Anthropic has introduced a new tool called Claude Skills, designed to make its AI assistant, Claude, more efficient and context-aware for specific workflows. The feature enables users and organizations to customize Claude with task-specific skills, helping it perform complex business operations faster and more accurately.
What Are Claude Skills?
Claude Skills are essentially folders that contain instructions, scripts, and resources designed to enhance Claude’s performance for particular work tasks. These skills can be installed and managed as needed, allowing users to create a more intelligent and capable AI for their daily workflows.
Users can create and manage their own skills through Claude.ai, Claude Code, Anthropic’s API, and the Claude Agent SDK. Companies such as Box, Rakuten, and Canva are already using Claude Skills to boost their productivity.
A Smarter Way to Build AI Agents
Claude Skills focus on improving AI agent customization for business use. Instead of typing repetitive commands or reusing past prompts, users can rely on predefined skills that automate steps and access relevant information instantly.
Each skill can include:
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Step-by-step procedures
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Code templates
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Reference documents
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Brand guidelines
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Compliance checklists
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Executable scripts
All of these components are organized in a structured folder system that Claude can intelligently navigate.
How Claude Skills Work
According to Brad Abrams, Anthropic’s Product Manager, the goal of Claude Skills is to teach Claude to “perform well within specific business contexts.”
Mahesh Murag, a technical team member at Anthropic, explains that the architecture is based on progressive disclosure. Initially, Claude only sees skill names and short descriptions. It then decides autonomously which skills to install and which files to access based on the task.
Unlike retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems, Claude Skills use simple tools that allow the AI to read and manage files directly. This gives Claude virtually unlimited context capacity, enabling it to complete single or multiple complex tasks efficiently.
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Easy Skill Creation for Everyone
For non-technical users, Anthropic offers a Skill Creator, a built-in tool that helps users generate new skills through interactive guidance. The Skill Creator asks questions about the user’s workflow and automatically builds the folder structure and documentation needed for that skill.
In addition, Anthropic provides several pre-built skills for common business tasks such as:
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Creating Excel spreadsheets with formulas
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Designing PowerPoint presentations
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Writing Word documents
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Filling out PDFs
All of Anthropic’s pre-built skills are free to use, and the Claude Skills feature is available to Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise users.
Competing in the AI Agent Race
Anthropic’s launch of Claude Skills highlights the company’s growing focus on AI agent development, arriving shortly after OpenAI announced its AgentKit toolkit.
With revenues projected to rise from $9 billion in 2025 to $26 billion by 2026, Anthropic aims to continue innovating and strengthening its position in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
