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Skills and agents - Amazon Quick
SkillsScheduled agents

Skills and agents

The Amazon Quick desktop application supports skills and scheduled agents that extend what Quick can do on your behalf. Skills are modular instruction sets that equip Quick with specialized capabilities, and scheduled agents run tasks automatically on a recurring basis.

Skills

A skill is a self-contained instruction set that Quick loads on demand to perform a specific type of task. Each skill includes a name, a description, detailed step-by-step instructions, and can optionally include attached tools and reference files. When you invoke a skill, Quick loads its instructions and tools into the active conversation, giving it the specialized knowledge and capabilities needed to complete the task.

Skills are more than simple prompt templates. A skill can define the following components.

  • Instructions – A structured SKILL.md file with detailed, multi-step workflows, validation criteria, and failure-handling guidance.

  • Tools – One or more callable tools that the skill makes available to Quick. For example, the Coding Agents (ACP) skill includes a Send Message To Acp Agent tool, and the Agent Management skill includes 17 tools for creating, updating, and managing scheduled agents.

  • Reference files – Supporting documents, templates, or configuration files that the skill can access during execution.

Built-in skills

Amazon Quick on desktop comes with built-in skills that are pre-installed and ready to use. You can toggle built-in skills on or off as a group. The following table lists examples of built-in skills.

Skill Tools Description
Coding Agents (ACP) 1 Delegate tasks to local coding agents through Agent Client Protocol.
Agent Management 17 Create and manage scheduled agents for recurring monitoring and automated workflows.
Amazon Quick Guide 0 Self-awareness guide for Amazon Quick features, settings, and capabilities.
Web Browser 23 Browse the web and interact with pages using numbered element IDs.
Word Documents 0 Create and modify Microsoft Word documents.
Markdown Documents 0 Create and edit Markdown documents in the session tab viewer.
PDF Documents 0 Create PDF documents using ReportLab.
Presentations 0 Create and edit professional PowerPoint presentations.
Spreadsheets 0 Generate and edit Excel and CSV files.
Image Generation 5 Generate and edit images using Amazon Nova Canvas.
Deep Analysis 1 Conduct thorough, multi-track analysis with structured information gathering.
Transcription 1 Transcribe audio and video files to text.
Knowledge Graph 12 Search, build, and manage the organizational knowledge graph.
Engram Builder 4 Build a personality engram from user messages for writing style cloning.
Parallel Orchestration — Parallel task orchestration with tracked task groups.
Memory Management 4 Browse, search, edit, and delete learned memories.
Conversation Management 10 Manage conversations with folders, pinning, search, and retrieval.
Plan Mode 5 Progress tracking on long-running, multi-step tasks with a living plan document.
Skill Authoring 3 Author a reusable skill from a completed workflow.
Note

The number of built-in skills and their capabilities might change as Amazon Quick is updated. The skills listed in the preceding table reflect the current preview release.

Creating a skill

You can create custom skills in the Amazon Quick desktop application using one of the following methods.

To create a skill with AI

Use the following procedure.

  1. Open Settings in the sidebar.

  2. Choose Capabilities, and then choose the Skills tab.

  3. Under MY SKILLS, choose Create with AI.

  4. Describe the skill you want to create. Quick generates the skill instructions, selects appropriate tools, and creates the SKILL.md file.

  5. Review and edit the generated skill before saving.

To upload a skill file

Use the following procedure.

  1. Open Settings in the sidebar.

  2. Choose Capabilities, and then choose the Skills tab.

  3. Under MY SKILLS, choose Upload.

  4. Select a SKILL.md file from your local machine.

  5. Review and edit the uploaded skill before saving.

Skills that you create appear under the MY SKILLS section in the Skills tab.

Tip

When you complete a multi-step task successfully, Quick might offer to save the workflow as a reusable skill. This is a convenient way to capture effective workflows without writing instructions manually.

Using a skill

You can use a skill in one of the following ways.

  • By name – Mention the skill by name in your chat message. For example, enter "use the Web Browser skill to check this page" or "create a presentation."

  • Automatic selection – Quick automatically detects when a skill is relevant to your request and loads it without you needing to ask. For example, if you ask Quick to create a PowerPoint file, the Presentations skill loads automatically.

  • Run button – In the Skills tab, choose a skill and then choose Run to start a conversation with the skill already loaded.

When a skill activates, its tools load automatically into the conversation. You can see which tools are available in the skill's detail view.

Managing skills

You can manage your skills from Settings > Capabilities > Skills.

  • Search – Use the search bar to find skills by name or description.

  • Toggle built-in skills – Use the master toggle next to BUILT-IN SKILLS to enable or disable all built-in skills at once.

  • View details – Choose a skill to view its description, attached tools and files, and full instructions.

  • Edit instructions – Choose Edit in a skill's detail view to modify its instructions.

  • Run – Choose Run to start a new conversation with the skill pre-loaded.

The Skills tab also displays a How skills work guide at the top of the page with the following three steps.

  1. Create a skill – Write instructions, attach tools, and add reference files. Each skill is a folder that Quick loads on demand.

  2. Invoke in chat – Mention a skill by name or let Quick auto-select it. Tools load automatically when the skill activates.

  3. Iterate and refine – Edit instructions, add sub-files for edge cases, or attach skills to scheduled tasks so they run on autopilot.

Scheduled agents

Scheduled agents are automated tasks that run on a recurring schedule. You define what the agent does, when it runs, what capabilities it uses, and which AI model powers it. Quick runs the agent at the specified times and delivers the results to your activity feed.

How scheduled agents work

Each scheduled agent is configured with four components, accessible through tabs in the agent detail view.

Tab Description
Overview Summary of the agent's type, source, schedule, capabilities, and model.
Schedule Configure when and how often the agent runs (for example, every 15 minutes, daily, weekly).
Capabilities Attach MCP servers to give the agent access to additional tools and data sources.
Prompt Define the agent's instructions — what it does each time it runs.

The Overview tab displays the following information.

Field Description
Type The agent's category (for example, Feed).
Source Whether the agent is Built-in or custom.
Schedule How often the agent runs (for example, Every 15 min).
Capabilities The number of MCP servers attached to the agent.
Model The AI model the agent uses (Fast, Balanced, or Smart).

Built-in agents

Amazon Quick on desktop includes pre-configured agents that are ready to use. The following table describes the built-in agents.

Agent Schedule Description
Feed Agent Every 15 minutes Processes items from your connected services (messaging, email, calendar) and populates the activity feed with prioritized, AI-summarized items and suggested actions.

Built-in agents are pre-configured with sensible defaults, but you can customize their schedule, capabilities, prompt, and model selection.

Creating a scheduled agent

You can create a scheduled agent using one of the following methods.

To create an agent from Settings

Use the following procedure.

  1. Open Settings in the sidebar.

  2. Choose Capabilities, and then choose the Scheduled tasks tab.

  3. Choose Create agent or follow the on-screen prompts to define a new agent.

  4. Configure the agent's schedule, capabilities, prompt, and model.

  5. Toggle the agent on when you're ready for it to start running.

To create an agent from chat

You can ask Quick to create a scheduled agent directly in chat. For example:

  • "Create an agent that checks my Slack channels every morning at 9 AM and summarizes what I missed."

  • "Set up a daily agent to monitor my inbox for urgent emails."

Quick creates the agent and adds it to your Scheduled Tasks.

Agent controls

Each scheduled agent provides the following controls.

Control Icon Description
Edit Pencil Open the agent configuration for editing.
Run now Play Run the agent immediately, regardless of its schedule.
Toggle Switch Turn the agent on or off. When off, the agent does not run at its scheduled times.

You can also select which AI model the agent uses. Choose from Fast, Balanced, or Smart based on the complexity of the agent's task and your preferences for speed versus quality.

Accessing scheduled agents

You can access your scheduled agents from two locations.

  • Agents panel – Choose Agents in the top bar to open a quick-access overlay panel. This panel displays all your agents with their schedule, status, and a toggle to turn them on or off.

  • Settings – Open Settings > Capabilities > Scheduled Tasks for full agent management, including editing, creating, and configuring agent details.

Important

Scheduled agents run locally on your computer. Your computer must be turned on and the Amazon Quick desktop application must be running for scheduled agents to execute at their configured times. If your computer is off or the application is closed when an agent is scheduled to run, the agent does not run until the next scheduled time.

Examples of scheduled agents

The following are examples of scheduled agents you can create.

  • Morning brief – Every morning at 8 AM, summarize unread Slack messages, new emails, and today's calendar events.

  • Inbox triage – Every 30 minutes, scan new emails and flag anything that needs urgent attention.

  • Project monitor – Daily at 5 PM, check a Slack channel for updates on a specific project and compile a summary.

  • Meeting prep – 15 minutes before each calendar meeting, gather relevant context from Slack, email, and files, and prepare a brief.

  • Competitive monitor – Weekly, search the web for news about specified companies and produce a summary report.