Installation

Install and use Anthropic skills in Claude Code, Claude.ai, and the Claude API

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).

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.

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

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

Install skills via command

You can also install directly:

Document skills

/plugin install document-skills@anthropic-agent-skills

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

Use installed skills

Once installed, skills activate automatically when you mention related tasks:

PDF extraction

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

Claude.ai

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

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.

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.

Claude API

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

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"}
    ]
)

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"}
       ]
   )
   

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

Verify installation

To confirm skills are working:

Claude Code

# List installed plugins
/plugin list

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

Troubleshooting

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
   

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

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

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

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