Getting Started
First-time setup
On first launch, Skill Builder opens a setup screen. You need:
- An Anthropic API key
- A Skills Folder path
How to complete setup
- Enter your API key in Anthropic API Key.
- Click Test to validate it. The button changes to Valid after a successful check.
- Review the Skills Folder. This is where completed skills are saved. Click Browse to change it.
- Click Get Started.
The button is enabled when both fields have values. Validation is recommended but not required to continue.
What happens at startup
Before the main UI appears, the app may show a few startup surfaces:
Splash screen
A splash screen appears while the OpenHands runtime is initialized.
Startup reconciliation
If Skill Builder detects changes on disk that are not reflected in its database, it shows Startup Reconciliation.
- Notifications summarize what changed.
- Discovered skills must be resolved one by one.
- For each discovered skill you can choose Add to Library or Remove.
- When the dialog requires changes to be applied, the footer actions are Continue Without Applying and Apply Reconciliation.
Orphaned skills
If the database still references builder skills whose workspace files are gone, the app shows Orphaned Skills Found.
- Keep preserves the record and resets that skill back to step 0.
- Delete removes the orphaned record.
App layout
The app has three primary surfaces:
| Surface | What it does |
|---|---|
| Dashboard | Shows the skill list and, when a skill is selected, its workspace tabs |
| Workflow | Runs the 4-step builder flow for Skill Builder skills |
| Settings | Holds app configuration, plugins, marketplace settings, GitHub, documents, and usage |
Two important areas are embedded inside those surfaces rather than being standalone routes:
- Plugins explains how skills are grouped into plugins.
- Refine is a workspace tab on the dashboard for builder skills.
- Eval Workbench is a workspace tab with performance and trigger modes for testing skill behavior.
- Trigger Mode explains the trigger-specific mode inside Eval Workbench.
- Documents lives in Settings → Documents.
- Usage lives in Settings → Usage.
Quick concepts
Skill — A SKILL.md file plus optional references/*.md files. Every skill belongs to exactly one plugin.
Plugin — A named group of related skills. The app creates a default Skills plugin automatically. You can create additional plugins to organise skills into logical bundles. See Plugins.
Skill source
- Skill Builder: built in the workflow
- Marketplace: imported from a GitHub-backed registry
- Imported: uploaded from a single-skill package file
Workspace — The app-managed working area for builder runs, refine sessions, and related artifacts. Completed skills are saved separately in your Skills Folder.