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For most teams, the best way to use skills and workflows is simple: talk to the AI Assistant in natural language. In many cases, you do not need to think about whether the AI should use a skill, a workflow, or both. You can just describe what you want, and TeamCopilot will try to find the right skill or workflow for the task.

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Running skills

The recommended way to use a skill is to ask for what you want in plain language. For example, you can say things like:
  • “Review this release plan using our release process.”
  • “Use our incident response skill to help triage this issue.”
  • “Help me prepare an RCA in the format our team uses.”
If a matching skill already exists, TeamCopilot will try to find it and apply it. If you already know the resource slug, the UI also supports direct navigation to the skill page and approval review page.

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Using a skill shortcut

If you know exactly which skill you want, you can also invoke it directly with its shortcut name. In the current TeamCopilot setup, this is typically written as:
For example:
This is useful when:
  • you already know which skill should be used
  • you want predictable behavior from a specific skill
  • your team uses named skills regularly

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If you are not sure which skill to use

You can simply describe the task. TeamCopilot will try to find the most relevant skill for you. That means you can say:
  • what you are trying to do
  • what outcome you want
  • any important constraints or context
This is usually the easiest and most natural way to work.

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Running workflows

You can also ask the AI Assistant to run a workflow for you in natural language. For example:
  • “Run the customer-report workflow for account 123.”
  • “Use the deployment workflow for staging.”
  • “Run our sync workflow with yesterday’s data.”
If you know the exact workflow you want, you can say so directly. If you do not, you can still describe the task and let the AI try to find the right workflow.

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Other workflow entry points

Workflows can also be:
  • run manually from the workflow page
  • run from cronjobs
  • run remotely through a workflow API key
  • resumed from a cronjob handoff session when the run pauses for attention

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Calling workflows via APIs

TeamCopilot also supports API access for workflows through workflow-specific API keys. If you want the dashboard to show curl commands with the correct public host, set EXTERNAL_HOST in the TeamCopilot environment.
  • When EXTERNAL_HOST is set, TeamCopilot uses it as the base URL for API examples.
  • When it is not set, TeamCopilot falls back to TEAMCOPILOT_HOST and TEAMCOPILOT_PORT.
  • Use a public or externally reachable host value here if people will copy the curl commands from the dashboard.
Example:

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What workflow API keys do

A workflow API key lets an external caller:
  • trigger a workflow run
  • query the run status
  • stop a running workflow
The key is bound to a single workflow slug.

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Approval requirement

Workflow API keys are only available once the workflow’s current snapshot is approved. That prevents unreviewed workflow code from being exposed as an external API surface.

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Typical flow

  1. Open the workflow page.
  2. Generate an API key for the workflow.
  3. Use the key to submit a remote run.
  4. Poll the run status until it completes.
  5. Stop the run if needed.

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API reference

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Start a run

Response:

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Check run status

Response fields include:
  • run_handle
  • workflow_slug
  • status
  • logs
  • error_message
  • started_at
  • completed_at
  • inputs

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Stop a run

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Constraints

  • the API key must belong to the same workflow being run
  • the workflow must be approved before the key can be created or used
  • each workflow must always keep at least one API key

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Running a workflow manually

Workflows can also be run manually from the Workflows tab. This is useful when:
  • you want to choose the workflow yourself
  • you want to provide inputs explicitly in the UI
  • you want a more structured run flow than chat
To run a workflow manually:
  1. Open the Workflows tab.
  2. Select the workflow you want.
  3. Open the manual run screen.
  4. Fill in any required inputs.
  5. Start the workflow.
After the run starts, TeamCopilot tracks it through the workflow run system. For day-to-day use:
  • start with natural language in the AI Assistant
  • use a named skill shortcut when you know the exact skill you want
  • use manual workflow runs when you want explicit control over workflow inputs
This gives most teams the best balance of speed, flexibility, and control.