Released: June 16, 2026
Custom Skills for Bolt Agents is now available open beta for every institution with Bolt Agents, no opt-in required. Until now, agents ran on a fixed library of Element-built skills, and your control was deciding which ones to turn on. This release opens that layer up. You can now build your own skills that teach agents how to handle the scenarios specific to your institution, what to do, when to do it, and which actions to take, across every channel and conversation mode Bolt supports.
Institution-specific workflows often don't map cleanly to a predefined skill, so teams have been packing instructions into fields like Voice Style or Job instructions, which is fragile and hard to repeat. Custom Skills replaces those workarounds with named, reusable behaviors you can manage, test, and enable per agent.
Alongside the skill builder, this release includes the new Agent Test Console, so you can simulate conversations on any channel whether you use custom skills or not.
Why an Open Beta?
Custom Skills has been in closed beta for a few months now. Because skills run on very specific institutional flows and processes, additional feedback is welcome as you stress test your specific agent skills. Your input directly shapes where it goes next. Tell us what's working, request what you would like to see, and compare notes with other partner schools rolling it out alongside you.
Create your own agent skills: Define a skill with plain-language instructions describing when it should apply and what the agent should do, plus simple if/or logic where you need deterministic behavior. Skills are created once at the instance level and shared across your agents.
Applicability conditions: Control when each skill is available, including restricting it to specific channels (Messenger, SMS, email, voice) and schedules, so behaviors only run where and when they should.
Tool calling with @ mentions: Type @ inside the action description to give a skill deterministic tools, then configure each one in a side sheet (which event, which agent, which workflow). Available tools include Schedule Appointment, Register for Event, Start Application, Hand Off to Agent, Transfer Call, Create Task (now with due date support), Enroll in Workflow, Add Label, Send Form, and Create Alert.
Per-agent activation: Enable each skill on only the agents that need it from the agent's Skills tab, so one instance-level library can serve different agents in different roles.
Full conversation pipeline coverage: Custom Skills apply to direct inbound conversations, replies inside job-initiated outreach, and conversations handed off from other agents, keeping behavior consistent however the conversation started.
Agent Test Console: Simulate Messenger, SMS, email, and voice conversations with your agent before publishing. The debug trace shows which skills matched or were skipped and why, and simulated tool calls don't create real records, so you can test safely.
Custom Skills turns Bolt Agents from a fixed set of capabilities into a platform your team can extend. Workflows unique to your campus, like routing financial aid questions to the right person, running intake for a specific program, or flagging concerning messages for case management, no longer wait on a product release. You define the behavior, test it in the console, and turn it on for the right agents. Custom Skills is included with Bolt Agents at no additional cost.
Use these guides to set up Custom Skills, decide when to use them, and troubleshoot skill behavior
The full guide to creating and managing Custom Skills
Learn when Custom Skills are the right option and when another feature fits better
Write skills that behave predictably
Diagnose why a skill did or did not fire
Build your first skill in minutes