# Importing a Skill > Bring a skill written for Claude or another AI agent into Ditto. Paste its SKILL.md and Ditto turns it into a workflow with steps, or into a guide that runs in chat. --- # Importing a Skill A **skill** is a set of written instructions for an AI agent: what the job is, how to do it, what to ask, what to produce. Claude and other agents keep them in a file called `SKILL.md`. If you already have a skill, you do not have to describe the job to Ditto again. Paste the skill, and Ditto turns it into a [workflow](/docs/workflows) that does the same job. ![The New workflow screen after importing a skill: Ditto says the skill will run as a guide in chat, lists what was not brought over, and offers Review it](/img/docs/screens/workflows-import-skill.svg) ## Import One 1. Open **Customize → Agents & AI → Workflows** and press **New workflow**. 2. Under the ready-made workflows, press **Import a skill**. 3. Paste the contents of the skill's `SKILL.md`, or press **Choose a file** and pick it. 4. Press **Import**. This usually takes ten to thirty seconds. 5. Read what Ditto made of it, then press **Review it**. 6. The draft opens in the editor. Change what you like and press **Create workflow**. Nothing is saved until you press **Create workflow**. ## What You Get Back Ditto reads the skill and decides which of two things it is. ### A Workflow with Steps A skill that describes a job with a clear shape, such as "gather this, write that, send it there", becomes an ordinary workflow: steps that run by themselves, on a schedule if you want one. Ditto then tells you what changed by making it a workflow, in numbers: - How many of its steps are **fixed**: they do the same thing every run without AI deciding what to do. - How many times a run **uses AI**, instead of an agent working through the whole skill each time. - How many **questions** it asks you, if the skill asks for things. - Whether it **can run on a schedule**. Fixed steps are why a workflow is cheaper, faster and more predictable than handing the same skill to an agent each time: the parts that never change are not thought about again. ### A Guide A skill that is a conversation, or that needs judgement at every turn, becomes a [guide](/docs/workflows-in-chat#guides): Ditto follows the skill's instructions with you in a chat. Ditto says so: "It is a conversation, or needs something a workflow's fixed steps cannot do, so it runs as a guide in chat." A guide keeps the skill's instructions as they were written. Start it with **Start in a chat** on its page, or with **@** in any chat. ## What Is Not Brought Over An import takes the text of the skill. Under **Not brought over**, Ditto lists what the skill relied on that did not come with it: - **Other files.** If the skill refers to files beside it, such as `scripts/weather.py` or `reference/style.md`, they are named and not imported. - **Code.** If the skill includes code for the agent to run, the workflow does not run it. It works from what the skill describes. Read this list before you save. If a missing file held the important part, paste its contents into the step's instructions in the editor. A skill that needs an app, such as Gmail or GitHub, works once [that app is connected](/docs/connected-apps). ## Check It Before You Rely on It An import is a draft, like any other. - For a workflow with steps, press **Try it** in the editor to run it once without sending anything. See [trying a workflow](/docs/editing-workflows#try-it-before-it-runs-for-real). - For a guide, save it and press **Start in a chat**. Then compare what it does with what the skill did where it came from. ## Limits | | | | ---------------------- | -------------------------------------- | | Size of the skill | 64 KB of text | | What is read | One `SKILL.md`. Not a folder or a link | | A guide's instructions | About 12,000 characters | ## Questions **Which skills work?** Any that are written instructions: Claude skills, and similar files written for other agents. The top of the file may have a name and a description between `---` lines; Ditto uses them if they are there, and works without them. **Is the skill followed word for word?** As a guide, yes: Ditto is given the instructions as written. As a workflow with steps, Ditto rebuilds the job from what the skill describes, so read the outline. **Does the skill tell Ditto what to do during the import?** No. Ditto reads the skill as a description of a job. Instructions inside it are not carried out while importing. **Can I import the same skill twice?** Yes. Each import makes a new draft. ## Next - [Workflows in Chat, and Guides](/docs/workflows-in-chat) - [Changing and Trying a Workflow](/docs/editing-workflows) - [Creating a Workflow](/docs/creating-workflows)