2.4 Skills, knowledge, connections, and permissions
Skills tell an employee how to work. Knowledge provides its factual grounding. Connections give it access to external information or tools. Permissions determine whether it may use them for the current task.
Configure a research task
- Skill: List sources first, then separate facts, inferences, and points that need confirmation.
- Knowledge: Supply approved product information.
- Connection: Connect a read-only reference service if needed.
- Permissions: Let the research employee read only the specified sources, without permission to publish.
Capability types and distribution packages
A skill describes a reusable working method. A task template defines a repeatable task with a goal, inputs, and acceptance requirements. A connection makes an external system or tool available. An extension package distributes resources and the programs that run them; one package may supply several capability types. Preserve that ownership instead of presenting package contents as unrelated installations.
An AI team template combines employees, skills, references, connections, boards, task templates, and required apps. See Three product layers.
Installation and authorization are different
Importing a resource package makes its resources available for configuration. Installing an MCP service does not give every employee access to all its tools. You still need to associate resources with the relevant employee or business area and check the actual permissions.
Labels such as “Read” and “Write” help explain what a connection is for. An MCP tool's safety cannot be judged solely by its self-reported annotations. The current adapter has limitations in passing these annotations through. See Permission boundaries.
Saved enablement, actual loading, connection health, and business permissions are separate facts. A connected service can still be unauthorized for an employee; an installed component can still be waiting for a restart. These dimensions do not apply to every resource.
Where to manage each item
| Content | Management entry |
|---|---|
| Documents and reference material | Library |
| Skills, apps, connections, and task templates | Marketplace > My apps and skills; business and employee configuration have their own entry points; native extensions are under Settings > Connections and environment |
| AI employees and employee permissions | Employees |
| Discovering and choosing resources | Marketplace |
Store keys in the dedicated key storage, never in skills, knowledge, or Marketplace resource packages.