Implementation:Openai Openai node Skills Resource

Knowledge Sources	Openai_Openai_node
Domains	SDK, Skills
Last Updated	2026-02-15 12:00 GMT

Overview

The Skills class provides full CRUD operations for managing OpenAI Skills, which are reusable bundles of files that can be uploaded, versioned, and referenced by the API.

Description

The Skills class extends APIResource and exposes five methods for skill lifecycle management: create, retrieve, update, list, and delete. It also aggregates two sub-resources: content (for accessing skill content) and versions (for managing versioned snapshots of skills).

The create method accepts an optional files parameter that can be either an array of uploadable files (directory upload) or a single zip file, using multipart form encoding when files are provided. The retrieve method fetches a specific skill by ID. The update method sets the default version for a skill. The list method returns a cursor-paginated collection of skills with optional sort ordering. The delete method removes a skill and returns a DeletedSkill confirmation object.

Each skill has an id, name, description, created_at timestamp, a default_version, and a latest_version. The module also exports SkillList for the raw list envelope, and parameter interfaces for all operations.

Usage

Use this resource when building or managing custom skills for OpenAI. Skills enable packaging reusable file bundles that can be versioned and deployed across different contexts.

Code Reference

Source Location

• Repository: openai-node
• File: src/resources/skills/skills.ts

Signature

export class Skills extends APIResource {
  content: Content;
  versions: Versions;

  create(body?: SkillCreateParams | null, options?: RequestOptions): APIPromise<Skill>;
  retrieve(skillID: string, options?: RequestOptions): APIPromise<Skill>;
  update(skillID: string, body: SkillUpdateParams, options?: RequestOptions): APIPromise<Skill>;
  list(query?: SkillListParams | null, options?: RequestOptions): PagePromise<SkillsPage, Skill>;
  delete(skillID: string, options?: RequestOptions): APIPromise<DeletedSkill>;
}

export interface Skill {
  id: string;
  created_at: number;
  default_version: string;
  description: string;
  latest_version: string;
  name: string;
  object: 'skill';
}

export interface DeletedSkill {
  id: string;
  deleted: boolean;
  object: 'skill.deleted';
}

Import

import OpenAI from 'openai';

I/O Contract

Inputs

Name	Type	Required	Description
skillID	string	Yes (retrieve/update/delete)	The unique identifier of the skill.
body.files	Uploadable	No (create)	Skill files to upload as directory contents or a single zip file.
body.default_version	string	Yes (update)	The skill version number to set as the default.
query.after	string	No (list)	Cursor for pagination.
query.limit	number	No (list)	Maximum number of skills per page.
query.order	'desc'	No (list)	Sort order by timestamp.
options	RequestOptions	No	Additional request configuration.

Outputs

Name	Type	Description
id	string	Unique skill identifier.
name	string	Name of the skill.
description	string	Description of the skill.
created_at	number	Unix timestamp (seconds) when the skill was created.
default_version	string	The currently active default version.
latest_version	string	The most recently created version.
object	'skill'	Object type discriminator.

Usage Examples

import OpenAI from 'openai';
import fs from 'fs';

const client = new OpenAI();

// Create a new skill with uploaded files
const skill = await client.skills.create({
  files: fs.createReadStream('my-skill.zip'),
});
console.log(skill.id, skill.name);

// Retrieve a specific skill
const retrieved = await client.skills.retrieve('skill_abc123');
console.log(retrieved.default_version);

// Update the default version
const updated = await client.skills.update('skill_abc123', {
  default_version: '2',
});

// List all skills
for await (const skill of client.skills.list({ order: 'desc' })) {
  console.log(skill.name);
}

// Delete a skill
const deleted = await client.skills.delete('skill_abc123');
console.log(deleted.deleted); // true

Related Pages

• Environment:Openai_Openai_node_Node_20_Runtime