Skills

What it is

A skill is a folder of instructions that teaches Claude how to do a specific thing really well — create a slide deck, fill in a PDF form, audit a codebase for SOX controls, write a marketing brief in your brand voice. Install a skill and Claude uses it automatically when the situation calls for it, or you can trigger it on demand with /skill-name.

Skills ship with Claude (the built-in ones like pdf, docx, pptx, schedule) and you can install more from plugins or write your own.

Where to find it

On desktop

• Customize → Skills — the manager. Three-column layout: category sidebar, skill list, skill detail.
• + menu in the composer → Skills › — see installed skills, toggle them, open Manage skills.
• / palette — type / in the composer and skill names are there, searchable.

On the web

• claude.ai/customize/skills — the manager.
• Same + menu and / palette integrations.

How to use it

Trigger a skill in a chat

Type / in the composer, start typing the skill name (pdf, docx, skill-creator), press Enter, then prompt. Claude loads the skill’s instructions and follows them for the task.

Install a skill

1. Customize → Skills.
2. Click the + button, then + Create skill, and pick Upload a skill.
3. Upload a ZIP file containing your skill folder (the folder itself must be the ZIP’s root, not a subfolder).
4. The new skill joins your list, toggled on by default. Disable or delete it from the skill detail view.

On Team and Enterprise plans, your list is split into Personal skills, Shared skills (from colleagues — grayed out until you enable them), and Organization skills (provisioned or installed from the org directory).

Create your own

A skill is just a directory containing a Skill.md file with YAML front-matter (name, description, optional dependencies) followed by a Markdown body with the instructions. Optional extras: additional reference files (e.g. REFERENCE.md) and executable scripts (Python, Node.js) that Claude can run.

The two required fields:

• name — human-friendly, 64 chars max.
• description — what the skill does and when to use it. 200 chars max. This is load-bearing: Claude reads it to decide whether to invoke the skill.

A good authoring loop:

1. Start simple — a single Skill.md with clear instructions. Add scripts later only if needed.
2. Zip the folder (folder as ZIP root) and upload via Customize → Skills → + → + Create skill → Upload a skill.
3. Test with several prompts that should trigger it. Review Claude’s thinking to confirm the skill loaded. Iterate the description if it isn’t invoking when expected.

The built-in skill-creator skill walks you through all of this. Example skills are on GitHub at anthropics/skills. Skills follow the open Agent Skills specification, so they’re portable across platforms that adopt the standard.

Security: only install skills from trusted sources. Skills can instruct Claude to install third-party packages or connect to external networks; review any untrusted skill (including one shared by a colleague) before enabling it. Don’t hardcode secrets (API keys, passwords) into a skill.

Share a skill (Team / Enterprise)

On Team and Enterprise plans you can share a skill with specific people or with the whole organization — once an owner has enabled sharing in Organization settings → Skills (off by default). Open the skill in Customize → Skills → Share, pick recipients, done. Shared skills are view-only for recipients, and updates propagate automatically.

Good to know

• Skills trigger automatically when the situation matches their description. You don’t always have to type /.
• The description field is load-bearing. It’s what Claude reads to decide whether to use the skill. Write it to describe when to use the skill, not just what it does.
• Code execution must be enabled. Skills run in the code-execution environment. On Free/Pro/Max, enable it in Settings → Capabilities. On Team/Enterprise, an owner enables Code execution and file creation and Skills in Organization settings → Skills.
• Plugins often bundle skills. If you install a plugin, its skills land in Customize automatically.
• Available in the Excel and PowerPoint add-ins too. Enabled skills are usable from the sidebar in Claude for Excel and Claude for PowerPoint — trigger with / or describe your task naturally.
• Greyed-out skills usually mean code execution is disabled. Check Settings → Capabilities (or ask your org owner).

What’s changed recently

• 2026-04-18 — Cross-referenced with official help-center articles; added sources.
• 2026-04-18 — Page verified against desktop build 1.3109.0.

Related

• Customize
• Plugins
• Chat composer