> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.base44.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Skills and MCP

> What the agent knows while it builds, and what it can call.

When Base44 builds a new app, it works from more than the prompt in front of it. It draws on knowledge about your platform, and reaches for tools that let it build on it.

Teach Base44 about your platform and how to build on it using the following:

* **[Skills](#skills)**: Saved instructions the agent reads while it builds. It includes things like your platform conventions and best practices.
* **[MCP server](#mcp-servers)**: An external tool the agent can call while it builds, like a design tool or a data source.

<Tip>
  The [design system](/developers/white-label/design-system) decides what an app looks like. Skills and MCP servers decide how it's built.
</Tip>

## Skills

A skill activates when Base44's agent recognizes it as relevant to the current build, based on its description. A skill belongs to a workspace, so it applies to every app anyone builds there, no matter which account created it.

You have two ways to shape that:

* Write the description as a trigger, not a title. For example, "Use when building any form, table, or data-entry screen" works, but "Form and table conventions" does not.
* Name the skill yourself in the app's [custom instructions](/developers/white-label/custom-instructions). The custom instructions are injected into every interaction with the agent, so this is where you can say "apply the form-conventions skill" on your builders' behalf. Custom instructions are set per app rather than per workspace, so your integration has to set them in the [Create app](/developers/white-label/the-build-turn) call for each app.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Workspace skills" icon="wand-magic-sparkles" horizontal href="/documentation/using-your-workspaces/adding-workspace-skills">
    Write and manage workspace skills
  </Card>

  <Card title="Custom instructions" icon="message-lines" horizontal href="/developers/white-label/custom-instructions">
    The one setting that is per app
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## MCP servers

For a white-label integration, the MCP servers you connect usually reach your platform's own tools, APIs, or data sources, so Base44's agent can build against your real data model.

When building an app, the agent can call the MCP servers connected on the account of the builder running that build. That connection lives on the account, not the workspace, so it follows that account into every app and workspace it can access, not just the one where you set it up.

Every build runs as the same account, so connect your servers once to [that account](/developers/white-label/tenancy-and-credentials#who-owns-the-apps) and every build can use them.

<Card title="MCP connections" icon="plug" horizontal href="/documentation/account-and-billing/setting-up-a-custom-mcp">
  Add and manage MCP connections
</Card>

## See also

* [Setup checklist](/developers/white-label/setup-checklist): Everything you need to do to get an integration running
* [Design system](/developers/white-label/design-system): What every app your builders build looks like
* [The build turn](/developers/white-label/the-build-turn): The six calls your product wraps to create, watch, and ship an app
* [Tenancy and credentials](/developers/white-label/tenancy-and-credentials): The account that owns your builders' apps, and the key that creates them