Skills vs. plugins — which should you use?
Understand the difference between a skill and a plugin so you pick the right one.
Beginner · ~5 min · Prerequisites: None
What you'll do
Learn what makes a skill different from a plugin, compare the two side by side, and decide which to reach for when you want to extend your AI.
A skill is one capability
A skill is a modular ability you give your assistant or agents — one focused thing it can do, like drafting a status update, querying a database, or summarizing a document. Skills live in the Library under Built-in, Organization, or Mine. You can use them as-is, or copy one into Mine to customize it for your workflow.
A plugin is a bundle
A plugin packages several related skills together with the connectors those skills need to talk to external apps. Instead of setting up each piece yourself, a plugin's guided setup wizard copies the bundled skills into your library and walks you through connecting the required apps in one flow.
For example, an email plugin might bundle skills for drafting, sending, and summarizing messages — plus the connector that links your email account.
Which should you use?
| You want… | Reach for… |
|---|---|
| One specific capability | A skill — find it in the catalog and copy it |
| A whole job that needs apps wired up | A plugin — run the setup wizard |
| To tweak how something works | A skill in Mine — copy it and edit |
| Multiple connected skills in one step | A plugin — bundles the pieces for you |
A single capability with no external app dependencies is almost always a skill. When a task spans several steps and requires apps like email, Slack, or a CRM, a plugin saves you assembling the pieces yourself.
Where they live
Both skills and plugins live in the Library. Plugins have their own Plugins tab at the top. Skills are spread across Built-in, Organization, and Mine depending on who created them. When you run a plugin's setup, the bundled skills land in your Mine tab — so after setup, you manage them the same way you manage any other skill.
For the full breakdown of how the Library is organized, see the Library reference.