What Are Agent Skills?
You've built an agent with a brain (Instructions) and a memory (Vector Store). But without a way to communicate, the agent cannot do any work. Skills are the tools that allow your agent to interact with the world. You configure them all in the Skills tab of the Launch Pad.
- Highlight 1: The Skills tab.
- Highlight 2: The plus button adds a skill from Skills to add.
- Highlight 1: The pencil opens a skill's settings (here, Escalation).
- Highlight 1: Each row says whether the skill still needs setting up.
Three Categories of Skills
| Category | What It Does | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Channels | How the agent talks to users | Live Chat, SMS, Email, Voice |
| Capabilities | Internal tools the agent uses to think better | Memory, Web Search, Scoring, Enhanced Prompting |
| Integrations | How the agent connects to other software | Webhooks, Functions, API, MCP, Calendar |
The Four Communication Channels
The real power of raia is its omnichannel capability. Build the agent once and deploy it across four different mediums — knowledge, tone, and context follow the conversation wherever it happens.
Live Chat (Web Widget)
Setup: Define a Welcome Message, add quick-reply buttons (e.g., Pricing, Support), and customize brand colors.
Note: You receive a JavaScript snippet to paste into your website code. The widget is fully customizable via the SDK Studio at https://sdk.raia.run.
SMS (Text Messaging)
Setup: In new SMS setup, choose the country in Phone Number and enter Area Code. Enter Default SMS Introduction and SMS Signature. Review forwarding, Response Delay (seconds) and Auto Archive Chat before Create; number setup may involve charges, so get approval first. Existing settings show the assigned read-only number and Update.
- Highlight 1: Phone Number: choose the country
- Highlight 2: Area Code
- Highlight 3: Default SMS Introduction
- Highlight 1: SMS Signature
- Highlight 2: Call Forwarding Phone Number
- Highlight 3: Response Delay (seconds)
Note: Once a number is assigned and saved, it cannot be changed. Choose carefully.
Email (Inbound + Outbound)
Setup: Enter Sender name, the approved Email Address and Default Subject. Choose Mode, then complete the form with Create for new setup or Update for existing settings. The suggested Northstar address shown below is not configured. Send Test sends a real email; use approved recipients only.
- Highlight 1: Sender name
- Highlight 2: Email Address
- Highlight 3: Default Subject
Note: Verify your own custom domain so emails come from @yourcompany.com instead of the default @raiabot.com.
Voice (Inbound + Outbound Calls)
Setup: Provision a phone number and define the agent's greeting.
Note: Uses text-to-speech and speech-to-text for natural phone conversations.
Recommended Channel Rollout Strategy
If you're building your first agent, do not turn on all four channels at once. Each channel introduces new complexities. Roll out in phases:
| Phase | Channel | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1 | Live Chat | Easiest to control, users expect AI in chat widgets, transcripts are easy to monitor. |
| Phase 2 | SMS | Once the agent performs well in chat, enable SMS for mobile reach. |
| Phase 3 | Email needs careful tone management — responses are longer and asynchronous. | |
| Phase 4 | Voice | Voice is the highest-touch channel. Only enable once knowledge and instructions are heavily refined. |
The Escalation Skill (The Safety Net)
No matter how well you train your agent, it will eventually encounter a question it cannot answer or a customer who is frustrated. The Escalation Skill watches for specific triggers; when one fires, the agent stops replying and alerts a human via email, SMS, or in-app notification.
| Trigger | When It Fires |
|---|---|
| Explicit requests | The user types "Talk to a human", "Representative", or "Manager". |
| Knowledge gaps | The agent cannot find an answer in its Vector Store after two attempts. |
| Negative sentiment | The user uses aggressive language or expresses extreme frustration. |
Best Practice: Tell the agent exactly what to say when escalating. In your Instructions, add a rule like: "If you must escalate, say: 'I understand this is complex. Let me connect you with a human team member right now.'"
Key FAQ
Do I need to write different Instructions for each channel? No. The agent uses the same Instructions and Vector Store across all channels. Formatting can differ by channel, so test replies in each channel you enable.