Sharing skills-extended Genie spaces with others

[michael365]

Hi all,

I'm evaluating Genie and also developed some skills to extend Genie's capabilities.
Now I would like to share it with others. Within the documentation it is stated 

"Skills live in the /Users/{username}/.assistant/skills/ directory. "

Would skills also work as part of a Genie space for other users which do not have access to my user folder?

I would assume that those skills should become part of the workspace but I didn't found anything regarding this.

[Ale_Armillotta]

Hi  , @michael365 

Before diving into the answer, it would help to clarify what you're referring to — the terminology can be a bit ambiguous.

If you're talking about AI/BI Genie spaces, skills from the .assistant/skills/ directory don't apply here. A Genie space is extended exclusively through its Instructions panel — text instructions, example SQL queries, and SQL functions (Trusted Assets registered in Unity Catalog). There's no concept of "skills" in a Genie space.

If you're talking about Databricks Assistant in agent mode (which does support the .assistant/skills/ directory), then yes, skills are a thing — but they are personal by default since they live under /Users/{username}/. To share them with others, the recommended approach is to move them to a shared workspace path or use a Service Principal.

So the key question is: are you working with a Genie space or with Databricks Assistant in agent mode? The answer changes the solution completely.

[michael365]

Hi @Ale_Armillotta ,

thanks for your reply. It's really ambigous als also changes are done very frequently by Databricks.

I'm referring to Genie Code (https://docs.databricks.com/aws/en/genie-code/) which is described like an Assistent.  This features is shown as side bar on the right side by default. If you search for Assistent within documentation you will be guided to Genie Code. So maybe Databricks just renamed it?

Anyway within the Genie Code you can add user and workspace instructions and also configure a skills folder.
The documentation describes that skill folders should be part of user directory. But I think skills should be part of a workspace in order to provide the skills to all users within the workspace. 
Do you know if I can select a folder from workspace instead user directory?

Regarding Genie spaces you're right - there are no skills, only instructions can be added.

As I'm also testing Databricks One I'm wondering if skills which I configured for the Genie Code are available there as well...

[Ale_Armillotta · Accepted solution]

well, yes it has been renamed.

So, regarding your question, seems:

• .assistant_instructions.md: it's a personal instruction and you cannot change this option
• .assistant_workspace_instructions.md: it's a workspace instruction applied to all the users. Only the workspace admin can change it.
• skills:  are personal only — they live under /Users/{username}/.assistant/skills/ and are scoped to the individual user who created them. There is no built-in workspace-level skill sharing mechanism.

However, there are workarounds to distribute skills across your team:

• Manual copy: Each team member replicates the skill folder structure under their own /Users/{username}/.assistant/skills/ directory. You could keep a "canonical" version in a shared repo and have users sync it.
• Git repo + automation: Store your skills in a Git repository and use a script or CI pipeline to copy them into each user's .assistant/skills/ folder via the Workspace API.

This is a valid workaround for me. Hope to help you