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Robin Book Skills

A skill is a reusable behavior you hand Robin at the start of a chat. Instead of explaining what kind of feedback you want every time, you pick a skill once and Robin holds that lens for the whole conversation: reading like a first reader, interrogating your premise, or hunting for contradictions.

Skills are talk-only. Robin discusses your book through the chosen lens; they never suggest changes to your text while a skill is active, even if the chat is in Edit Mode. To work with a different skill, you start a new chat.

Built-in skills​

Every workspace starts with a set of ready-to-use skills:

  • Beta-Reader Critique: Robin reads chapter by chapter and reacts like your first reader: hook, momentum, payoff, and an honest overall verdict.
  • Manuscript Health Check: a guided diagnostic pass. Robin reviews your prose and walks you through what stood out, conversationally, instead of dumping numbers at you.
  • Story Grilling: Robin pressure-tests your premise, stakes, character motivation, and plot holes, one sharp question at a time.
  • Character Deep-Dive: Robin focuses on a single character's consistency, voice, and arc across the whole book (or series).
  • Continuity & Series Check: Robin hunts for contradictions inside the book and against the earlier books in your series.
  • Grill Me - Robin interviews you about a new idea, character, or storyline, one question at a time, and offers a recommended answer with each question.
  • Search in Book - Robin digs through your manuscript for answers, such as where a thread was planted or what a character said, and quotes the actual pages.
  • Web Research - Robin researches real-world detail for your story, such as period facts or how something works, and notes where each claim comes from.

Using a skill​

  1. In Write, open the Robin chat panel.
  2. Click the + button beside the message box.
  3. Choose Skills, then pick the skill you want.

The selected skill appears as a chip next to the message box so you always know which lens Robin is using. Send your first message and the skill locks to that conversation, and Robin keeps that behavior for every reply that follows.

To switch skills, click the x on the skill chip (or choose Skills, then Exit skill (new chat) from the + menu). That starts a fresh chat where you can pick a different skill or none at all.

Creating your own skills​

Beyond the built-in set, you can write your own skills and share them across your workspace. From the + menu, choose Create skill... to open the skill manager.

A skill has two parts:

  • Skill name - a short label for the behavior, shown in the menu.
  • Instructions for Robin - plain-language guidance telling Robin the role to take and how to behave.

Click Create skill to save it. To change one later, pick it under Your skills and click Update skill.

Writing a good skill is a lot like briefing a trusted colleague. A few tips:

  • Name the behavior, not the topic. "Tension Tightener" works better than "Chapter 3 help."
  • Give Robin a role and a lens. For example, a skeptical first reader hunting for slack pacing.
  • Say what to do and what to avoid. "Cut filler, keep my voice; never rewrite dialogue wholesale."
  • Add a couple of concrete moves so Robin has a method, not just a vibe.

Your skills are shared with everyone in the workspace, so a critique style you refine once is available to your whole writing team. Creating and editing workspace skills is available to members with editing permissions; everyone can use the skills that exist.

See also: Chat with Robin | Robin, your co-author

Try Robin skills in WriteinaClick.