Overview

Skills are pre-built capabilities you can attach to a PAL. Each skill bundles the prompting, conversation configuration, and document wiring needed for a capability, so you can turn it on without building it yourself. Skills are authored and maintained by Tavus. You choose which skills a PAL has from the skill registry; you don’t write skill code.

Skills vs tools: Skills are Tavus-authored capabilities you toggle on (internet_search, presentation, magic_canvas, etc.). Tools are functions you define in the tools registry for the LLM or Raven to call during a conversation. A PAL can use both.

A skill is active as soon as it is attached to a PAL. To turn a skill off, detach it with Detach Skill from PAL.

Available skills

Internet Search

Skill ID: internet_search. Real-time web search during a call. No configuration - a pure on/off toggle.

Presentation

Skill ID: presentation. Walk participants through slide decks and images from your Knowledge Base.

Magic Canvas

Skill ID: magic_canvas. Interactive UI during a call: questions, calendars, charts, and more. User responses flow back to the PAL and your backend.

List the current registry at any time with List Skills. More skills will be added over time.

Attaching a skill

Attach a skill to a PAL with a PUT to the PAL’s skill collection. Certain skills require a config object - see each skill’s page for its fields.

curl --request PUT \
  --url https://tavusapi.com/v2/pals/{pal_id}/skills/{skill_id} \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --header 'x-api-key: <api-key>' \
  --data '{}'

The attachment takes effect on the PAL’s next conversation.

Updating a skill’s configuration

Use PATCH to merge changes into an existing attachment without resending the whole config. Fields you pass replace the existing values; fields you omit are preserved; fields set to null are removed:

curl --request PATCH \
  --url https://tavusapi.com/v2/pals/{pal_id}/skills/{skill_id} \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --header 'x-api-key: <api-key>' \
  --data '{
    "config": {
      "prompt": "Keep the walkthrough under five minutes."
    }
  }'

Use PUT on the same path to overwrite the entire configuration, or Replace PAL Skills to set a PAL’s full skill set in one call.

API reference

Endpoint	Description
List Skills	All skills in the registry
Get Skill	Metadata for one skill
List PAL Skills	Skills attached to a PAL
Get PAL Skill	One attachment
Attach Skill to PAL	Attach or overwrite
Update PAL Skill	Merge config changes
Detach Skill from PAL	Remove an attachment
Replace PAL Skills	Bulk-replace all attachments

Getting started

Build

Deploy

Debug

Guides

Resources

Available skills

Internet Search

Presentation

Magic Canvas

Attaching a skill

Updating a skill’s configuration

API reference

​Available skills

Internet Search

Presentation

Magic Canvas

​Attaching a skill

​Updating a skill’s configuration

​API reference

Available skills

Attaching a skill

Updating a skill’s configuration

API reference