What's inside a skill
What you're paying for.
A skill looks like a few instructions. Most of the work is in what happens when something goes wrong. Here's the one from the homepage: the timesheet check that runs before payroll, shown with sample data rather than a client's.
The blueprint
Check first. Total second.
Can I build this myself?
Yes. It's the bad days that take the work.
A basic version adds up the hours on a good day. These are the bad days this skill is built for.
| On a bad day | The skill |
|---|---|
| A clock-out is missing | Stops. Totals nothing and tells you whose shift and which day. |
| A name isn't on your staff list | Stops. It doesn't add people or guess who they are. |
| Two shifts overlap | Stops and tells you the day, so no hours are paid twice. |
| Someone worked a day they weren't rostered | Flags it for you to check. It doesn't change the hours. |
| A long shift has no break recorded | Flags it. You decide what happens, not the skill. |
Guardrails get missed
Even in the big plugins.
Anthropic's Small Business plugin includes a well-written "absent is not zero" rule. In version 1.35.1, no skill in the plugin points to it. I review skills like this through Velocity QA, showing what holds up and what's missing.
Read the Small Business plugin observations →After handover
If it's wrong, I fix it.
One free adjustment within 14 days if the skill works but you'd like something added or changed, like a new staff member or a pay rule you forgot.
If it doesn't do what we agreed, I fix it at no charge until it does.
Before you pay anyone
Ten questions to ask about a skill. Including mine.
Skill prices vary a lot. These questions show you what the difference is.
- What job does it do, in one sentence?
- Is it built around my business, or a template with my name added?
- What does it do when a figure is missing?Blank should mean unknown, not zero.
- When something looks wrong, does it stop and tell me, or guess?
- Can it send, pay, change or delete anything without my yes?
- How was it tested, and can I see what it was checked against?
- Does it follow Australian rules where they matter?GST, BAS, super and DD/MM dates.
- If an email or file contains instructions, does it treat them as information only?
- What do I own, and does it keep working if you're no longer around?
- What happens when it breaks or I need a change, and what does that cost?
What it costs
Priced per job.
One skill
One regular job, built around your business and tested before you get it. Quoted on the job once I know what it needs to do.
from $200Connections
Linking the skill to your other apps, such as Google Drive or your accounts, so it can fetch what it needs.
quoted on topFixed price, agreed in writing before anything starts, with a one-paragraph description of the job. Jobs under $500 are paid upfront. Bigger builds are half to start and half at handover.
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