A phone agent that only answers questions is useful. A phone agent that can actually do something on the call — take an order, send a confirmation email, text a link, transfer to the right person, or look up an account — is what turns it into a real part of your operation. In Flowyte, those actions are called Skills, and you build them in plain English with guided forms. No JSON, no code.
This guide walks through the Skills page from start to finish. The video above shows it live; the written steps below let you follow along at your own pace, even without watching.
What Skills Are
A Skill is a single action your agent can take during a conversation. Where the agent's knowledge lets it answer, a Skill lets it act. On the Skills & Tools page you give the agent capabilities through guided forms — never raw JSON — and you can see exactly what caller data leaves your system.
Skills come in two flavors:
- Connected integration actions — if you have connected a tool like a calendar, a spreadsheet, or your store, you can add its ready-made actions as skills (for example, check availability, book an appointment, log a row, or look up a record).
- Built-in capabilities — actions that work without any integration: answer from knowledge, call a webhook, look up a record, transfer the call, send a text, or send an email.
You add as many skills as the job needs, and the agent decides when to use each one based on what the caller is asking for.
Think of each skill as one job your agent should be able to finish on a call. "Take a to-go order and email it to the kitchen" is a skill. "Book an appointment on the calendar" is a skill. Start with the one or two actions that matter most for your business.
What You Will Build
By following along you will create a working skill that:
- Collects the exact details you specify from the caller
- Performs an action with those details — in the walkthrough, emailing a to-go order to the restaurant
- Shows you, in plain language, precisely what data the skill sends out and where
- Is configured entirely through a guided form, with no code
The walkthrough uses a restaurant agent as the example, but the same steps apply to any business: a clinic capturing a callback request, a contractor logging a service lead, a shop confirming an order.
The Fastest Way: Build a Skill in Plain English
The quickest way to build a skill is to describe it to the Assist build copilot in the side panel and let it assemble the whole thing for you.
Open the Skills page
In the Flowyte visual builder, open your agent and go to Skills. You will see the Skills & Tools page: any connected integrations and their available actions at the top, and an "Add a capability" section of built-in actions below.
Describe the skill you want
In the Assist panel, describe the action in plain English. In the walkthrough the request is: "Create a skill that takes a to-go order. Collect the item, quantity, customer name, and phone number, then email the order to the restaurant." Be specific about what to collect and what to do with it.
Let Assist build the whole skill
Assist creates the skill for you — in the walkthrough it names it "Take To-Go Order" — and fills in the full guided form: the parameters to gather, their descriptions, and the email it will send. You watch the panels update as it works.
Review the guided form
Open the skill to see exactly what was built. The form is plain fields, never JSON:
- Name and Description - a short name plus a line telling the agent when to use the skill
- What the agent collects - each value to gather, with a type (Text, Number) and a description so the agent knows what to put there
- The action - in this case the email's recipient, subject, sender name, and intro line
- Availability - whether the skill runs always, only during business hours, or only after hours
Check what data leaves your system
Because this skill sends information out, the form flags it as writing data and shows a plain-language summary of exactly what leaves and where — the recipient and the specific fields, and nothing else. Review it so you know precisely what the agent will share before it ever runs.
Deploy and publish
New skills are saved but not live until you publish. Flowyte shows an "unpublished changes" banner and a deploy diff so you can review exactly what changed, then publish to make the skill live on your phone number and chat.
Skills you create in the builder are saved as a pending change first. Your live calls keep running the last published version until you review the diff and publish, so you never push an untested change to real callers by accident.
Prefer to Build by Hand?
You do not have to use the copilot. The "Add a capability" section lets you add any built-in action yourself and fill in the same guided form:
- Answer from knowledge - look up an answer in the agent's knowledge base and speak it back
- Call a webhook - send the collected details to a URL you control and use the response
- Look up a record - query your database or a connected source for an order, account, or booking
- Transfer the call - hand the caller to a human or another number
- Send a text - send the caller a confirmation, link, or code
- Send an email - email a confirmation or summary to the caller or your team
Whichever way you start, you end up editing the same clear form, so you can hand-tune anything the copilot drafts.
Build Skills via the Open API
Anything you can build on the Skills page, you can also create programmatically. Flowyte exposes an open API so developers can add skills with an API key — useful when you are provisioning many agents or wiring Flowyte into an existing system.
You do not need the API to get value from Skills. The guided forms and the Assist copilot cover everything most teams need. The API is there for when you want to automate setup at scale.
Why This Works
Each part of the Skills page has a clear job, which is what keeps building reliable:
- Plain-English Assist turns your intent into a complete, editable skill in seconds.
- Guided forms mean you configure real fields, never JSON, so a skill is easy to read and change later.
- The data summary shows exactly what leaves your system before the skill runs, so there are no surprises.
- Connected integrations let the agent act in tools you already use, while built-in capabilities cover email, text, transfer, webhooks, and lookups without any setup.
- Deploy with a diff keeps every change reviewable before it reaches a live caller.
Because skills are assembled from named, guided actions, you always know what your agent can do and exactly what data it shares.
What's Next
Once your first skill is live, natural next steps include:
- Add more skills so the agent can finish more kinds of calls on its own
- Connect an integration to give the agent ready-made actions in your calendar, spreadsheet, or store
- Tighten availability so a skill only runs during the hours that make sense
- Test before you publish so every new skill behaves the way you expect
If you have not built the agent itself yet, start with the agentic agent builder walkthrough, then come back here to give it skills. Skills run on the same pay-as-you-go usage as the rest of your agent, so adding more of them costs nothing until a call actually uses one — see pricing for current rates.
Give Your Agent Skills
Describe the action you want in plain English, review the guided form, see exactly what data it sends, and publish. No code required.
Start Building FreeCommon Questions
What is a Skill in Flowyte?
A Skill is a single action your AI phone agent can take during a call, such as collecting order details, sending an email or text, transferring the call, calling a webhook, or looking up a record. Knowledge lets the agent answer questions; Skills let it take action.
How do I build a skill without code?
Describe the action you want to the Assist build copilot in plain English, and it creates the whole skill for you using a guided form. You can also add a built-in capability yourself from the Add a capability section. Either way you fill in plain fields, never raw JSON.
What kinds of skills can my agent have?
Built-in capabilities include answering from knowledge, calling a webhook, looking up a record, transferring the call, sending a text, and sending an email. If you connect an integration, you can also add its ready-made actions, such as checking availability, booking an appointment, or logging a record.
Can I see what data a skill sends out?
Yes. When a skill writes or sends data, the form flags it and shows a plain-language summary of exactly what leaves your system and where — the recipient and the specific fields, and nothing else — so you can review it before the skill ever runs.
Do new skills go live immediately?
No. A new or changed skill is saved as a pending change first. Your live phone and chat keep running the last published version until you review the deploy diff and publish, so an untested change never reaches real callers by accident.
Can I create skills with an API?
Yes. Flowyte exposes an open API, so developers can create skills programmatically with an API key. You do not need the API for normal use — the guided forms and the Assist copilot cover what most teams need — but it is there for automating setup at scale.
How is this different from a traditional IVR?
A traditional IVR is a menu tree where callers press numbered options you defined in advance. A Flowyte agent holds a natural conversation and uses Skills to actually complete the task — taking an order, sending a confirmation, or transferring — instead of just routing a button press.
How much does Flowyte cost?
Flowyte uses prepaid credits, where 1 credit equals $0.01. You start with free signup credits and pay as you go, or choose a monthly plan that includes credits at lower per-unit rates. Voice starts at $0.11 per minute on pay-as-you-go and drops on higher plans, and phone numbers are $2 per number per month. See the pricing page for current plans and full details.
About the Author
Flowyte Support
Support Team
Helping businesses automate phone calls with AI. Questions? Reach us at support@flowyte.com.
