Custom Skill Development

Skills are YAML-defined behaviors that extend Riverse's capabilities. They can be triggered by keywords or run on a schedule.

Skill File Location

Place .yaml files in agent/skills/. They are loaded automatically on startup.

Skill Types

Instruction Skill (keyword-triggered)

A simple skill that provides instructions to the LLM when triggered:

name: explain_code
description: Auto-explain code when user sends a snippet
trigger:
  type: keyword
  keywords: ["explain code", "what does this do"]
instruction: |
  Explain the code step by step:
  1. Summarize what the code does in one sentence
  2. Explain key logic line by line
  3. Point out potential improvements
enabled: true

Workflow Skill (scheduled)

A skill with steps that runs on a cron schedule:

name: weekly_summary
description: Send a warm weekend greeting every Sunday
trigger:
  type: schedule
  cron: "0 20 * * 0"            # Every Sunday at 20:00
steps:
  - respond: |
      Write a short, warm weekend greeting.
enabled: true

Fields Reference

Field	Required	Description
name	Yes	Unique identifier for the skill
description	Yes	What the skill does (helps LLM decide when to use it)
trigger.type	Yes	keyword or schedule
trigger.keywords	For keyword type	List of trigger phrases
trigger.cron	For schedule type	Cron expression
instruction	For keyword type	Instructions for the LLM
steps	For schedule type	List of actions to execute
enabled	Yes	true / false
variables	No	Key-value map of variables available in templates

Creating Skills via Chat

You can create skills by telling the bot directly in conversation:

"Create a skill that reminds me to drink water every 2 hours"

"Make a skill that summarizes my day every evening at 9pm"

The bot will generate the YAML and save it to agent/skills/.

Tip

For Telegram scheduled skills, install the job queue extension: pip install "python-telegram-bot[job-queue]"