Assign Skills and Connectors

A Specialist's capability list determines which Skills and Connectors it can reach. A globally enabled Connector is not automatically available to every restricted Specialist.

Configure explicit access

Example Assign capabilities to RNA-seq QC Reviewer

1. Open Settings → Specialists, then edit RNA-seq QC Reviewer.
2. Turn Full access off.
3. In Skills, select Add a skill, search rnaseq-count-qc, and add the saved Personal package. Confirm Skills 1.
4. In Connectors, select Add a connector and choose Omics Archives. Confirm Connectors 1.
5. Open a capability's detail to verify that you selected the intended resource. Save and reopen the role to confirm persistence.

Control	Effect
Full access On	Uses Main Agent's Skills and Connectors, including later additions.
Full access Off	Uses the explicit lists; a missing binding cannot be supplied merely by naming a tool in the prompt.
Add a skill / Add a connector	Opens a selector for that capability type.
Capability detail	Inspects the resource; it does not run its scientific workflow.
Remove	Removes this binding without uninstalling the resource.
Save changes	Persists the selected scope.

Application-required Skills stay globally enabled. This does not replace the Specialist capability list or turn Full access on. If Customize is unavailable to this role, inspect its binding and resolved resource. See Skill activation.

Four separate readiness checks

Layer	What to verify	Example failure
Role	Installed, enabled, setup complete	An imported role remains disabled until setup is saved.
Capability	The intended resource is assigned and resolved by the runtime	A display name/short name does not resolve to the assigned catalog resource.
Service/runtime	Connected server, required credentials, available kernel/dependencies	Missing OpenAlex key or package.
Operation	Current input version and an approved action	An unavailable file handoff fails before child execution.

The local role retained its Skill and Omics Archives bindings after creation and package import. The first delegated child did not resolve the Skill by the short name it attempted, but completed the explicitly supplied table checks in Python. That verifies delegation and arithmetic, not a successful child Skill load. When this happens, ask the agent to inspect its available catalog and use the exact assigned resource ID; do not broaden Full access just to conceal a naming problem.

Capability access is not permission mode

Full access does not mean “allow every action without asking.” Approval mode, filesystem/network boundaries and runtime rules still apply. A child can surface its own permission request in the parent conversation; inspect the requesting role and operation before responding.

When exporting a role, Connector IDs are references, not portable connections or secrets. Selected Skill files may be included explicitly. On another device, confirm each binding, configure credentials and run one small check before relying on the role. See Manage and share.

Implementation reference: SpecialistEditor.tsx, SpecialistsPanel.tsx.