Anthropic Skills
Anthropic Skills
The official skill set, ready to use for office files; good templates for writing your own skills.
Anthropic's official repository of example skills for Claude: each skill is a folder of instructions and resources that helps Claude do one specific kind of task well.
Overview
Anthropic Skills is a public GitHub repository released by Anthropic, containing example Agent Skills for Claude. Each skill is a folder of instructions, scripts and resources, centered on a SKILL.md file, which Claude loads on its own when it meets the matching kind of work.
The repository has three parts: a skills folder with the examples, a spec folder describing the Agent Skills standard, and a template folder as a starting frame for writing your own skill. The example skills range from design, creative work and engineering (web app testing, building MCP servers) to enterprise communications and handling Word, PDF, PowerPoint and Excel documents.
It is the best starting point for understanding what a "standard" skill looks like before a business packages its own internal processes. Anthropic notes these skills are mainly for demonstration and learning, and should be tested thoroughly before use on important work.
Highlights
Official example skills
Published by Anthropic itself, showing how to structure a skill correctly so Claude understands it.
Document skills
Includes docx, pdf, pptx and xlsx skills, which also underpin Claude's document-handling abilities.
Wide range of areas
Covers creative and design, engineering, enterprise communications and office documents.
Spec and template
Comes with the Agent Skills standard specification and a template to start writing your own skill.
Install like a plugin
In Claude Code you can register the repository as a marketplace and install skill packs with just a few commands.
What it's for
Learning to write skills
An IT team reads the example skills to understand the SKILL.md structure before packaging internal processes.
Handling office documents
Staff use the PDF skill in Claude Code to extract form fields from PDF files.
Testing web apps
Developers refer to the web app testing skill so Claude can help test the product's interface.
Standardizing branding
The marketing team refers to the branding skill to build their own skill following the company identity.
How to use it
- 1
Open Claude Code
Start Claude Code in your project folder.
- 2
Add the repository as a marketplace
Register the anthropics/skills repository as a plugin source.
$/plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills - 3
Install the document skills pack
Install the group of skills for handling Word, PDF, PowerPoint and Excel.
$/plugin install document-skills@anthropic-agent-skills - 4
Install the example skills pack
To try the other example skills, also install the example-skills pack.
$/plugin install example-skills@anthropic-agent-skills - 5
Call a skill while working
Mention the skill name in your request, for example ask Claude to use the PDF skill to get the fields of a PDF file.
- 6
Write your own skill
Copy template-skill, edit the name and description in the frontmatter, then write your instructions.
Video guides
Agent Skills: Specialized capabilities you can customize
Anthropic
Build Better AI Agent Skills With Skill Creator v2 from Anthropic
Debbie O'Brien
Claude Agent Skills Explained
Anthropic
Real-world example
Suppose a small accounting firm in Ho Chi Minh City receives dozens of PDF files each week. As the IT person, you install the document-skills pack into Claude Code, then ask Claude to use the PDF skill to read the form fields and compile them into an Excel table with the xlsx skill. In parallel, the team builds on template-skill from the repository to write another skill describing the company's file naming rules and number checks, and tries it on a few sample files before rolling it out more widely.
Tips & notes
Read before using
Open SKILL.md and the accompanying scripts to understand what the skill will do on your machine.
Mind the licenses
Many skills use Apache 2.0, but the document skills docx, pdf, pptx and xlsx are source-available for reference only, not open source.
Write a clear description
Claude relies on the description to decide when to use a skill, so state both what the skill does and when to use it.
Test on real data
Anthropic recommends testing thoroughly in your own environment before assigning important work.
FAQ
Is this repository free?
It is public on GitHub. Many skills are under the Apache 2.0 license, while the document skills are source-available; see each folder for details.
Can it be used on Claude.ai?
According to the README, the example skills are already available on paid Claude.ai plans, and you can upload custom skills following Anthropic's instructions.
What does a minimal skill need?
A folder with a SKILL.md file, a YAML frontmatter containing two required fields, name and description, and the instructions below it.
Can it be used through the API?
Yes, the README says you can use prebuilt skills and upload custom skills through the Claude API.
Useful links
Want to apply this in your business?
2dm looks at your workflows, picks the right tools and sets them up with your team. The first call is free.
Same topic
Agent Skills documentation
4.0
Explains what a skill is, the SKILL.md folder structure, and how Claude loads skills automatically when needed.
Skills in Claude Code
4.0
How to create, install and use your own skills for Claude Code, on your machine or per project.
Introducing Agent Skills (article)
4.0
An article by Anthropic's engineering team on why Agent Skills exist and how they are designed.