Anthropic introduces Agent Skills
Created on October 17|Last edited on October 17
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Anthropic has introduced a new capability for Claude called Agent Skills, designed to make the model more adaptable and precise when handling specialized tasks. Released on October 16, 2025, this feature allows Claude to load modular sets of instructions, scripts, and resources—known as Skills—only when relevant to the user’s request.
How Skills Function
Skills are essentially folders containing structured guidance, example scripts, and optional executable code. When a user issues a prompt, Claude scans all available skills to identify any that are contextually relevant. If it finds one, Claude loads only the minimum necessary information from that skill, ensuring speed and security. This modular design means Claude can seamlessly extend its capabilities without needing permanent access to large or sensitive datasets.
Core Principles of Skills
Anthropic designed Skills to be composable, portable, efficient, and powerful. Composability means multiple skills can work together, with Claude automatically coordinating which to use. Portability ensures the same skill structure works across Claude apps, Claude Code, and the Claude API. Efficiency is achieved by only loading what is needed at the moment. Finally, Skills can include executable code, allowing developers to integrate reliable, rule-based programming alongside generative capabilities.
Integration Across Claude Products
Skills are now active across the entire Claude ecosystem. In Claude apps, users on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans can enable or create custom skills. The interface displays which skills are active, and Claude automatically activates relevant ones as it works. The “skill-creator” skill walks users through building new skills interactively, creating the correct folder structure and SKILL.md file automatically.
For developers, Skills are accessible through the Claude Developer Platform and API. A new /v1/skills endpoint allows for programmatic management, version control, and updates. Skills depend on the Code Execution Tool beta, which provides a secure sandbox for running code. Anthropic also offers pre-built skills for generating Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint decks, Word documents, and fillable PDFs.
Skills in Claude Code
In Claude Code, Skills can be installed as plugins from the anthropics/skills marketplace or added manually to the user’s local ~/.claude/skills directory. Teams can share skills via version control, allowing consistent workflows across organizations. The Claude Agent SDK includes full support for Agent Skills, enabling developers to build specialized agents that mirror team processes.
Future Development and Caution
Anthropic plans to streamline the skill creation process and introduce enterprise-wide deployment tools, making it easier to distribute and maintain shared skills at scale. However, because Skills enable Claude to execute code, users are advised to only install trusted Skills from verified sources to ensure data safety and compliance.
Getting Started
Users can learn more through the Claude apps User Guide, API documentation, and Claude Code developer resources. Anthropic also maintains a public GitHub repository of example Skills that users can customize for their own use cases.
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