For creators
If you are good at something and can explain how you do it, you can publish a skill and earn from every member whose AI uses it.
What you publish
A skill is a SKILL.md file: a name, a one- or two-sentence description of when an AI should use it, and markdown instructions. The best ones read like a senior practitioner briefing a capable colleague: what to ask first, the steps in order, defaults and rules of thumb, real numbers where they help, the exact output to hand back, and the mistakes to avoid. Most good skills run between 3,000 and 7,000 characters. You do not need to write code. You need to know the work.
Alongside the file, the studio asks for a title, a short summary, three lines on what the AI learns, the steps as a list, any limits or things the skill refuses to do, and a related public video on the topic (optional, credited to its author).
How publishing works
- Sign in and open Studio. Start a new skill.
- Fill in the form and paste your
SKILL.md. The editor checks the format as you type. - Submit for review. We read every skill before it goes live, usually within 3 days. We check that it is original, specific, safe, and that an AI following it would produce good work. If something needs changing, you get a note and can resubmit.
- Once published, your skill appears in the library, on your public creator page, and in search.
You can update a published skill at any time. Updates go through the same review. Members who saved your skill get the new version automatically.
How you are paid
Members on the Pro plan pay a monthly subscription (provisionally $9 a month; payments are not live yet, so this is a preview). Each month, 60 percent of what a member paid is set aside for the creators of the skills that member's AI actually used. That pool is divided by distinct days of use: if a member used your skill on six days and another creator's skill on three days, you receive two thirds of that member's creator share. Skills that are saved but never used earn nothing from that member. Skills that are used every day earn a lot.
This is called a user-centric split. It means your earnings come from the people who get value from your work, not from a global popularity contest, and it means a niche skill with a devoted audience can earn as much as a broad one.
Your Studio shows loads and members over the last 30 days, this month's earnings, and what you would earn if every member using your skill were on Pro. During the preview, these numbers are informational.
What you keep
You own your skills. By publishing you grant Vander Labs a license to host them, show them on the site, and deliver them to members' AI assistants. You can unlist a skill whenever you want; it stops being delivered to new sessions, and existing members lose access to it from their library. Members may not copy or redistribute skill text outside their own AI use, and our terms say so.
What makes a skill good
- It is specific. "Write a cold email" is a topic. "Four sentences, one researched fact, one yes-or-no ask, follow-ups that add something" is a skill.
- It decides. Defaults, numbers and named tools beat a menu of options.
- It is honest about limits. Say what the skill will not do and when the person should get a professional.
- It is original. Write from your own practice. We do not accept skills copied or lightly rewritten from other sources.
- It has an output format. The AI should know exactly what to hand back.
What we do not publish
Medical, legal or financial advice presented as personal guidance; anything that helps attack systems or people; skills that impersonate a person or brand; content copied from elsewhere; and skills whose instructions are too thin to change what an AI would do anyway.
Questions before you start? See the FAQ or contact us.