Skills
Reusable workflow modules that give Claude a defined set of instructions, scripts, and assets for a specific task.
Skills are Claude's unit of reusable capability. A Skill is a lightweight folder containing a SKILL.md instruction file plus optional Python scripts, templates, and assets. When Claude receives a relevant request, it loads only the Skills metadata first, then pulls in additional files if the skill applies.
Skills were introduced by Anthropic in early 2026 as a replacement for custom Styles. Key characteristics: - Each Skill is self-contained — instructions, code, and assets in one folder - Skills run inside a sandboxed VM environment alongside code execution - Team and Enterprise admins can provision Skills org-wide - Skills require code execution and file creation to be enabled
Example Skills: an Excel formatting skill that knows your company's spreadsheet conventions; a code review skill that applies your team's style guide; a report generation skill that outputs to a specific template.
Example
A marketing team creates a "Brand Voice" Skill containing tone guidelines and example copy. Every Claude response in that org automatically applies the brand voice without the user needing to paste instructions each time.
Related terms
Agentic AI
An AI system that can break down goals into steps, use tools, and iterate until a goal is achieved.
Tool Use / Function Calling
Enabling an AI to call external functions or APIs to perform tasks beyond text generation.
Agent Orchestration
Coordinating multiple AI models, tools, or agents to work together on a complex goal.