> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://help.paxton.ai/help/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://help.paxton.ai/help/paxton-ai/using-paxton-ai/skills-and-web-search.md).
# Skills and Web Search
Two additions to the chat composer in every matter:
* **Skills** run a saved set of instructions, so you don't re-explain how you want a task done in every chat.
* **Web search** lets Paxton look beyond its legal research library and cite what it finds.
Both work inside the matter, alongside your files, the governing law, and your drafts.
## Skills
A skill is a set of plain-language instructions for a task your firm does the same way every time, such as drafting a proposed order or rewriting an email for a client. Paxton includes skills built by its team of former litigators, and your firm can add its own.
### Run a skill
{% stepper %}
{% step %}
### Open a chat in your matter
Open the matter and select **New Chat**.
{% endstep %}
{% step %}
### Select Skills
In the composer, select **Skills** and choose a skill from the list. Hover over a skill to see what it does.
{% endstep %}
{% step %}
### Add your request
The skill appears as a chip above your message and the button shows **Skills (1)**. Type your request, attach or reference the documents the skill needs, and send.
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}
To remove a skill before sending, select the **x** on its chip.
### Skills built by Paxton
| Skill | What it does |
| ------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Draft a Proposed Order from a Motion | Drafts a proposed order based on a motion you supply. |
| Draft Discovery from a Complaint | Drafts numbered discovery requests from a complaint and maps them to the pleaded counts. |
| Respond to a Numbered Document | Responds to every numbered item in order, applying the dispositions and objections you set. |
| Rewrite a Legal Email | Rewrites an email for a chosen audience and tone while preserving facts, positions, and deadlines. |
### See what a skill does
Every skill is plain text. Select a skill's chip to open its full instructions, including the inputs it expects and what a successful result looks like. Use **Copy to clipboard** to reuse the text.
### Create or edit your firm's skills
Select **Skills**, then **Manage skills**. From there you can create a new skill and edit the ones your firm has added. Write the instructions the way you would brief a colleague: the task, the inputs, your house rules, and what the finished work should look like.
{% hint style="info" %}
Skills are most useful for delegation. The attorney who knows how the work should be done writes the skill once, and anyone on the matter can run it to the same standard.
{% endhint %}
## Web search
Some answers are not in a legal research database: agency guidance, recent filings, news coverage, and secondary commentary. With web search on, Paxton searches the open web and brings those sources into the same answer as the law it already covers.
### Turn web search on or off
{% stepper %}
{% step %}
### Select Research
In the composer, select **Research** to open **Knowledge Sources**.
{% endstep %}
{% step %}
### Set your sources
Use the **Web search** toggle to turn web results on or off. **Legal Research** has its own toggle, and **Modify** changes which jurisdictions it covers.
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}
You can also narrow a single question in your prompt, for example "Only search for cases."
### Check web sources
* Each web source appears as a link next to the statement it supports. Hover over the link to see the page title, the site, and a short summary, labeled **web source**.
* Select the link to open the original page in a new tab.
* **Cited references** below the answer lists every source used.
{% hint style="warning" %}
Web results sit alongside legal authority, not in place of it. Primary law still runs through the AI Citator. Read each web source and confirm it before relying on it.
{% endhint %}
---
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