Skills teach Benchling AI how to handle specific tasks reliably. Use skills in Benchling to extend the default capabilities of the Benchling AI Chat. Benchling Skills conform to the open Agent Skills standard.
There are two types of skills:
- Benchling-authored skills that are written by Benchling and made available for use in your tenant
- Custom skills written by you or your organization
Benchling-authored skills
Benchling-authored skills are auto installed by Benchling. Benchling-authored skills cannot be edited or deleted by users, Benchling will control all content and updates for these skills.
The list of available Benchling-authored skills are below:
Access skills
- Open AI in the main sidebar
- Click the gear icon in the top right corner of the AI panel
- Select the Skills tab
Manage your active skills
Each user controls which skills are available to Benchling AI during their sessions. Active skills can be pulled into context by the agent when relevant, while inactive skills are ignored.
Toggle skills on or off from either:
- AI Settings → Skills tab
- The + button inside AI Chat
Archive skills you authored if you no longer need them:
- Open AI Settings
- Navigate to Skills tab
- Click the Archive button in the top right corner of the skill
Using skills
Once a skill is active, the AI will pull it in automatically when it's relevant to your request. You can also invoke a skill directly from the + button in AI Chat if you want to use it explicitly.
Create a new skill
Describe the task you want Benchling AI to handle - what should trigger it, what steps it should follow, and any details specific to your workflow. Benchling AI will draft a skill you can review and refine.
Edit an existing skill
Mention your existing skill and tell Benchling AI what isn't working. It can fix outdated steps, add missing edge cases, or improve when the skill fires.
Upload an existing skill
If you've built a skill outside of Benchling or want to bring one in from another project, you can upload the skill file directly to make it available in your workspace. Benchling accepts .zip or .skill files for upload as skills. Simply click + Add in the top right corner of the Skills page to upload a skill file.
A few tips:
- Base your request on a real task: the more concrete, the better the result
- Include any templates, data sources, or sample outputs the AI should follow or reference. The more concrete your inputs, the more reliably the skill will perform.
- If the skill isn't triggering when you expect, ask Benchling AI to revisit its description - that's usually where the issue is
Share skills across your org
After creating a skill, share it with others so they can use it as well. To share a skill:
- Click on the skill
- Navigate to Manage access
- Specify the user, team or organization that you want to share the skill with
- Click Add
- Set the relevant access policy for the user group
- Click Save changes
Note: When you share a skill, it's automatically turned on for the users you share it with. They can toggle the skill off in their personal settings, if desired.