Claude can learn any task and repeat it forever. They're called Skills, and most people don't know they exist.
What is a Skill?
A Skill is a reusable set of instructions that teaches Claude how to do a specific task, your way.
It's a folder with a SKILL.md file. Claude reads it, learns the task, and runs it the same way every time. Skills follow the open Agent Skills standard (agentskills.io), so they work across multiple AI tools.
Where skills live:
- Personal:
~/.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md(all your projects) - Project:
.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md(this project only) - Plugin: bundled inside installed plugins
A skill folder contains the SKILL.md and optionally scripts/ and references/ directories alongside it.
Five ways to get skills
You don't have to start from scratch.
- Create your own — build a custom skill with Claude
- Use bundled skills — Claude Code ships with skills like
/simplify,/batch,/debug - Install from marketplaces — the Anthropic plugin repo or LobeHub (100K+ skills)
- Browse Cowork prebuilts — Claude Cowork → Customize has ready-to-use skills
- Clone from GitHub — repos like
anthropics/skillshave open-source skills
Path 1: Create your own
Here's exactly how I built one from scratch. I wanted a skill that organizes and indexes all my images so I can search them later. The process:
- Start a conversation with Claude
- Tell it what you want the skill to do
- Claude asks clarifying questions about scope, inputs, outputs
- It gives you a test version to try
- You refine it together
- Claude packages it into a
SKILL.mdwith YAML frontmatter + instructions
The YAML frontmatter has a name and description. The markdown body is the step-by-step playbook Claude follows every time.
My real example
I told Claude: "I want to organize all my images, tag them, and search by description." It asked me how I wanted them categorized, what metadata to capture, and how search should work. Then it built the whole thing.
Now I run it on any folder and instantly find what I need. The skill even has supporting files (scripts, references) alongside the SKILL.md.
The SKILL.md file under the hood
---
name: image-organizer
description: Indexes images in a folder and
makes them searchable by description
---
The YAML frontmatter tells Claude when and how to use it. Optional fields: disable-model-invocation (manual only), allowed-tools (restrict what Claude can do), context: fork (run in isolation).
The markdown body below is the step-by-step playbook Claude follows.
Bundled + marketplace skills
Bundled skills (ship with Claude Code):
/simplify— reviews your code for quality and fixes issues/batch— orchestrates large-scale changes across a codebase in parallel/debug— troubleshoots your current session/loop— runs a prompt repeatedly on a schedule
Plugin marketplaces:
To install the official Anthropic skills:
/plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills
/plugin install document-skills@anthropic-agent-skills
LobeHub has 100K+ community skills at lobehub.com/skills.
Cowork prebuilts
Not a coder? Cowork has prebuilt skills ready to go.
Open Claude Desktop → Cowork tab → Customize. You'll find prebuilt skills for common workflows: organizing files, managing spreadsheets, automating repetitive desktop tasks.
No terminal needed. No SKILL.md files to write. Just browse and activate.
Skills work across both Cowork and Claude Code. A skill you find in Cowork can also be used from the terminal.
Why this matters
You build the workflow once. It runs forever.
Every skill you create or install makes Claude smarter — not generically, but specifically for how YOU work. Your design rules. Your file structure. Your processes.
The more skills you add, the less you repeat yourself.
Start with one skill
Tell Claude what repetitive task you keep doing manually. Let it build the skill for you.
Or browse what's already built:
/simplify(bundled, try it now)- Cowork → Customize (prebuilt skills)
- lobehub.com/skills (100K+ community skills)
