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You can use skills in three environments: Claude Code (the most full-featured option with plugin support), Claude.ai (with built-in skills for paid plans), and the Claude API (for custom integrations).

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Claude Code

Claude Code supports skills through its plugin marketplace system. The Anthropic skills repository can be added as a marketplace, giving you access to two curated skill collections.

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Add the skills marketplace

Register the Anthropic skills repository: 
/plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills
This makes the anthropic-agent-skills marketplace available with two plugin collections:
  • document-skills - Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and PDF processing
  • example-skills - 12 example skills demonstrating various capabilities

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Install skills via browse

1

Open the plugin browser

Run the browse command:
Browse and install plugins
Or use the command palette (Ctrl+P) and select “Browse and install plugins”
2

Select the marketplace

Choose anthropic-agent-skills from the marketplace list
3

Choose a skill collection

Select either:
  • document-skills - Document processing suite (PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel)
  • example-skills - Creative, development, and enterprise examples
4

Install

Click “Install now” to add the skills to Claude Code

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Install skills via command

You can also install directly: 
/plugin install document-skills@anthropic-agent-skills

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What’s included

document-skills contains:
  • xlsx - Create and edit Excel spreadsheets with formulas, charts, and formatting
  • docx - Create and edit Word documents with tables of contents, track changes, and comments
  • pptx - Generate PowerPoint presentations with custom themes and layouts
  • pdf - Extract text/tables, merge/split PDFs, fill forms, add watermarks, OCR scanned documents
example-skills contains:
  • algorithmic-art - Generate visual art through code
  • brand-guidelines - Apply Anthropic’s official brand colors and typography
  • canvas-design - Create visual designs and layouts
  • doc-coauthoring - Collaborative document creation workflows
  • frontend-design - Build UI components with best practices
  • internal-comms - Write newsletters, FAQs, and company updates
  • mcp-builder - Generate Model Context Protocol servers
  • skill-creator - Create and optimize new skills
  • slack-gif-creator - Generate custom GIFs for team communication
  • theme-factory - Generate and apply visual themes
  • web-artifacts-builder - Create interactive web components
  • webapp-testing - Automated testing workflows

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Use installed skills

Once installed, skills activate automatically when you mention related tasks: 
Use the PDF skill to extract the form fields from contracts/agreement.pdf
You can also explicitly invoke a skill: 
Load the MCP builder skill and help me create a GitHub MCP server

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Claude.ai

Paid Claude.ai plans include access to all example skills from this repository. Skills are available automatically - no installation needed.

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Upload custom skills

You can also upload your own custom skills:
1

Prepare your skill

Create a folder with a SKILL.md file:
---
name: my-custom-skill
description: Description of what this skill does and when to use it
---

# Instructions
[Your skill instructions here]
2

Upload to Claude.ai

  1. Open Claude.ai and start a conversation
  2. Click the attachment icon or drag and drop your skill folder
  3. Claude will detect the SKILL.md file and load the skill
3

Use the skill

The skill is now available for the current conversation:
Use my custom skill to process this data
For detailed instructions on uploading and using custom skills in Claude.ai, see Using skills in Claude.

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Available built-in skills

All example skills from this repository are available in paid Claude.ai plans:
  • Document processing (PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
  • Creative tools (algorithmic art, canvas design, theme factory)
  • Development tools (MCP builder, webapp testing, skill creator)
  • Enterprise tools (brand guidelines, internal communications)
Skills activate automatically based on your requests.

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Claude API

The Claude API supports both Anthropic’s pre-built skills and custom skills via the Skills API.

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Use pre-built skills

Anthropicmakes curated skills available via the API: 
import anthropic

client = anthropic.Anthropic(api_key="your-api-key")

response = client.messages.create(
    model="claude-4-0-20250514",
    max_tokens=4096,
    skills=[
        {"type": "prebuilt", "name": "pdf"},
        {"type": "prebuilt", "name": "docx"}
    ],
    messages=[
        {"role": "user", "content": "Extract tables from report.pdf and create a Word document summary"}
    ]
)

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Upload custom skills

Create and upload your own skills:
1

Create a skill

Prepare a skill folder with SKILL.md:
---
name: data-analysis
description: Analyze CSV data and generate reports with visualizations
---

# Data analysis workflow

## Steps
1. Load CSV data
2. Clean and validate
3. Generate summary statistics
4. Create visualizations
2

Package the skill

Create a .skill file (ZIP archive with SKILL.md and resources):
zip -r data-analysis.skill SKILL.md scripts/ references/
3

Upload via API

import anthropic

client = anthropic.Anthropic(api_key="your-api-key")

# Upload the skill
with open("data-analysis.skill", "rb") as f:
    skill = client.skills.create(
        name="data-analysis",
        file=f
    )

# Use the uploaded skill
response = client.messages.create(
    model="claude-4-0-20250514",
    max_tokens=4096,
    skills=[{"type": "custom", "id": skill.id}],
    messages=[
        {"role": "user", "content": "Analyze sales-data.csv"}
    ]
)

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Skills API quickstart

For complete API documentation and examples, see the Skills API Quickstart. Key capabilities:
  • Upload custom skills as .skill files
  • List and manage uploaded skills
  • Use pre-built Anthropic skills
  • Combine multiple skills in a single request
  • Version and update skills

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Verify installation

To confirm skills are working: 
# List installed plugins
/plugin list

# Test a skill
List the available skills and tell me what the PDF skill can do

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Troubleshooting

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Claude Code: Marketplace not found

If /plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills fails:
  1. Verify you’re using the latest version of Claude Code
  2. Check that the repository URL is correct: anthropics/skills
  3. Try adding with the full GitHub URL: 
    /plugin marketplace add https://github.com/anthropics/skills

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Claude Code: Skills not triggering

If installed skills don’t activate:
  1. Verify installation: 
    /plugin list
  2. Explicitly mention the skill: 
    Load the PDF skill and extract text from document.pdf
  3. Check that your request matches the skill’s description triggers

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Claude.ai: Custom skill not loading

If your custom skill doesn’t load:
  1. Verify the SKILL.md file has valid YAML frontmatter
  2. Check that name and description fields are present
  3. Ensure the file is named exactly SKILL.md (case-sensitive)
  4. Try uploading just the SKILL.md file first, then add resources

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API: Skill upload fails

If skill upload returns an error:
  1. Verify the .skill file is a valid ZIP archive
  2. Check that SKILL.md is at the root of the archive
  3. Ensure YAML frontmatter is valid
  4. Verify your API key has skills upload permissions

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Next steps

Understand skills

Learn how skills work and the progressive disclosure system

Create a skill

Build your first custom skill with the template

Explore examples

Browse the full collection of example skills

API reference

Complete Skills API documentation

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