Scratchpad

What it does

The Scratchpad skill provides a temporary workspace for AI agents to store and manipulate data. It allows agents to perform calculations, generate intermediate results, or draft text that isn't directly part of the final output. This can improve reasoning accuracy and facilitate complex tasks by breaking them down into smaller steps.

When to use it

• Complex Calculations: Use Scratchpad when an agent needs to perform multiple mathematical operations before arriving at a final answer.
• Drafting & Iteration: When generating long-form content, the skill can be used for drafting sections and refining them iteratively.
• Intermediate Reasoning Steps: Employ Scratchpad to show the steps of a logical argument or problem-solving process.
• Data Transformation: Use it to reformat data before using it in another tool or prompt.

Key capabilities

• Temporary Data Storage: Stores intermediate results and drafts.
• Calculation Support: Performs mathematical operations within the scratchpad.
• Text Manipulation: Allows for editing and refining text content.
• Step-by-step Reasoning: Facilitates breaking down complex tasks into smaller, manageable steps.

Example prompts

• "Calculate 123 * 456 and store the result in Scratchpad."
• “Draft a short paragraph about the history of jazz music, then save it to Scratchpad for review.”
• "Show me the steps you took to solve this equation, storing each step in Scratchpad."

Tips & gotchas

The Scratchpad is volatile; its contents are cleared after each interaction. Consider using other skills if persistent storage is required.