What are Claude Skills?

Claude Skills are customizable folders containing instructions, scripts, and resources that Claude automatically loads when relevant to your task. They allow you to teach Claude specialized knowledge without writing code, making it better at domain-specific tasks like brand compliance, Excel formatting, or financial reporting.

Who can use Claude Skills?

Claude Skills are available to Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise users across Claude apps, Claude Code, and API integrations. They work the same way everywhere, so you can build a skill once and use it across all platforms.

How are Skills different from regular prompts?

Skills are automatically invoked by Claude when relevant to your task—you don't need to manually select or mention them. Multiple skills can stack together for complex workflows, and they persist across conversations, eliminating the need to repeat instructions.

Can I create my own custom Skills?

Yes. You can create custom skills using the Skill Creator tool in Claude. Skills use a standard format and can include instructions, example outputs, resource files, and scripts. Once created, skills work across all Claude platforms.

Are Claude Skills safe to use?

Skills can execute code, which is powerful but requires caution. Only use skills from trusted sources, and review what permissions a skill requests before enabling it. Enterprise users should establish governance policies for skill usage.

Claude Skills: The Complete Guide to AI Customization (2025)

October 17, 2025 · 8 min read · AI Features

Hook: Teach Claude once. Reuse everywhere.

Nut graf: Announced October 2025, Claude Skills shift AI from prompt-by-prompt instructions to portable expertise. A Skill is a small package—instructions, examples, and optional scripts—that Claude can auto‑invoke across the web app, Claude Code, and the API. Result: consistent outputs without repeating yourself.

Thesis: Skills turn ad‑hoc prompting into reusable capability you can govern, version, and share.

What Are Skills?

Structured folders with instructions, examples, and resources
Work the same across Claude apps, Claude Code (VS Code), and API
Auto‑invoked when the task matches a Skill’s scope; multiple Skills can stack

Prompts are conversations. Skills are institutional memory.

How They Work (In Practice)

Create a Skill (e.g., Brand Voice, Excel Formatting, Financial Reporting)
Claude detects relevance and loads it—no manual selection
Scripts for code tasks; templates/standards for documents

High‑Value Use Cases

1) Brand Consistency

Voice/tone, allowed phrases, legal disclaimers
Visual guidelines and compliance notes

2) Excel + Reporting

Formatting rules, chart standards, calculation methods
Templates for quarterly and board reporting

3) Engineering Standards

Code style, security guardrails, API patterns
Testing requirements and review checklists

4) Domain Knowledge

Compliance checklists, medical/legal terminology, localization rules

Governance and Safety

Code execution: enable trusted Skills only; review permissions
Team controls: curate an approved library; require reviews for changes
Auditability: track which Skills ran; version and roll back

Limitations (Today)

No persistent “learning”—Skills do what they’re told
Large Skills consume context; keep them tight
Invocation isn’t perfect—test matching and refine names/instructions

Getting Started

For Individuals

List three repetitive tasks
Build one simple Skill (tone, format, or domain terms)
Use for a week; simplify and tighten

For Teams

Standardize 2–3 essentials (brand, formatting, compliance)
Ship a v1 library; collect examples; add guardrails
Define who can create, review, and publish

For Developers (API)

Read the Skills API; ship a proof‑of‑concept
Measure quality deltas and token impact
Expose a Skill picker and versioning in your app

Counterpoint

Skills won’t fix unclear goals or messy inputs. The biggest gains come from well‑scoped Skills with concrete examples and short, specific instructions.

Close

Start small, ship one reusable Skill, and scale from repeatable wins.

TL;DR

Claude Skills package your standards and examples so Claude applies them automatically across apps and API. Start with one high‑leverage Skill, govern it, and grow a shared library.

title: "Claude Skills: The 2025 Customization Guide"
slug: "claude-skills-feature-guide-2025"
tldr: "Stop repeating prompts. Encode standards once as Skills and let Claude apply them automatically across apps, code, and API."
og_title: "Claude Skills: Build Reusable AI Capability"
og_description: "A practical guide to creating, governing, and scaling Claude Skills for brand, reporting, and engineering standards."
x_post: "Claude Skills turn prompts into reusable capability. Start with one high‑leverage Skill (brand, Excel, or code standards), then scale with governance."
linkedin_intro: "Claude Skills shift AI from ad‑hoc prompting to reusable capability. Here’s how to build, govern, and scale them across your org."
mastodon: "New: Claude Skills. Encode standards and examples once; Claude applies them automatically across apps and API. Governance tips + starter roadmap."
alt_text: "Diagram showing Claude loading multiple Skills—Brand, Formatting, Security—for a single task."
cta_link: "https://www.anthropic.com/news/skills"