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unbottled.ai - Skill Economy

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Skill Economy

7 min read

Build a skill. Share the link. Earn every month.

Craft a pre-configured AI once. Share it anywhere. Earn 10% + 5% recurring from every payment the people who sign up through it ever make.

"I built a clinical reasoning skill for med students. Three months in, it's paying for my own subscription and then some."

What are skills on unbottled.ai?

A skill is a complete AI setup - system prompt, companion persona, model selection per modality, voice, image generation settings - configured once and reusable anywhere. Think of it as a recipe: you figure out the right ingredients once, then anyone can use it.

The platform has 117 models: mainstream, open-source, uncensored. Each skill configures which model to use for conversation, which for vision, which for image generation, which voice to speak with. Most users will never need to touch those settings - they just use the skill. You, as the creator, figure it out once.

Skills are free to create. No paid subscription required. No coding. If you can describe what you want an AI to do, you can build a skill.

Three ways to build a skill
1
Manually on the skill page
Full control. Configure every setting directly. Good if you know exactly what you want.
2
Ask Thea or Hermes in conversation
Describe what you're trying to build. Brainstorm with them - let them draft the system prompt, push back on your ideas, iterate. Best way to build something nuanced. They know the platform.
3
For developers: generate a skill.ts
Ask your agent to create a skill file. It outputs a skill.ts following the same structure as the built-in companion skills - ready to commit and use immediately.

The share link mechanic - how you actually earn

When you hit Share & Earn on any skill, you get a URL that does two things at once:

Shows visitors the skill - what it does, how it's configured, what kind of AI it is

Positions you in the referral chain - anyone who signs up through this link is attributed to you

Here's what that attribution means in practice: when someone signs up through your skill link, you become their direct referrer AND their skill creator. You earn 10% of every payment they ever make (direct referral commission) plus 5% additional (skill bonus) - 15% total from that one user, forever.

This is not a one-time reward. It's not a signup bonus. Every subscription renewal, every top-up, every purchase - you earn 15% of it. You did the work once.

The URL looks like: {{appName}}/track?ref=YOUR_CODE&url=/en/skill/SKILL_ID

Skills that people actually share - and earn from

The most successful skills solve a specific, recurring problem that's hard to explain without showing. Here are patterns that work:

The specialist companion
A med student builds a skill that talks to you like a senior clinical colleague - cases, differentials, reasoning under pressure. Shared in med school forums. Every signup from that community pays monthly.
The knowledge seller's real product
Coaches, consultants, course creators - they've been selling PDFs and Zoom calls. A well-crafted skill with their actual expertise earns recurring income without the overhead. This is better than a course.
The uncensored option
Skills using uncensored models for creative writing, roleplay, or debate. Shared in communities where mainstream AI censorship is a constant, daily frustration. High signup intent.
The developer's code reviewer
Knows your stack, enforces your team's conventions. Shared in engineering communities full of people spending $100–200/month on AI. High-value signups that stick.

The math: 15% per user per month, forever

When someone signs up through your skill link and subscribes, you earn 15% of every payment they make - 10% direct referral + 5% skill bonus. Not just the first month. Every month, for as long as they're subscribed.

User profileMonthly spendYou earn/mo (via skill link)
Casual user~$8/mo$1.20/mo
Regular subscriber$20/mo$3.00/mo
Heavy AI user$100/mo$15.00/mo
Developer / power user$200+/mo$30.00+/mo

The skill is the hook. The link is the revenue. You earn whether someone uses your skill daily or switches to something else - the referral attribution stays with you regardless.

Share a skill in five places. Some percentage click through. Some percentage sign up. Those signups pay you 15% every month. Share another skill next month. Your earnings grow without proportionally more work.

You also earn when your users refer others

When users you referred go on to refer others, you earn a share of those payments too - up to 5 levels deep, each level halving:

Level 2 (your referrals' referrals): ~5% of every payment
Level 3: ~2.5% of every payment
Level 4: ~1.25% of every payment
Level 5: ~0.625% of every payment

Honest note: the chain bonuses get small fast. The 15% you earn from direct skill referrals is where almost all your income comes from. Treat chain earnings as a bonus - don't optimize for depth, optimize for quality shares.

5 minutes to your first share link

1
Create or find a skill
Build one from scratch on the skill page, ask Thea or Hermes to help you draft it, or find a built-in skill worth sharing.
2
Open the skill
Click on the skill to see its details page. This is where you'll find the Share & Earn button.
3
Generate your share link
Click Share & Earn. If you have a referral code, select it. If not, create one in three seconds. Your link carries both your referral code and the skill ID - both commissions are tracked automatically.
4
Share where it matters
Post it in communities where people would actually use the skill - Discord servers, subreddits, forum threads, blog posts, Slack channels. Specific beats broad.
5
Watch the dashboard
Your referral dashboard shows visitors, signups, and earnings in real time. Every new signup through your link is 15% recurring revenue.

The skill is the product. The link is the revenue.

Most people think of referral programs as sharing a generic signup link. That works, but it's a hard sell. "Here's a link to an AI platform" goes nowhere. "Here's an AI that thinks like a senior clinician" is something people actually send.

Build what you'd want to use yourself. Make it specific. Then share the link. The 15% takes care of itself.

Create your first skillSet up your referral code
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