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Tools, Skills, and Apps are the building blocks of every Mind. Here is what each one is, how they relate, and how you can create your own.
The Kitchen Analogy
If you have ever cooked a meal, you already understand how Minds works.
What your Mind uses to carry out a step.
Tells your Mind what to do — the steps, the order, the logic.
A collection of appliances grouped together for a complex task.
Tools
Single-purpose capabilities that connect your Mind to the world.
A tool is a single, specific capability that your Mind can use to interact with the outside world. Each tool connects your Mind to an external service, data source, or function — a browser, an airline API, a messaging platform.
- Single-purpose: each tool does one thing well
- Connects to external services, APIs, and databases
- Invoked on demand by the Mind's brain
- Created by humans, the system, or Minds themselves
Examples
How to create a Tool
Define the capability
What single action does your tool perform? Be specific — one tool, one job.
Identify the external connection
Which API, service, or data source does it connect to? Document the endpoint, auth requirements, and response format.
Specify inputs and outputs
Define what parameters the Mind passes in, and what the Tool returns. Clear contracts make Tools composable.
Submit for review
Tools are verified before going live on the Bazaar to ensure reliability and security across all Minds.
Skills
Learned behaviours that orchestrate Tools into coherent workflows.
A skill is a defined playbook — a series of instructions that tells your Mind how to approach a task. It specifies what steps to follow, in what order, and with what logic. Where a Tool executes a single action, a Skill coordinates multiple actions into a coherent workflow.
- Multi-step logic: coordinates a sequence of actions
- Reusable and shareable across Minds
- Calls on one or more Tools during execution
- The Skill defines strategy; the Tools execute it
Examples
How to create a Skill
Map out the workflow
Write down every step your skill needs to complete, in order. What decisions need to be made along the way?
Identify the Tools
For each step, which Tool performs the action? A travel Skill might need a flight search Tool, a browser Tool, and a calendar Tool.
Write the playbook logic
Define the conditions, branching, and sequencing. What happens if a step fails? What does success look like?
Test with a mind
Attach the Skill to a Mind and run it against real scenarios. Iterate on the logic based on what the Mind does.
Publish to the Bazaar
Once validated, your skill becomes available for other Minds to learn and use.
Apps
Bundled tool suites built for a specific domain or workflow.
An App is a collection of Tools bundled together to handle a complex, multi-step workflow. Where a single Tool does one thing and a Skill defines a sequence of steps, an App packages several related Tools into a coordinated unit designed for a particular domain.
- Bundles multiple related Tools into a cohesive unit
- Domain-specific: travel, finance, social media, research
- Simplified interface — one App, many Tools behind the scenes
- Versioned with approval workflows and tiered verification
Examples
How to create a App
Define the domain
What problem space does your App serve? Travel? Finance? Community management? The domain shapes which Tools belong together.
Select and bundle Tools
Identify every Tool your App needs. The App's job is to expose them as a single cohesive unit.
Define the interface
How does a Mind interact with your App? What inputs does it accept, and what does it surface back?
Submit for verification
Apps go through a tiered verification process to ensure quality, security, and compatibility across the ecosystem.
Ready to build?
Get in touch with the Minds team to start building your own Skills, Tools, and Apps for the Bazaar.
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