Skills are a mechanism in Qoder for packaging domain expertise into reusable capabilities. Each Skill contains a SKILL.md file that defines the skill’s description, instructions, and optional auxiliary files. Skills work identically in both Qoder IDE and CLI.
Key features:
- Intelligent invocation: The model autonomously decides when to use a Skill based on user requests and descriptions
- Modular design: Each Skill focuses on solving a specific type of task
- Flexible extension: Supports both user-level and project-level custom Skills
Use Cases
When to use Skills:
- Complex specialized tasks: Workflows requiring domain expertise (code review, PDF processing, API design)
- Standardized processes: Tasks following fixed steps (commit conventions, deployment flows)
- Team knowledge sharing: Package best practices for team use
- Repetitive work: Frequently executed tasks requiring specialized guidance
Built-in Skills
In the IDE chat or Quest, type / to run bundled helpers (examples):
| Name | Purpose |
|---|
/create-skill | Scaffold a new Skill with guidance |
/create-skill-ui | Generate an interactive HTML widget surface for a Skill |
/vercel-deploy | One-click Vercel deploy flow (OAuth and build) |
/create-subagent | Scaffold a custom sub-agent |
/canvas | Create or edit .canvas.tsx visual artifacts in the Canvas preview |
Skill UI
Skill UI lets agents render interactive HTML components during execution — forms, charts, config panels, and more. The generated components are embedded directly in the conversation flow, so you can interact without leaving the chat. The first time you use a Skill UI, the agent needs to create the interface for that Skill.
In Quest’s Agent mode, use the /create-skill-ui command. The agent will create an HTML Widget interface for the specified Skill, which you can preview and iterate on in real time before saving as a template file.
Vercel Deploy
/vercel-deploy is a one-click deployment capability in Quest. It automates the entire workflow of deploying your web project to Vercel — from CLI setup and OAuth login to building and production deployment.
Use the /vercel-deploy command in the Quest conversation, and Qoder will automatically start the deployment workflow. On the first deployment, Qoder will guide you through Vercel OAuth login. Follow the prompts to complete account linking in your browser. Once authorized, Qoder will automatically build your project and deploy it to Vercel’s production environment. After a successful deployment, you’ll receive a live URL.
- Vercel account required: Make sure you have a Vercel account before deploying. You can create one during the authorization flow if you don’t have one yet.
- Project must be a buildable web app: Vercel supports Next.js, React, Vue, Svelte, and other major frameworks. If the project lacks a valid build configuration, deployment may fail. Verify that your project builds successfully locally before deploying.
Canvas
Canvas turns text, data, or analysis into a laid-out panel with stat cards, tables, charts, and other views. The output is a standard .canvas.tsx file that the Agent renders live in the Canvas preview. To change what is shown or how it looks, keep prompting the Agent in the conversation—it updates the source and re-renders automatically.
Use the /canvas command in chat and the Agent can create or edit the corresponding .canvas.tsx file and render it live in the Canvas preview.
Use cases
- Dashboards: After the Agent analyzes logs or metrics, it can build a dashboard in Canvas with KPIs and trend charts at a glance.
- Structured reports: Turn dense findings (for example profiling or dependency analysis) into sectioned panels instead of long walls of text.
- Architecture and flow visualization: When clarifying system behavior or writing docs, render state flows, module dependencies, or high-level architecture so the team stays aligned.
How to Use
There are two triggering methods:
-
Automatic Trigger: Describe your need directly, and the model will automatically determine whether to use an appropriate Skill:
Analyze the errors in this log file
log-analyzer Skill.
-
Manual Trigger: Use
/skill-name to trigger manually:
Creating Skills
You can create or obtain custom Skills in three ways:
1. Auto-create with Built-in Skill
create-skill is Qoder’s built-in skill creation assistant. It guides you step-by-step through an interactive dialogue to create SKILL.md files that conform to specifications.
Usage:
/create-skill <Skill description, e.g., convert Word documents to PDF>
If you’re unfamiliar with the SKILL.md file format, we recommend using /create-skill first to generate an initial template, then adjust and optimize it based on your actual needs.
2. Install via Skills CLI
Use the skills CLI to install third-party Skills from the skills.sh marketplace or GitHub with one command.
Execute the following commands in the Qoder IDE terminal:
# Install from skills.sh marketplace
npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-browser -a qoder
# Install specific skill from GitHub repository
npx skills add https://github.com/anthropics/skills --skill skill-creator -a qoder
See skills CLI documentation for more usage patterns.
Use case: Install mature, community-shared skills for ready-to-use functionality.
3. Create Manually
If you want to fully customize a skill, you can manually create a SKILL.md file and place it in the specified directory.
Steps:
- Create the skill directory and SKILL.md file
- Place the file in one of the following paths:
| Location | Path | Scope |
|---|
| User-level | ~/.qoder/skills/{skill-name}/SKILL.md | All projects for current user |
| Project-level | .qoder/skills/{skill-name}/SKILL.md | Current project only |
- Restart Qoder IDE and type
/ in the dialog to view the loaded Skills list
Note: When a skill with the same name exists at both user-level and project-level, the project-level skill takes priority.
Use case: Need to fully customize skill content or directly import existing skill files.
Example Scenarios
Log Analysis
Create a log-analyzer Skill that automatically activates when you say “analyze this log”, helping identify errors, performance issues, and anomaly patterns.
API Documentation Generation
Create an api-doc-generator Skill that automatically identifies API endpoints and generates standard documentation and OpenAPI specs.
Code Review
Create a code-reviewer Skill that automatically reviews code according to team standards, checking for potential issues and best practices.
Full Documentation
For the complete guide on Skills, including how to create them, write SKILL.md files, best practices, and troubleshooting, see Skills Full Documentation. 
