Word, or Excel files. | | Email Sending | Compose and send emails through connected email accounts. | | File Management | Read, write, and organize files on connected storage. | | Calendar Access | Read and create calendar events on macOS via Karma Box. | | Screenshot Capture | Take screenshots of the desktop or specific windows. | | Clipboard Access | Read from and write to the system clipboard. | | Text-to-Speech | Convert text to spoken audio output. | | Web Browsing | Navigate to URLs and extract page content. | | Memory Management | Store and retrieve persistent notes and preferences. | | Scheduling | Create one-time or recurring scheduled tasks. | | Knowledge Base Search | Query uploaded documents and knowledge bases for relevant information. | | Video Generation | Generate short video clips from text descriptions. | | Social Publishing | Publish content to connected social media platforms. |

Installing Skills from the Store

The Skill Store offers additional skills created by the community and by Karma. To install a skill:

  1. Open the Store from the sidebar.
  2. Switch to the Skills tab.
  3. Browse or search for the skill you need.
  4. Tap Install to add it to your account.
  5. Go to the avatar you want to equip and enable the newly installed skill.

Installed skills appear in your skill library and can be enabled on any avatar.

Creating Custom Skills

Advanced users can create their own skills using the MCP (Model Context Protocol) standard:

  1. Define the skill's tool schema (name, description, parameters).
  2. Implement the skill logic as an MCP tool server.
  3. Register the skill endpoint in your Karma One configuration.
  4. The skill becomes available for binding to any of your avatars.

Custom skills follow the same permission and execution model as built-in skills.

Tip: Custom skills are especially useful for integrating internal company tools, proprietary APIs, or domain-specific workflows that are not covered by built-in skills.

Skill Permissions

Skills operate under a permission system that protects you from unintended actions:

| Permission Level | Behavior | |---|---| | Auto-approve | The skill executes immediately without asking. Used for read-only skills like web search. | | Ask every time | The skill requests your approval before each execution. Used for actions like sending email. | | Supervised | All tool calls require explicit approval. Maximum control. |

You can configure the permission level globally or per avatar in the avatar settings.

Permission Mode

Karma One offers three overall permission modes:

  • Autonomous --- most skills auto-execute. Best for trusted, well-tested avatars.
  • Balanced --- read-only skills auto-execute; write actions require approval. Recommended default.
  • Supervised --- every tool call requires approval. Best for sensitive environments.

Binding Skills to Avatars

Each avatar has its own set of enabled skills. To configure which skills an avatar can use:

  1. Open the avatar's settings.
  2. Navigate to the Skills section.
  3. Toggle skills on or off from your installed skill library.
  4. Save the configuration.

An avatar will only invoke skills that are explicitly enabled for it. This lets you create focused avatars --- for example, a "Research Assistant" with only web search and knowledge base skills, or a "DevOps Bot" with code execution and file management.

Skill Execution Flow

When an avatar decides to use a skill during a conversation:

  1. The avatar sends a tool-use request specifying the skill and parameters.
  2. Karma One checks the permission level for that skill.
  3. If approval is required, you see a prompt to accept or reject.
  4. On approval (or auto-approve), the skill executes.
  5. The result is returned to the avatar, which incorporates it into its response.

This entire flow happens inline within the conversation, with full transparency into what each skill is doing.

Best Practices

  • Start with built-in skills. They cover most common use cases and are well-tested.
  • Use the Balanced permission mode as a default to maintain control over write actions.
  • Equip avatars with only the skills they need. Fewer skills means more focused behavior and fewer accidental tool invocations.
  • Test custom skills thoroughly before binding them to production avatars.
  • Review skill usage in the task history to understand which skills your avatars rely on most.