How Skills Work Differently on the General Agent vs. Custom Agents

Last updated: August 21, 2026

Gumball (the general / personal agent at gumloop.com/gumball/chat) discovers every skill you can access. Custom agents only use skills you attach. If a custom agent is ignoring a skill you created, attach it on that agent — Gumball does not need that step.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Behavior	Gumball (General Agent)	Custom Agent
Which skills can it see?	Your own skills, skills owned by Teams you belong to, and skills shared with you, your organization, or one of your Teams	Only skills you explicitly attach
How does it find the right skill?	Semantic search via a `skill_discovery` tool — matches your request against skill descriptions	Reads the list of attached skill names and descriptions in its system prompt
Are skills listed in the system prompt?	No — that wouldn't scale. It searches on demand instead of listing every skill	Yes — each attached skill's name and description is included (~50–100 tokens per skill)
Do I need to attach skills manually?	No — nothing to configure. You can also type `@` in chat to mention a skill	Yes — open the agent's configuration → Skills → + Skill
What happens when a skill is created during a conversation?	Saved to your skill library. Discoverable by Gumball. Not auto-attached to any custom agent	Auto-attached to that custom agent immediately
Tone and Design personalization	Always active, and private to you — a teammate's writing style never leaks in	Not always-on. Attach a skill if you want that agent to follow a playbook
Scales to many skills?	Yes — search works no matter how large the library is	Practical limit — each attached skill adds tokens on every request

How Gumball Finds Skills

Gumball is the personal agent that comes with every account (internally this is the general agent). Open it at gumloop.com/gumball/chat. Older /chat links redirect there.

It uses a skill_discovery tool. When you send a message, Gumball can search for a matching skill, list skills, or filter by a connected integration (for example, skills related to Google Sheets). To use a match, it reads that skill's SKILL.md from the sandbox — full instructions are loaded only when needed.

At the start of each conversation it can reach:

Every skill you own in the space you're chatting from
Skills owned by any Team you belong to
Skills shared with you directly, with your organization, or with one of your Teams

If two skills share a name, yours wins, then the more-used one. Discovery does not copy skills onto you — Gumball keeps whatever sharing role you already have. Shared skills appear in the sandbox only after a search finds them, so a large library does not have to be copied up front.

Tone and Design personalization skills are always active on Gumball (the Personalization rail on the Gumball home screen). They stay private to you.

How Custom Agents Find Skills

Custom agents only know about skills you attach. Each attached skill's name and description is injected into the system prompt. When you send a message, the agent scans that list and, if one is relevant, reads the full SKILL.md.

To attach a skill:

Open the agent from your agents list.
Go to configuration and scroll to Skills.
Click + Skill and pick an existing skill (or create one there).

A skill that exists in your library but is not attached will not be used. Org-shared and Team-owned skills still need to be attached on that custom agent. Keep descriptions specific so the agent can tell similar skills apart, and avoid attaching dozens — each one costs ~50–100 tokens on every request.

When a Skill Is Created During a Conversation

Skill creation and edits are controlled by the Skill Editing & Creation toggle in the agent's Tools settings. It is enabled by default.

On a custom agent

If the agent creates a skill during a chat (for example, you say “remember this process as a skill”), that skill is auto-attached to this agent. Future chats with the same agent can use it without another setup step.

On Gumball

The skill is saved to your library and becomes discoverable by Gumball through search. It is not auto-attached to any custom agent. To use it on a custom agent, attach it manually.

Which Should I Use?

Use case	Best choice
You have a large library and want flexible discovery	Gumball
You want tight control over exactly which skills are available	Custom agent
You're building a focused agent for one job (for example, a sales assistant)	Custom agent with a small set of relevant skills
You want skills to improve when you correct the agent	Either — both can edit skills when Skill Editing & Creation is on
Many skills overlap in description	Custom agent — attach only the ones that should be visible

If a custom agent still skips a skill after you attach it, see Why Isn't My Agent Using the Skill I Created?

Related Docs

Still Need Help?

If this didn't resolve your issue, reach out to support at support@gumloop.com.