Published: 2025-10-18
Author: Karo Zieminski
Claude Skills radically simplify agent-building: no code, just Markdown and plain instructions. Early reactions: “A bigger deal than MCP” (Simon Willison), “Easy path for workable agents” (Ethan Mollick). This guide covers:
- What Claude Skills are
- How to create/upload new Skills
- Fast-build templates: Infographics Maker, Messy Notes Organizer, Substack SEO Internal Linking
- Skill stacking and sharing
- When to use Skills vs MCP vs external tools
- Real limitations and best practices
Claude Skills = compact, editable instructions you upload. They’re accessible for all users: no API, no SDK.
And that part - the giving Claude the skill part - is the real shift. Anthropic made skill-building something anyone can do.
Before Skills:
- MCP = complex setup, engineer-focused
- Custom tools = code, auth, debugging
- System prompts = powerful, but brittle
Now: Just a markdown folder, possibly scripts. Anyone can create/build/share. And when anyone can create a Skill, anyone can improve one or build on top of one.
- Enable Skill Creator: Settings → Skills → Skill Creator → Enable
- Describe workflow in natural language (“Save blog posts to Notion”)
- Answer inputs/outputs/edge case prompts
- Review generated SKILL.md / resources / scripts
- Download .zip, upload via Settings → Skills → Upload → Toggle on
- Test in a new chat: prompt Claude naturally to use skill
- anthropics/skills: Official Anthropic templates/examples
- BehiSecc/awesome-claude-skills: Community collection
- docx, pptx, xlsx, markdown: Automation and document skills
- michalparkola/tapestry-skills-for-claude-code: Workflow/integration examples
Enterprise case: Rakuten cut accounting workflow time from 1 day to 1 hour.
Infographic Maker: Auto-generates flat-design infographics, strict palette Messy Notes Organizer: Converts disordered notes into objective, clear lists Substack SEO Internal Linking: Audit/generate internal linking for content clusters, topical strength, anchor diversity
Usage: Download .zip → Upload as Skill → Toggle on
Option 1: Upload skills as project files in ChatGPT for contextual retrieval Option 2: Store/retrieve skill library from Drive/GitHub
Skill stacking: Claude auto-coordinates multiple active skills. (E.g. “Make a campaign poster” triggers brand + design + context merge.) No micromanaging—just state what you want.
Skills = remixable assets. Share via Drive, GitHub. Collective intelligence: Each share improves next workflow. Beginner tip: Use simple GitHub guide.
| Approach | Where | Best For | Setup | Scalability | Explainability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skills | Claude app/Code/API | Fast, repeatable workflows | Simple | Team sharing | High |
| MCP | External infra | Robust jobs, x-service | Hard | Enterprise | Medium |
| Tools | External | Custom code/automation/integrations | Medium | Flexible | Varies |
- Security: Executes code from Markdown, needs sandboxing
- Access: Skills require Pro/Max/Team/Enterprise
- Quality: Output and reliability varies
- Docs lag reality: Best info from community GitHub/reddit
You can now operationalize custom workflows, no dev or setup needed. Skills shrink the “idea → agent” gap.
#ClaudeSkills #Anthropic #AIWorkflows #MCP #AwesomeClaudeSkills