Claude Skills Reference

Instructions

Agent Skills are modular capabilities that extend Claude’s functionality. Each Skill packages instructions, metadata, and optional resources (scripts, templates) that Claude uses automatically when relevant.

For any detailed information, read the reference document.

Claude Skills overview → See [reference/Overview.md](reference/Overview.md)

Why use the Claude Agent Skills?

Quickstart → See [reference/Quickstart.md](reference/Quickstart.md)

Learn how to use Agent Skills to create documents with the Claude API in under 10 minutes. This tutorial shows you how to use Agent Skills to create a PowerPoint presentation. You'll learn how to enable Skills, make a simple request, and access the generated file.

Best practices → See [reference/Best practices.md](reference/Best practices.md)

Learn how to write effective Skills that Claude can discover and use successfully. Good Skills are concise, well-structured, and tested with real usage. This guide provides practical authoring decisions to help you write Skills that Claude can discover and use effectively.

Using Skills in Claude API → See [reference/Using Skills.md](reference/Using Skills.md)

Learn how to use Agent Skills to extend Claude's capabilities through the API. Agent Skills extend Claude's capabilities through organized folders of instructions, scripts, and resources. This guide shows you how to use both pre-built and custom Skills with the Claude API.