Purpose
This repository is the official example collection of Agent Skills for Claude, used to demonstrate the capabilities and implementation patterns of the skills system. Skills are folders containing instructions, scripts, and resources that Claude dynamically loads to improve its performance on specialized tasks, enabling Claude to complete specific tasks in a repeatable way, such as creating documents according to company brand guidelines, analyzing data using organization-specific workflows, or automating personal tasks. The repository can be used to get inspiration, understand different patterns and implementation approaches, and also serve as a reference for building custom skills.
Main capabilities and contents
The skills in the repository cover multiple directions: creative applications (art, music, design), technical tasks (testing web applications, generating MCP servers), enterprise workflows (communication, branding, etc.). Each skill is a self-contained independent folder containing a SKILL.md file, which stores the instructions and metadata used by Claude. The repository also includes document creation and editing skills that power Claude's document capabilities, located in the skills/docx, skills/pdf, skills/pptx, and skills/xlsx subfolders. These skills are source-available rather than open source, for developers to reference more complex skill implementations that are actually used in production AI applications. The repository structure includes: ./skills (creative and design, development and technical, enterprise and communication, and document skill examples), ./spec (Agent Skills specification), ./template (skill template).
How to use
You can try them in Claude Code, Claude.ai, and the API. In Claude Code, you can register this repository as a Claude Code plugin marketplace, then install a specific skill set: select Browse and install plugins, select anthropic-agent-skills, select document-skills or example-skills, select Install now. You can also directly install any plugin. After installing a plugin, you only need to mention the skill to use it. For example, after installing the document-skills plugin, you can have Claude Code perform an operation such as "Use the PDF skill to extract the form fields from path/to/some-file.pdf". These example skills are already available in paid plans on Claude.ai; to use any skill in this repository or upload a custom skill, refer to the instructions in "Using skills in Claude"; through the Claude API, you can use Anthropic prebuilt skills and upload custom skills, see the Skills API Quickstart.
Creating a basic skill
Creating a skill is simple: a folder plus a SKILL.md file containing YAML frontmatter and instructions. You can use the template-skill in the repository as a starting point. The frontmatter only needs two fields: name (the skill's unique identifier, lowercase, with spaces replaced by hyphens), description (a complete description of what the skill does and when it applies). The Markdown body contains the instructions, examples, and guidelines that Claude will follow. For more details, see How to create custom skills. Skills are a good way to teach Claude to better use specific software.
Applicable scenarios and limitations
Skills are suitable for scenarios that require solidifying a specific process, specification, or way of using a tool into repeatable behavior, such as document creation and editing, data analysis, testing, enterprise communication and branding, etc. The skills in the repository are for demonstration and educational purposes only; although some capabilities may be available in Claude, the implementation and behavior Claude actually provides to you may differ from what is shown in this repository. These skills are used to illustrate patterns and possibilities, and before relying on them for critical tasks, be sure to fully test them in your own environment. Regarding open source licensing: many skills in this repository are open source (Apache 2.0), while the document skills are source-available and not open source. For information about the Agent Skills standard, see agentskills.io.
