Playbooks vs. skills
A skill is a single capability — one action the agent can do. A playbook is a full workflow that can use multiple skills, branch on conditions, loop over data, and orchestrate complex processes.| Skill | Playbook | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Single action | Multi-step workflow |
| Complexity | Simple | Can include branching, loops, conditions |
| Trigger | Usually user request | Schedule, event, or user request |
| Example | ”Look up a customer" | "Every Monday, check all overdue invoices, email each customer, and post a summary to Slack” |
What playbooks can do
- Query data from any connected data source
- Read documents from knowledge bases
- Apply logic — conditions, filters, loops, branching
- Call skills — trigger agent capabilities as steps
- Deliver results — send emails, post to Slack, update records, call webhooks
When to use playbooks
Use a playbook when you want something to happen automatically and reliably, without someone having to ask the agent every time. Common examples:- Weekly reports generated and delivered on Monday morning
- Alerts when a metric crosses a threshold
- Data quality checks that run after every sync
- Onboarding sequences triggered when a new customer is created