Anthropic announces that Claude can now use Skills — a way to teach it specific instructions, scripts, and resources to improve concrete tasks. The official launch was October 16, 2025, and Anthropic says Claude will only load the minimum needed when a Skill is relevant to the job. (anthropic.com)
What Skills are and how they work
Think of a Skill as a folder that packages experience: instructions, examples, and files that tell Claude how to do a repeatable task well. It’s not a long prompt you paste every time, but a SKILL.md plus resources that Claude can load dynamically when it detects they’re useful. (github.com)
Claude scans the available Skills while it works and loads only the minimal information required, which keeps responses fast and focused. Skills are designed to stack on each other, be reusable, and, when needed, run code for tasks where programming is more reliable than generating text. (anthropic.com)
Where you’ll be able to use them
Skills are integrated into Claude apps and also work with Claude Code and the developer platform. According to Anthropic, they’re available to Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise users, and can be enabled from settings or managed at an organizational level. (anthropic.com)
For developers there’s also API support: there are now programmatic ways to manage Skills and a dedicated endpoint for versions and control /v1/skills. That opens the door to integrating Skills in pipelines, version controls, and team deployments. (anthropic.com)
What this enables in practice
Can you imagine asking Claude to review three spreadsheets, apply your internal accounting rules, and produce a presentation-ready report? That’s exactly the kind of flow Anthropic highlights: generation and editing of files like Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and PDFs with professional formulas and formatting. There are ready examples in a public repo to inspire you. (anthropic.com)
Some partners already share concrete cases: streamlining accounting, turning files stored in services like Box into brand-guided presentations, or speeding up processes that once took hours. It’s a move toward more specialized agents that understand a company’s concrete procedures. (anthropic.com)
For developers: how to get started fast
Anthropic published examples and templates in a public repo so you can see a Skill’s structure, including a template-skill and a skill-creator that guides you step by step. You can install Skills from the marketplace, add them to ~/.claude/skills, or manage them from the Claude console. (github.com)
If you’re a dev, note that some Skills require the Code Execution Tool beta. In other words, Skills can execute code in a controlled environment, which enables more powerful automations but also calls for caution. (anthropic.com)
Risks and best practices
The fact that a Skill can run code is powerful, but it comes with risks. Anthropic recommends using trusted sources and testing Skills in controlled environments before deploying them in critical processes. Keep version control, define clear permissions, and avoid using public Skills with access to sensitive data without review. (anthropic.com)
Why this should matter to you right now
Because it turns generic AI into practical specialists for your day-to-day work. Instead of writing long prompts every time you need a report or presentation, you can build or install a Skill that captures your team’s know‑how. For entrepreneurs and small teams, that means less time on routine tasks and more consistency in outputs. For companies, it means scaling documented processes and reducing human errors.
If you’ve ever created an Excel template with macros or a brand guide for designers, you already understand the value of packaging that knowledge. Now picture Claude using that package automatically, whenever it’s relevant to the conversation or task.
Closing thoughts
Skills don’t replace human oversight, but they change the relationship between people and agents: from reactive tools to assistants that apply concrete procedures when appropriate. The key will be governing them well: version control, reviews, and trusting the source. If you want to try them, check the public examples and start with a simple Skill that captures a repeatable process from your daily work. (github.com)
