Skills¶

Skills are the mechanism by which Kenzy takes actions in the world — fetching weather, reading news, controlling smart home devices, and more. Each skill is an async Python function decorated with @skill in the skills/ directory. The LLM calls skills as tools based on their docstrings and type signatures.

How skills work¶

At startup, the LLM service scans the skills/ directory, imports every .py file, and registers all functions decorated with @skill. The decorator introspects each function's signature, type annotations, and docstring to generate the JSON Schema tool definition that LiteLLM passes to the model. No separate configuration or registration step is needed.

skills/
  weather.py       ← defines get_current_weather(), get_forecast()
  news.py          ← defines get_news(), get_news_article()
  home_assistant.py ← defines handle_home_control()
  my_skill.py      ← your custom skill

The LLM decides which skills to call and with what arguments based entirely on the docstrings. Well-written docstrings that describe when to use a skill are as important as the skill's implementation.

Two resolution tiers¶

Kenzy resolves a request in two stages, fastest first:

1. Fast path (deterministic). Before the LLM is consulted, the request is run through any registered fast intents — @fast_intent matchers that recognise common, high-frequency commands locally and answer instantly with no remote model call. Time/date queries and the bulk of Home Assistant control ("turn on the kitchen lights") are handled here.
2. LLM fallback. Anything a fast intent doesn't confidently match falls through to the tool-calling LLM exactly as before. The fast layer is deliberately high-precision: when it isn't sure, it defers.

A skill can expose both — a deterministic @fast_intent front-end for the easy cases and an @skill tool definition for the LLM to fall back on. See Writing Skills for the fast-intent API.

Skill configuration¶

Per-skill settings live under skills.<skill_name> in llm.yaml:

skills:
  weather:
    units: imperial
    default_location: "New York, NY"

  home_assistant:
    url: "http://homeassistant.local:8123"

Skills read these values at runtime via get_config(section, key, default):

from kenzy.llm.skills import get_config

units = get_config("weather", "units", "imperial")

Disabling skills¶

List skill function names under skills.disabled in llm.yaml to disable them without deleting the file:

skills:
  disabled:
    - get_stock_info
    - yes_no_maybe

Secrets¶

Skills read API keys from environment variables (.env). Never hardcode secrets in skill files.

Included skills¶

See Built-in Skills for documentation on all skills that ship with Kenzy.

Writing a skill¶

See Writing Skills for a step-by-step guide.