Building your first skill

A Skill is a saved set of instructions that teaches Claude how to do a task your way, once, so you stop re-explaining it every time. This chapter walks through setting up your first one. No coding required.

The one-line version

Think of it like onboarding a new assistant. Instead of typing "format this the way I like it, in my tone, with these sections" into every chat, you write it down once. From then on, Claude quietly pulls up those instructions whenever a matching task comes along, and decides on its own when to use them. You never select one from a menu.

Under the hood, a Skill is a small text file called SKILL.md with three parts: a name, a description that tells Claude when to reach for it, and plain instructions for what to do. The simplest useful Skill is a few lines of ordinary writing.

Before you start

Two quick checks first.

• Turn on Code execution and file creation in Settings. Skills rely on it, and will not appear without it.
• Confirm your plan supports custom Skills (Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise today). Check your own Settings to be sure.

Once both are set, you will find Skills under Settings → Customize → Skills.

The easiest way to build one

You do not need to write a Skill from scratch. Open a normal chat and describe the repetitive task in plain words, for example:

"I want a Skill that turns my messy meeting notes into a clean list of action items, each with an owner and a due date. Can you write it for me?"

Claude drafts the whole thing: name, description, and instructions. Review it, ask for tweaks, then paste the result into Settings → Customize → Skills and save it. You never touch the file format yourself.

The part that matters most

One piece decides whether a Skill ever fires: the description. It is the only thing Claude reads to judge whether a task matches. Get it vague and the Skill sits unused.

Weak: Helps with notes.

Strong: Use when the user pastes raw meeting or call notes and asks for action items, next steps, or a follow-up list.

Notice the strong version names the words a real person would actually type. Write yours the same way.

Test it, then fix the description

1. 01
   Try a real example

   Start a fresh chat and give Claude the exact kind of task the Skill is meant for.
2. 02
   If it doesn't fire, edit the description

   This is almost always the culprit. Add the words and phrases you would naturally type, then try again.
3. 03
   Change one thing at a time

   Small edits make it obvious what fixed, or broke, the trigger.

A few worth stealing

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