A reviewer skill tells EV what kind of review to perform. Skills can focus the reviewer on a domain such as security or performance, encode project-specific checks, or gather evidence from a running interface.

Reviewer skills are different from the `ev-review` coding-agent workflow:

| Reviewer skill | Coding-agent workflow |
| --- | --- |
| Runs inside an EV review and defines what the reviewer checks or gathers. | Teaches Codex or Claude Code how to start EV, consume findings, fix issues, and repeat. |
| Managed with `ev skills`. | Managed with `ev agent`. |
| Selected with `--skill` or `--auto`. | Invoked as `$ev-review` or `/ev-review`. |

## Find available skills

```sh
ev skills list
```

EV combines skills from three places:

1. Built-in skills distributed with EV.
2. User skills in `~/.fiberplane/ev/skills/`.
3. Project skills in `.ev/skills/` inside the current repository.

Project skills take precedence over a user or built-in skill with the same name. Inspect the resolved skill and its source with:

```sh
ev skills show <name>
```

## Run a skill

Choose one explicitly:

```sh
ev review -b origin/main --desktop --skill security-audit
```

Or let EV select skills from the changed files:

```sh
ev review -b origin/main --stream --auto
```

Use an explicit skill when you want a predictable review lens. Use `--auto` when the change spans multiple concerns and you want EV to choose relevant reviewers.

## Skills that create evidence

Review agents are restricted by default. A skill that needs browser automation or evidence creation must declare those capabilities and a narrow permission allowlist in its frontmatter. EV then exposes a review-specific artifact directory and review ID, and accepts only the allowed evidence commands.

The project-local `.ev/skills/screenshot-evidence.md` in the EV repository is a concrete example. It:

1. Connects to a debug EV Desktop renderer.
2. Captures the dashboard and a populated review.
3. Attaches each screenshot to the active review as soon as it is captured.
4. Removes the temporary image after EV has stored it.

Run it only in a repository where `ev skills list` shows it:

```sh
ev review -b origin/main --desktop --skill screenshot-evidence
```

This pattern lets a review include the UI state that supports its conclusions without granting every reviewer unrestricted browser or filesystem access. See [Work with evidence](/docs/guides/evidence/) for the resulting Evidence tab and manual attachment options.

## Create a project skill

Create a starter skill:

```sh
ev skills create my-review
```

Keep a team-specific skill under `.ev/skills/` so it can be reviewed and versioned with the repository. Use the user skills directory for a personal reviewer you want across projects.

See [Write a reviewer skill](/docs/guides/write-reviewer-skill/) for the file anatomy, auto-selection patterns, and rule-level path gates.