Clara Skills
Select built-in workflows or create custom skills to guide Clara's responses.
Skills are reusable instructions you attach to a Clara message. They tell Clara how to structure its work — what to gather, how to analyze it, and what shape the answer should take — without changing which Clara tools or approval flows apply.
Select a skill before you send a message. It applies to that message only; start a new message or clear the skill to switch workflows.
Where to use skills
Skills are available in Clara from the sidebar (/clara).
- Open Clara and start or continue a conversation
- Click + in the chat input
- Open Skills and choose a skill
- Type your question and send
The selected skill appears as a chip above the input. Click it to clear the skill before sending.
To browse, create, or edit custom skills, choose Manage skills from the same menu.
Built-in skills
Ardela includes system skills for common legal workflows. You can select them but not edit them.
Document
| Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Summarise document | Structured summary with parties, purpose, obligations, deadlines, and open questions |
| Compare documents | Substantive differences, missing clauses, and risk movement between versions |
Review
| Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Review for risks | Legal, commercial, drafting, and operational risks with severity and next actions |
| Propose redlines | Targeted clause changes and comments for problematic wording |
| Build diligence table | Structured diligence-style table from review findings |
Matter
| Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Build chronology | Dated sequence of events, evidence, and gaps |
| Create matter brief | Internal brief with context, posture, risks, and next steps |
Drafting
| Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Draft client update | Client email or letter from current matter context |
Extraction
| Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Extract key dates | Deadlines, notice periods, renewals, hearings, and limitation risks |
| Extract actions | Tasks, owners, deadlines, dependencies, and follow-up questions |
Compliance
| Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Privilege check | Flags for privilege, confidentiality, and disclosure-sensitive content |
Built-in skills cite workspace evidence where possible and label gaps instead of guessing. They assume UK legal practice only when your workspace or matter context supports it.
Custom skills
Create your own skills for repeatable firm workflows — matter handover formats, client-specific checklists, or team drafting standards.
Create a skill
- In Clara, open + → Skills → Manage skills
- Click New skill (or Create your first skill)
- Fill in:
- Name — shown in the skills menu
- Description — short summary (optional)
- Category and Icon — for organisation in the menu
- Scope — private or workspace (see below)
- Instructions — what Clara should do when the skill runs (minimum 20 characters)
- Save, then click Use in chat or select the skill from the + menu
Private vs workspace skills
| Scope | Who can create | Who can use |
|---|---|---|
| Private | Any member | The creator only |
| Workspace | Admins and owners | All workspace members |
Private skills are personal shortcuts. Workspace skills are shared firm playbooks — only admins and owners can create, edit, or archive them.
System skills cannot be edited. Custom skills cannot override Clara's safety rules, approval requirements, or your workspace permissions.
Skills vs playbooks
Skills and playbooks solve different problems:
| Skills | Playbooks | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Shape how Clara answers a message | Structured contract review with redlines |
| Best for | Summaries, chronologies, risk tables, client updates | NDA, lease, SaaS, and other agreement reviews |
| Output | Chat response (tables, prose, lists) | Editable redlines and comments in the review editor |
| Custom? | Yes — private and workspace skills | Workspace playbooks plus built-in review frameworks |
Use Propose redlines when you want drafting guidance in chat. Use a playbook when you need full contract review with tracked changes and export to Word.
Tips
- Attach documents or reference workspace context before running document-heavy skills
- Combine a skill with a specific prompt — e.g. select Summarise document and ask "Focus on termination and liability"
- Use workspace skills for firm-wide standards; use private skills for personal workflows
- Clear the skill chip when switching to a different task in the same thread