What Are Skills?

Skills are packaged instructions that teach Claude how to do specific tasks well. Think of them as “expertise modules” you can add to Claude.

The Problem Skills Solve

Without skills, Claude might describe what to do but not actually do it correctly. With skills, Claude has step-by-step expertise.

How Skills Work

When Claude encounters a task that matches a skill:

1. Claude identifies the relevant skill
2. Reads the SKILL.md file for that skill
3. Follows the documented patterns and practices
4. Produces higher-quality output

Built-in Skills

Claude Code comes with skills for common tasks:

Skill	Purpose
docx	Create and edit Word documents
pptx	Create PowerPoint presentations
xlsx	Create and manipulate spreadsheets
pdf	Create and fill PDF forms

Skill Structure

• Directoryskills/

  • Directorypublic/

    • Directorydocx/

      • SKILL.md
    • Directorypptx/

      • SKILL.md
  • Directoryuser/

    • Directoryyour-custom-skill/

      • SKILL.md

What’s in a SKILL.md?

# Skill: Create PowerPoint Presentations

## Overview
This skill creates .pptx files using python-pptx.

## When to Use
- User asks to "create a presentation"
- User asks to "make slides"

## Process
1. Install python-pptx if needed
2. Create presentation structure
3. Add slides with layouts
4. Save to output directory

## Best Practices
- Use consistent fonts
- Limit bullets to 5-7 per slide
- Include speaker notes

## Code Template
[Working code example]

## Common Pitfalls
- Don't overcrowd slides
- Check image paths exist

Why Skills Matter

Consistency

Follows the same approach every time.

Quality

Encodes learned best practices.

Capability

Enables complex multi-step processes.