Skills

Last verified: 14 April 2026 | Applies to: All plans (Free, Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise)

In 30 seconds

Skills let you encode your team’s way of doing things (your report formats, your processes, your terminology) so Claude follows them without being reminded every session. Instead of re-explaining your weekly ops report structure or your onboarding checklist each time, you write it once as a skill and Claude loads it automatically when relevant. Skills work on all plans, including Free, and you can create your own in minutes.

What it does

graph LR
    A[Skill folder] --> B[SKILL.md]
    B --> C[Claude discovers skill]
    C --> D{Relevant to request?}
    D -->|Yes| E[Load and execute]
    D -->|No| F[Skip]

How skills work: Claude uses “progressive disclosure”: it reviews available skills, determines which are relevant to your request, and loads only the necessary information. This keeps responses focused without overloading context.

Types of skills:

Type	What it is	How to get it
Anthropic Skills	Pre-built by Anthropic for document creation (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, PDF)	Activate automatically when relevant
Custom Skills	Created by you using markdown instructions + optional scripts	Upload via Settings → Capabilities as ZIP files
Organisation Skills	Distributed by Team/Enterprise admins to all members	Provisioned org-wide with default enable/disable
Partner Skills	Built by companies like Notion, Figma, Atlassian	Browse at claude.com/connectors

Skill structure:

my-skill/
  SKILL.md          ← Required: instructions with YAML frontmatter
  scripts/          ← Optional: executable Python/JavaScript
  data/             ← Optional: reference files, templates

SKILL.md format:

---
name: weekly-report
description: Creates our standardised weekly ops report.
---

# Weekly Operations Report

When asked to create a weekly report, follow this structure:

## Required Sections
1. Key metrics (revenue, orders, NPS)
2. Wins from this week
3. Blockers and risks
4. Next week priorities
5. Asks from leadership

## Formatting
- Keep it under 500 words
- Use bullet points, not paragraphs
- Lead with the number, then the context

How to set it up

To use built-in skills:

1. Go to Settings → Capabilities
2. Ensure “Code execution and file creation” is enabled
3. Toggle individual skills on/off in the Skills section

To create a custom skill:

1. Create a folder with a SKILL.md file (see format above)
2. Add optional scripts and reference files
3. ZIP the folder
4. Upload via Settings → Capabilities → Upload skill

To manage organisation skills (Team/Enterprise): Admins can provision approved skills org-wide with default enable/disable settings.

How operators actually use it

Scenario: Priya, Head of Ops

Priya runs operations for a 25-person ecommerce company and was spending 30-plus minutes each Monday assembling the weekly ops report from scratch: pulling the same five metrics, formatting the same sections, often forgetting one until someone asked. She built a skill containing the standard report structure, the five metrics her team tracks, and a script that pulls the latest numbers from their CSV export. Now she says “write this week’s ops report” and Claude follows the exact structure every time. The only manual step is reviewing the commentary Claude adds around flat or declining numbers, which occasionally needs adjusting.

Skills encode institutional knowledge: the stuff that’s currently trapped in your head, buried in a Google Doc, or explained verbally to every new hire.

Build your first skill in 10 minutes

This walkthrough creates a “Weekly Ops Report” skill. By the end, Claude will generate a standardised report every time you ask, following your exact structure.

Step 1: Create the folder structure

Create a folder on your computer with this layout:

weekly-ops-report/
  SKILL.md

That is all you need. Scripts and data files are optional. The only required file is SKILL.md.

Step 2: Write the SKILL.md file

Open a text editor and paste the following into SKILL.md:

---
name: weekly-ops-report
description: Generates our standardised weekly operations report with metrics, wins, blockers, and priorities.
---

# Weekly Operations Report

When the user asks for a weekly report, weekly ops report, or weekly summary, follow this structure exactly.

## Report sections

1. **Key metrics**: Revenue (week to date), orders (week to date), NPS score (latest). Lead with the number, then one sentence of context.
2. **Wins**: 2-3 things that went well this week. Be specific: name the project, the person, or the result.
3. **Blockers and risks**: Anything slowing the team down or likely to cause problems next week.
4. **Next week priorities**: Top 3 priorities for the coming week, in order of importance.
5. **Asks from leadership**: Decisions or resources needed from leadership. If none, say "None this week."

## Formatting rules

- Keep the entire report under 500 words
- Use bullet points, not paragraphs
- Lead every metric with the number, then the context
- Use plain language. No jargon, no filler.
- Date the report with the current week's Monday date

Step 3: Upload the skill

1. ZIP the weekly-ops-report folder
2. Open Claude Desktop and go to Settings, Capabilities, Upload skill
3. Select your ZIP file
4. The skill appears in your skills list. Toggle it on.

Step 4: Test it in Cowork

Open a Cowork session and type:

Write this week's ops report.

Claude loads the skill automatically and follows your structure. If you have data files, connectors, or spreadsheets in your Cowork folder, Claude pulls the numbers from them. If not, it asks you for the figures.

Review the output. If you want to adjust the structure, edit SKILL.md, re-zip, and re-upload. Each iteration takes under a minute.

For a more detailed guide covering advanced skill features, scripts, and organisation-wide distribution, see Building Skills.

What to watch out for

• Skills are not plugins. Skills are one component (the knowledge layer). Plugins bundle skills with connectors, slash commands, and sub-agents.
• YAML frontmatter is required. The name and description fields in SKILL.md must be present for Claude to discover and load the skill.
• Custom skills are account-specific. They don’t sync across devices unless provisioned by a Team/Enterprise admin.

Related

• Plugins: bundles that contain skills + connectors + commands
• Building a Plugin: create a full plugin (not just a skill)
• Custom Skills Guide: Anthropic’s official documentation

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