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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.

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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, images, 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.

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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.

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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.

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API reference

EndpointDescription
List SkillsAll skills in the registry
Get SkillMetadata for one skill
List PAL SkillsSkills attached to a PAL
Get PAL SkillOne attachment
Attach Skill to PALAttach or overwrite
Update PAL SkillMerge config changes
Detach Skill from PALRemove an attachment
Replace PAL SkillsBulk-replace all attachments