Skills
A skill is a saved instruction set for a specific, recurring task. Instead of writing the same detailed prompt every time you need a particular type of output, you write it once as a skill file and reuse it.
A skill file is a markdown file in your Cowork folder. It describes exactly how Claude should approach a task:
# Weekly report
When I ask you to write a weekly report:
- Format: 3 sections. Progress, Blockers, Next Week
- Tone: direct and factual, no padding
- Length: no more than one page
- Use the data I give you. Don't fill gaps with assumptions
- Include a one-sentence summary at the top
Drop this in a skills/ folder. You don't need a slash command to use it. You ask in plain English, and Claude matches the request to the skill's description.
/name still works if you want to force one.
Good candidates:
- Weekly or monthly reports
- Proposal structures
- Client update emails
- Social posts in your voice
- Any output you produce more than once a month
A skill is not a scheduled task. A task runs on a timer. A skill runs when you ask, or when the work in front of you matches it.
A skill is not a project. A project is a workstream with its own files. A skill is the method.
How to access it
Paid Claude plans, in the desktop app, with your folder selected. Skills also exist on the Free plan in a limited way. For the setup we do in the room, use Pro or Team. Check the current price at claude.com/pricing.
On Team and Enterprise you can publish a skill for the org. That's Sharing skills with your team. On your own, a skill in your folder is enough.
The switch people miss: a skill does nothing if it isn't installed, or if no folder is selected and Claude is in plain chat. After you create one, ask for the job in plain English once, so you know it triggers. Use /name only when you want to force it.
How to create a skill
Two ways.
Top down. You already know the job. You haven't just done it in the chat.
I want to create a skill that does X.
Bottom up. You've just done the work, and the result is right.
I love what we just did. Can you save it as a skill so I can use it again or share it with my team?
Plan it before you build it
Plan a skill before Claude writes the file. Same rule as a deck or a financial model. The full habit is on Superpower techniques.
Ask Claude to ask you clarifying questions first. If it guesses the steps, you'll be correcting the skill forever.
I want to create a skill that does X.
Ask me any clarifying questions first.
Don't write the skill until I say the plan is right.
Plan that conversation on Opus, or on Fable if the skill will run a lot and being wrong is expensive. Once the plan is agreed, building the file can sit on a lower model if you're watching your usage. See Models, effort and limits.
Worked example. An art gallery needed a first pass on which collectors might care about a new work. They started with "I want to create a skill that matches a new work to collectors." Claude asked what counted as a relationship. The first plan treated a private view as interest. They added one rule: bought or asked about a work in this medium. A visit doesn't count. They fixed the plan, then built the skill. They didn't keep patching the shortlist by hand.
How to use skills
You don't need a slash command. You say what you want.
Create me a deck for [client].
Claude matches that to the skill's description. The practical-ai-deck skill is the one we use for decks. You don't have to remember the name. You describe the job, and it knows to use that skill.
/name still works if you want to force one skill and ignore the others. That's the exception, not the habit.
Putting it together
A session with the folder and a skill looks like this.
- Claude reads the folder. Who you are, the business, the tone, the client note.
- You ask in plain English. "Create me a deck for [client]."
- Claude asks one clarifying question.
- It builds the deck from your template and the skill.
- It saves the file in outputs/.
No copying and pasting. No re-explaining your business.
What a good skill contains
- Name. Short, lowercase, hyphens.
/board-brief, not "the board one". - When to use it. One or two lines, so it can trigger on its own.
- Inputs. What you will provide. What it should go and read.
- Steps. The order of the work.
- Format. The table, the length, the headings.
- Rules. Three hard ones. "Don't invent a figure." "Don't send." "Flag gaps."
- An example. One finished output that's good enough to copy. Not ten. Real ones can live in
writing/.
Examples from sessions
All of these are patterns, not a client's live files.
| Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Collector matching | An art gallery. A new work in, a shortlist out, each name tied to a real purchase or enquiry. |
| NDA first pass | A playbook for the clauses you always look at. A table for the lawyer, not a verdict. |
| Law-change brief | What changed, who it affects, what the board needs to decide. Sources named. |
| Shipping note | The dispatch email a jewellery brand sends to a stockist. Order, dates, what's missing. |
| Brand email | A marketing email in the tone file, for one audience. Not the board voice. |
| Performance deck | The monthly story from the pack. Plan in text, then the slides. |
Pro tips
- Fix the skill, not the output. If you correct the same thing twice, add the rule.
- One skill, one job. A skill that "does marketing" never triggers cleanly.
- After about a month of real use, you'll know which three skills matter. Archive the rest. Don't collect them.
Limits
A skill can't know a fact that isn't in the folder, the connector, or your message. It will still sound sure. Your rules have to tell it to flag the gap.
Skills don't run themselves on a Tuesday morning. That's a scheduled task. Plan the task before you schedule it, the same way you plan the skill.
Where to start in 30 minutes
- Pick a job you did twice last month.
- Do it once more, properly, and tell Claude to ask you clarifying questions first.
- When the result is right: "I love what we just did. Can you save it as a skill so I can use it again or share it with my team?"
- Read the skill. Cut it to three rules.
- Ask for the same job again, in plain English, on a second real example. If the wrong skill runs, use
/nameto force the right one. Fix the skill where it misses.