SKILL.md file that defines when it should be activated and what instructions Claude should follow.
Availability
Skills are available for users on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans. The Skills feature requires code execution to be enabled.How skills work
Skills use progressive disclosure to manage context efficiently:- Metadata loading: Claude reads skill names and descriptions at startup (~100 tokens each)
- Activation: When a task matches a skill’s description, Claude loads the full
SKILL.mdcontent - Resource loading: Additional files (scripts, references) are loaded only when needed
Types of skills
- Anthropic skills: Pre-built skills for document creation (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, PDF) that activate automatically when relevant.
- Partner skills: Skills from partners like Notion, Figma, and Atlassian designed for seamless MCP connector integration.
- Organization-provisioned skills: Skills deployed organization-wide by Team and Enterprise administrators.
- Custom skills: Skills you create for specialized workflows—generating emails, applying brand guidelines, integrating with tools like JIRA or Linear, and more!
Skills vs. other features
| Feature | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Skills | Task-specific procedures that load dynamically |
| Plugins | Shareable packages that bundle skills, connectors, slash commands, and sub-agents |
| Projects | Static background knowledge always loaded in specific chats |
| MCP | Connects Claude to external services |
| Custom Instructions | Broad preferences applied to all conversations |
Open standard
Skills follow the Agent Skills specification, a platform-agnostic standard. Skills you create can work across any platform adopting the standard. See Creating custom skills to learn how to build your own, or bundle skills into plugins to share them with your team.Related topics
Skills in Claude Code
Create, install, and invoke skills from the Claude Code CLI.
Plugins
Bundle skills with connectors and commands.