# Edit and import skills Source: https://www.hyperagent.com/docs/concepts/skills/skills-edit-and-import Update methods, scripts, credentials, and imported skills while preserving version history. Your team changes the pipeline threshold, tightens the review checklist, or finds a better way to produce the weekly update. The method should change once, in the skill, so every agent that uses it can follow the improved process. Editing, importing a skill file, and installing an agent bundle are three different operations. The distinction matters when agents already depend on a skill. Update the skill in place when its process, examples, scripts, or retrieval guidance should change for every agent linked to that row. Upload a JSON skill export or a Markdown SKILL.md file. Import always creates a new skill; a name collision receives an imported suffix. Installing an agent or template can reuse an equivalent skill, bind to your existing skill, or create a separate copy according to the install preview. Saving a skill updates that method for every agent that uses it on later turns and new runs. Review shared methods with the same care you would give a reusable template, query, or production script. ## What lives inside a skill [#what-lives-inside-a-skill] A skill can be pure method: a checklist, voice guide, research workflow, or report format. It can also include scripts, supporting files, and credential fields for work that must call an API or run the same calculation every time. Keep the pieces aligned. If a script changes its input names while the documentation still shows the old command, the agent has two conflicting versions of the method. The steps, constraints, examples, and output standard the agent follows. The retrieval signal that tells an agent which requests should load the method. Optional code for calculations, data cleanup, API calls, file transforms, and other repeatable mechanics. Supporting files the method depends on, such as schemas, examples, templates, or lookup material. The names of secrets a script needs at runtime. Secret values do not belong in the documentation or source code. ## Edit a skill in place [#edit-a-skill-in-place] ### Open the skill your agents use [#open-the-skill-your-agents-use] Open it from **Skills** or from an agent that has it attached. Confirm you are editing the shared method, not a similarly named imported copy. ### Update the retrieval signals [#update-the-retrieval-signals] If the job changed, revise the name, description, and when-to-use guidance so discovery still matches the right requests. ### Keep the method and mechanics together [#keep-the-method-and-mechanics-together] Update documentation, scripts, references, and credential field names as one change. Document required inputs, expected outputs, and failure cases for every script the agent may run. ### Save and test on a new turn [#save-and-test-on-a-new-turn] Agents pick up the edited method on later turns and new runs. Test a request that should match the skill, then inspect the output and tool trail. A Deal Risk Triage skill moves its threshold from $25k to $50k. Update the when-to-use guidance, the documented rule, any script constant or input, and the expected examples together. ## Keep scripts predictable [#keep-scripts-predictable] Scripts are useful when a method contains mechanics the agent should not reinvent on every run. Use small, testable scripts with clear arguments or input files. Document required fields, accepted formats, and defaults. Produce structured output and actionable errors. The agent should be able to tell whether the operation succeeded and what to do next. Name the script, the command or invocation pattern, and the conditions that should trigger it. Define credential fields on the skill. Never paste secret values into the script, docs, examples, or thread. ## Decide how credentials travel [#decide-how-credentials-travel] Credential fields describe what a skill needs. Values are stored separately and injected at runtime when the skill executes with credentials. For a credentialed skill shared to a team, choose one of two execution modes: Every team member can run the skill with the sharer's stored credentials. Usage is billed to the sharer's account, so use this only when every current and future member should receive that authority. Every teammate must save values for the required credential fields before running the authenticated skill. The documentation remains readable even when a runnable credential path is not configured. The authenticated script will not execute successfully until the required values are available. See [Teams](/docs/concepts/teams) for how shared access and credentials work together. ## Import a skill file [#import-a-skill-file] The skill importer accepts: * A Hyperagent JSON skill export, including its metadata, documentation, scripts, references, and credential field definitions * A Markdown **SKILL.md** file with name and description in frontmatter; its body becomes the documentation Every file import creates a new skill in the personal or team workspace you selected. If the name already exists, Hyperagent adds an imported suffix rather than overwriting or reusing the existing row. Credential **values** are never present in the export and must be configured again. Import never replaces the skill your agents already use. Edit that existing skill directly when the intent is to update the shared method. ## Install an agent bundle [#install-an-agent-bundle] Agent and template installation has a different collision flow from skill-file import. The install preview resolves each bundled skill before creating the agent. ### Resolve each bundled skill [#resolve-each-bundled-skill] Hyperagent can reuse equivalent content, bind the agent to your existing same-named skill when you choose **Use mine**, or create a separate copy when you choose the publisher's version. ### Preserve the publisher's pin choice [#preserve-the-publishers-pin-choice] Bundled skills marked as pinned stay pinned on the installed agent. ### Bring field definitions, not secret values [#bring-field-definitions-not-secret-values] Credential schemas can travel with a bundled skill. Stored credential values do not. ### Connect external services separately [#connect-external-services-separately] Installing the agent does not silently connect Slack, Gmail, GitHub, or another external service. Review the requested integration access during installation. ### Review unattended invocations [#review-unattended-invocations] Suggested schedules and other unattended invocation shells are created in a paused state so you can review credentials, integrations, prompts, and timing before activation. ## Hosted MCP does not manage skills [#hosted-mcp-does-not-manage-skills] Hyperagent's hosted MCP can start and run agent work. It cannot create, edit, import, or bulk-sync skills. Manage skill configuration in the product. ## FAQs [#faqs] Start a new turn and confirm the agent is attached to the skill you edited. If two skills have similar names, the agent may be matching an imported duplicate instead. File import always creates a new skill. When the name is already taken, the new row receives an imported suffix, even if the content is similar. Agent installation is different: its preview can reuse or bind to an existing skill before the agent is created. Check that its documented inputs, credential field names, and script source still agree. Re-enter credential values when the field shape changed. The method was shared without an executable credential path. Check whether the skill should use owner credentials or require each teammate to bring their own. No. Hosted MCP can run agents, but it does not create, update, or bulk-sync skill configuration. Edit the existing skill when the method changes. Import a file to create a new skill. Install an agent when the skills arrive as part of that agent's bundle.