Skills that take action vs. look things up

Every skill in the store carries one of two labels. It is the first thing to look at, because it tells you how much can go wrong.

The two kinds

Looks things up

Reads information from somewhere and brings it into the conversation. Changes nothing.

Takes action

Does something in another system. Files a task, processes a refund, updates a record.

The label appears on every card in the store and at the top of every skill page.

Looks things up

A lookup skill fetches something and uses it to answer. "Where is my order?" reads an order from Shopify and explains its delivery status. Another might pull a customer's history from HubSpot so the reply lands in context.

The worst case is a wrong or missing answer, which is the same worst case as any other reply. Nothing outside Gruvi changes.

Takes action

An action skill does something that persists after the conversation ends. A bug report becomes a task in your issue tracker. A refund becomes a refund.

The worst case is bigger. An action taken wrongly has to be undone somewhere else, by somebody who may not know it happened.

Why the difference matters

It decides how much care each setting deserves.

Approvals

For lookups, "Approve for me" is usually fine. For actions, stay on "Ask for approval" until you have watched it work.

Verification

Anything touching an account should be verified customers only, whichever type it is. An action skill on "anyone in the chat" is a bad idea.

Rehearsing

Worth doing for both, essential for actions.

Attention afterwards

Check the Activity tab of an action skill in its first days. A lookup skill that misbehaves annoys someone; an action skill that misbehaves creates work.

Setting up a lookup skill

1. 1Install it and connect the tool it reads from.
2. 2Check Rules. Decide whether the information is safe for anyone in the chat, or needs a verified customer.
3. 3Rehearse it, including a case where the record does not exist.
4. 4Publish.

Setting up an action skill

1. 1Install it and connect the tool it acts in.
2. 2Set Approvals to Ask for approval.
3. 3Set Rules to Verified customers only unless you have a specific reason not to.
4. 4Read What if something goes wrong? all the way through.
5. 5Rehearse it, including the customer changing their mind halfway.
6. 6Publish, then watch the Activity tab for the first week.
7. 7Only then consider moving it to Approve for me.

Which to start with

Start with a lookup skill, even if an action skill would save more time.

A lookup skill teaches you how skills behave with nothing at risk. Once you have watched one work for a fortnight, you will make far better decisions about the action skill you actually wanted. ---