Skill manifest schema

Complete JSON schema reference for Curia skill definitions — all fields, action_risk levels, capabilities, and entity enrichment.

Skill definitions live in skills/<name>/skill.json. Each manifest declares what the skill does, what it needs, and its security classification.

Schema reference

{
  "name": "string",
  "description": "string",
  "version": "string",
  "sensitivity": "normal | elevated",
  "action_risk": "none | low | medium | high | critical | number",
  "inputs": {
    "field_name": "type_string",
    "optional_field": "type_string?"
  },
  "outputs": {
    "field_name": "type_string"
  },
  "permissions": ["string"],
  "secrets": ["string"],
  "timeout": 30000,
  "capabilities": ["string"],
  "entity_enrichment": {
    "param": "string",
    "default": "caller | agent"
  }
}

Field details

name

Unique identifier for the skill. Must match the directory name under skills/. Convention: lowercase kebab-case.

action_risk

Required. The minimum autonomy score required to invoke this skill without explicit CEO approval. Curia will not start if any skill omits this field.

Label	Minimum score	Use for
none	0	Read-only operations with no side effects — web search, reading email, summarizing
low	60	Internal state writes — memory, contacts, configuration
medium	70	Outbound communications — sending email, Signal messages
high	80	Calendar writes, commitments on behalf of the CEO
critical	90	Financial, destructive, or irreversible operations

A raw number (0–100) can be used for precision (e.g., 75 for a skill that should unlock just above “approval required” but below “spot-check”). Numbers outside [0, 100] produce a validation error at load time.

sensitivity

Value	Meaning
normal	Can be auto-approved based on autonomy score
elevated	Requires human approval on first use, regardless of autonomy score

inputs and outputs

Shorthand type declarations for skill parameters and return values. Field names map to type strings:

Type string	Meaning
"string"	Required string
"string?"	Optional string
"number"	Required number
"boolean"	Required boolean
"object"	Required object (any shape)

For MCP-sourced skills, the full JSON Schema from the MCP server’s tools/list response is used directly instead of this shorthand.

permissions

Array of permission names this skill requires. Validated at load time.

secrets

Array of environment variable names this skill needs access to via ctx.secret(). Only secrets declared here are accessible — the skill cannot read arbitrary environment variables.

timeout

Per-invocation timeout in milliseconds. Default: 30000 (30 seconds).

capabilities

Declares which privileged services this skill needs from the execution layer. Only known capability names are accepted — the loader validates against a fixed allowlist at startup and rejects unknown names.

Capability	Service provided
bus	Event bus access
agentRegistry	Agent registry for delegation
outboundGateway	Outbound message delivery (email, Signal)
heldMessages	Held message service
schedulerService	Job scheduling
entityMemory	Knowledge graph read/write
nylasCalendarClient	Calendar operations via Nylas
autonomyService	Autonomy score management
executiveProfileService	CEO writing voice profile
browserService	Playwright browser for web interaction
bullpenService	Inter-agent discussion threads
skillSearch	Search the skill registry

Services not listed here (contactService, entityContextAssembler, agentPersona) are universal — available to every skill without declaration.

entity_enrichment

Optional. When declared, the execution layer automatically assembles entity context before invoking the skill handler, injecting it into ctx.entityContext.

Field	Description
param	The input key containing contact/entity IDs to enrich
default	What to use when the input is not provided: "caller" (the message sender) or "agent" (the agent’s own contact)

Example

{
  "name": "email-send",
  "description": "Send a new email to specified recipients.",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "sensitivity": "normal",
  "action_risk": "medium",
  "inputs": {
    "to": "string",
    "cc": "string?",
    "subject": "string",
    "body": "string"
  },
  "outputs": {
    "message_id": "string",
    "to": "string",
    "subject": "string"
  },
  "permissions": [],
  "secrets": [],
  "timeout": 30000,
  "capabilities": ["outboundGateway"]
}

Built-in skills

Catalog of all skills Curia ships with.

Autonomy engine

How action_risk connects to the autonomy score.