Built-in Skill Catalog¶
Scope: standalone Python Runtime. For Desktop operations, see the Desktop guide.
Echo Agent provides 35 built-in skills across 10 categories. This document lists all available skills and their descriptions.
Overview¶
| Category | Count | Description |
|---|---|---|
| creative | 4 | Image, PPT, spreadsheet content creation |
| development | 5 | Code execution, GitHub ops, workflow orchestration |
| devops | 2 | Docker management, system monitoring |
| finance | 2 | Finance tracking, stock quotes |
| health | 1 | Fitness and nutrition advice |
| learning | 1 | Flashcard memorization |
| media | 2 | Text-to-speech, voice notes |
| productivity | 9 | Calendar, email, notes, reminders, etc. |
| research | 5 | Paper search, deep research, web extraction |
| utility | 4 | Calculator, file conversion, maps, text tools |
creative¶
Creative content generation skills.
| Skill | Description | Required Env Vars |
|---|---|---|
| excel-author | Create and edit Excel spreadsheets with formulas, charts, and styles | — |
| image-gen | Generate images with OpenAI, Stability AI, or Pollinations | OPENAI_API_KEY for OpenAI; STABILITY_API_KEY for Stability; no key for Pollinations |
| meme-gen | Overlay text on templates or user-provided images with Pillow | No API key; Pillow required |
| ppt-author | Create presentations with auto layout, images, and animations | — |
development¶
Software development assistance skills.
| Skill | Description | Required Env Vars |
|---|---|---|
| code-runner | Run Python snippets with timeouts and limited pattern checks | — |
| github-ops | Perform GitHub operations through the gh CLI |
Requires gh with an authenticated account |
| plan | Break down complex tasks into executable step-by-step plans | — |
| skill-creator | Assist in creating new SKILL.md skill files | — |
| workflow-chain | Run reviewed JSON command stages; the Agent composes skills | — |
code-runner is not a security sandbox
This skill runs a Python subprocess on the host. A temporary working directory and pattern checks do not prevent access to host files or provide reliable network isolation. Do not run untrusted code with it.
devops¶
System operations and container management skills.
| Skill | Description | Required Env Vars |
|---|---|---|
| docker-manage | Manage Docker containers: start, stop, view logs, build images | — |
| system-monitor | Monitor system resources: CPU, memory, disk, process status | — |
finance¶
Finance and investment skills.
| Skill | Description | Required Env Vars |
|---|---|---|
| finance-tracker | Record and analyze personal income/expenses, generate reports | — |
| stocks | Query stocks, funds, and crypto through public endpoints | No API key |
health¶
Health management skills.
| Skill | Description | Required Env Vars |
|---|---|---|
| fitness-nutrition | Provide fitness plans and nutrition advice, track exercise records | — |
Health advice disclaimer
Advice from fitness-nutrition is for reference only and does not constitute medical advice. Consult a professional physician for health concerns.
learning¶
Learning assistance skills.
| Skill | Description | Required Env Vars |
|---|---|---|
| flashcards | Create and review flashcards with spaced repetition (SRS) support | — |
media¶
Audio and media processing skills.
| Skill | Description | Required Env Vars |
|---|---|---|
| tts-voice | Synthesize speech through Edge TTS or OpenAI TTS | Edge TTS needs no key; OpenAI uses OPENAI_API_KEY |
| voice-note | Transcribe voice messages to text and organize as notes | — |
productivity¶
Daily efficiency and office automation skills.
| Skill | Description | Required Env Vars |
|---|---|---|
| calendar | Manage events through CalDAV or local ICS | CalDAV account credentials; no key for local ICS |
| daily-briefing | Generate daily briefings: weather, schedule, to-dos, news digest | — |
| email-assistant | Read and send email through Himalaya or IMAP/SMTP | Configured Himalaya account or email connection variables such as ECHO_EMAIL_HOST |
| note-taking | Structured note-taking with tags, search, and export | — |
| notion-sync | Read, create, and update Notion pages and databases | NOTION_API_TOKEN |
| ocr-document | Extract text from images or PDFs, including table recognition | — |
| reminder | Set timed reminders with recurring and conditional triggers | — |
| summarize | Intelligent summarization of long text, web pages, and documents | — |
| weather | Query real-time weather and forecasts for specified cities | — |
daily-briefing is a composite skill
The instructions guide the Agent in composing weather, calendar, reminders and news. The bundled script itself reports date, weather and available local reminders; it neither invokes other skills nor registers scheduled delivery. The Agent must compose the full workflow explicitly; periodic execution uses authorized Cron.
research¶
Information retrieval and deep research skills.
| Skill | Description | Required Env Vars |
|---|---|---|
| arxiv | Search arXiv papers, get abstracts and PDF links | — |
| deep-research | Combine search, extraction, and cross-checking into a cited report | No fixed API key; depends on the selected search method |
| rss-watcher | Monitor RSS feeds, extract updates, and generate summaries | — |
| web-extract | Extract structured data from web pages (articles, tables, lists) | — |
| web-search | Search with DuckDuckGo or a self-hosted SearXNG instance | No API key; relevant service or dependency required |
deep-research costs markedly more than the other skills
It runs several rounds of search and page fetching, so a single invocation can consume tens of times the tokens of an ordinary exchange. The skill itself neither estimates usage nor imposes a cap.
Constrain it from the cost side instead: cost.dailyBudgetUsd sets a hard daily ceiling (reaching it refuses further calls) and cost.softThresholdRatio warns at a fraction of it. After the fact, echo-agent cost breaks spending down by model. See cost control.
utility¶
General-purpose tool skills.
| Skill | Description | Required Env Vars |
|---|---|---|
| calculator | Math calculations, unit conversions, and formula solving | — |
| file-convert | File format conversion: PDF↔Word, image formats, audio/video transcoding | — |
| maps-poi | Query places and routes with OpenStreetMap/Nominatim and OSRM | No key by default; optional AMAP_API_KEY |
| text-tools | Text processing toolkit: translation, formatting, regex replace, encoding | — |
Credentials and runtime requirements¶
The table distinguishes required account credentials from optional provider keys. image-gen uses OPENAI_API_KEY or STABILITY_API_KEY for those respective paths; Pollinations needs no key. tts-voice needs no key for Edge TTS and uses OPENAI_API_KEY for its OpenAI path. notion-sync uses NOTION_API_TOKEN; github-ops requires an authenticated gh CLI. CalDAV calendar access needs account credentials, while local ICS needs no network key. See each skill's SKILL.md for installation commands and limits.
Related Links¶
- Skills System Guide
- Plugin System — For registering new tools