Anthropic

Claude Skills Overview

Skills are specialized knowledge packages that help me produce higher-quality outputs for specific tasks. Think of them as expert guides that I consult before tackling certain types of work.

What Are Skills?

Skills are folders containing best practices, tested techniques, and condensed wisdom for creating specific types of outputs. For example:

• docx skill: Best practices for creating professional Word documents
• pptx skill: Guidance for building high-quality presentations
• xlsx skill: Techniques for working with spreadsheets
• pdf skill: Methods for manipulating PDF files

Each skill contains a SKILL.md file with detailed instructions that I read before starting the relevant task.

How Skills Work

When you ask me to create something, I:

1. Identify relevant skills based on your request
2. Read the appropriate SKILL.md files using the view tool
3. Follow the documented best practices to create high-quality outputs
4. Apply the learned techniques to your specific task

For example, if you ask me to create a presentation, I'll first read /mnt/skills/public/pptx/SKILL.md to learn the best approaches before generating your slides.

Types of Skills Available

Public Skills (maintained by Anthropic):

• Core document creation (docx, pptx, xlsx, pdf)
• Frontend design
• Product knowledge
• Located in /mnt/skills/public/

User Skills (created by you):

• Custom skills you create for your specific needs
• Located in /mnt/skills/user/

Example Skills:

• Templates and examples like the skill-creator
• Located in /mnt/skills/examples/

Creating Your Own Skills

You can create custom skills that teach me domain-specific knowledge that grows over time. Here's how:

Basic Skill Structure

/mnt/skills/user/your-skill-name/
├── SKILL.md          # Main instruction file
├── examples/         # Optional: example outputs
└── resources/        # Optional: reference materials

What to Include in SKILL.md

Your skill file should contain:

• Purpose: When this skill should be used
• Best practices: Proven techniques and approaches
• Common pitfalls: What to avoid
• Examples: Concrete demonstrations
• Templates: Reusable structures
• Domain knowledge: Specific facts, terminology, standards

Example Use Cases

Company-specific knowledge:

• Brand guidelines and tone of voice
• Internal terminology and acronyms
• Standard document templates
• Process workflows

Technical domains:

• API documentation standards
• Code review checklists
• Architecture patterns
• Testing strategies

Creative workflows:

• Writing style guides
• Design systems
• Content frameworks

How Skills Grow Over Time

Skills become more valuable as you refine them:

1. Start simple: Create a basic skill with core guidelines
2. Iterate based on results: After I use the skill, update it with lessons learned
3. Add examples: Include successful outputs as reference
4. Expand coverage: Add edge cases and special scenarios
5. Capture feedback: Document what works and what doesn't

Each time you refine a skill based on real usage, it becomes more effective for future tasks.

Practical Example

Let's say you frequently need data analysis reports:

Create: /mnt/skills/user/data-reports/SKILL.md

# Data Analysis Report Skill

## When to use
Creating executive data analysis reports

## Structure
1. Executive Summary (3-5 bullets)
2. Key Findings (with visualizations)
3. Methodology
4. Detailed Analysis
5. Recommendations

## Style Guidelines
- Use present tense for findings
- Include confidence intervals
- Cite data sources
- Highlight actionable insights
...

Then when you ask me to create a data report, I'll read this skill first and follow your established standards.

Benefits

• Consistency: Every output follows your established patterns
• Quality: Captures best practices from experience
• Efficiency: I don't need to re-learn your preferences each time
• Scalability: Knowledge compounds over time
• Customization: Tailored to your specific needs

Let me create a comprehensive skill for agentic application development:Now let me create a companion file with practical templates you can reference:Now let me create a README to help you get started:Now let me move these files to the output directory and package them for you:Perfect! I've created a comprehensive Agentic Application Skill for you with three files:

📦 What You Got

SKILL.md (~12,000 words)

• Complete guide to agentic applications
• Architecture patterns (ReAct, Plan-Execute, Reflection, Multi-Agent)
• Tool design best practices
• Agent loop implementation
• Memory management strategies
• Common pitfalls and solutions
• Testing, evaluation, and optimization
• Security considerations

TEMPLATES.md (~4,000 words)

• Ready-to-use code templates
• System prompts for different agent types
• Tool definition examples
• Multiple agent loop implementations
• Memory management code
• Error handling patterns
• Testing frameworks
• Monitoring and logging setups

README.md

• Quick start guide
• How to use and evolve the skill
• Practical workflow examples
• Customization suggestions

🚀 How It Works

1. Place these files in /mnt/skills/user/agentic-app/ directory
2. Start asking questions about agent development
3. I automatically read the skill before responding
4. You get better answers grounded in best practices
5. Update the skill as you learn from real projects

💡 The Growth Loop

Build Agent → Learn Lessons → Update Skill → Build Better Agent → Repeat

Each iteration makes the skill more valuable and specific to your needs!

Find the details demo code here https://github.com/dhirajpatra/agentic-application-skill-with-claude