claude skills in claude code

reddit.com › r › ClaudeAI › comments › 1oalv0o › what_are_claude_skills_really

Here's how Claude himself explained it, and I think he really captures the essence of it: Claude Skills solve a common problem: normally, when you want an LLM to do something specific, you have to prompt it each time. Or maybe you set up custom instructions in a project, but then you can only use those instructions when you're in that project. Otherwise, you're back to copying and pasting the same prompt over and over. Skills change this completely. Think of it like Neo's "I know kung fu" moment in The Matrix. Just like they uploaded kung fu directly into Neo's brain and he could instantly use it, you're uploading specialized knowledge into Claude that it can apply automatically whenever needed. When you create a Skill, you're building a knowledge package with instructions, best practices, examples, and specific guidance for a task. You download it, upload it back into Claude's Skills section, and you're done. From that point forward, whenever you mention anything relevant to that Skill (or even just start a task it applies to), Claude automatically uses that knowledge. It's like giving Claude a reference guide it checks before starting work. The beauty is the "anywhere, anytime, automatically" part. You don't have to keep uploading prompts. You don't have to be in a specific project. It takes the concept of custom instructions and makes it universal across every single conversation you have. Skills just work in the background whenever they're relevant, no manual triggering needed. It's Claude's "I know kung fu" moment. Answer from hesasorcererthatone on reddit.com

Claude

code.claude.com › docs › en › skills

Agent Skills - Claude Code Docs

Create, manage, and share Skills to extend Claude's capabilities in Claude Code.

reddit.com › r/claudeai › what are claude skills really?

r/ClaudeAI on Reddit: What are Claude Skills really?

October 19, 2025 -

I've heard Skills might be the next big thing that changes the ai game. But I just can't get my head around them. My use case is mainly Claude Web with projects that help me build resources for work.

How is a Skill different from custom instructions? How is a Skill different from projects?

You could make an email Skill to write like you, but you could also make a project that does the same.

Or I have this project that is instructed "If A, find X google drive document, if B, find Y. Heres the links" - Could Skills replace this part of the prompt which could help with tokens?

Please explain like I'm 10 🙏🏼

Top answer

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Here's how Claude himself explained it, and I think he really captures the essence of it: Claude Skills solve a common problem: normally, when you want an LLM to do something specific, you have to prompt it each time. Or maybe you set up custom instructions in a project, but then you can only use those instructions when you're in that project. Otherwise, you're back to copying and pasting the same prompt over and over. Skills change this completely. Think of it like Neo's "I know kung fu" moment in The Matrix. Just like they uploaded kung fu directly into Neo's brain and he could instantly use it, you're uploading specialized knowledge into Claude that it can apply automatically whenever needed. When you create a Skill, you're building a knowledge package with instructions, best practices, examples, and specific guidance for a task. You download it, upload it back into Claude's Skills section, and you're done. From that point forward, whenever you mention anything relevant to that Skill (or even just start a task it applies to), Claude automatically uses that knowledge. It's like giving Claude a reference guide it checks before starting work. The beauty is the "anywhere, anytime, automatically" part. You don't have to keep uploading prompts. You don't have to be in a specific project. It takes the concept of custom instructions and makes it universal across every single conversation you have. Skills just work in the background whenever they're relevant, no manual triggering needed. It's Claude's "I know kung fu" moment.

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It's a structured document that you can only use on Claude. To me, as a non-coder no-computer background type, they wrote Skills like it's a new computer language for a markdown file. I'm super excited to see Big Tech adopt and formalize structured documents as System Prompts. Google has something called Google Playbooks. I've been writing about System Prompt Notebooks (SPNs) for months - https://www.reddit.com/r/LinguisticsPrograming/s/uLv5p8eq5f I personally use structured Google Docs ( with tabs) and English. Basically all you need is clear titles and headers for the LLM to parse. Of course, the better you are with words and articulating instructions, the better the experience. I upload the SPN at the beginning of a chat and prompt the LLM to use @[file name] as a system prompt and to use as a first source of reference. For there, my prompts can be start and basic. What you're really building is an external memory file for the LLM. A project rulebook, employees handbook, Claude Skills, Google Playbooks or System Prompt Notebooks - all they are, are structured documents with instructions, rules, etc. Where Google and Claude will fall short is they are developing platform specific tools. My SPNs are not platform specific and can be used with any LLM that accepts uploads. So, if you've been doing to the same, you are ahead of they power curve.

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if you try to say "use skill" you will be able to forcible use it. but yes something i can see it sometimes i do not unless i force it to be used More on reddit.com

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Claude Code skills activate 20% of the time. Here's how I got to 84%.

This is an excellent piece of research. Why I like it: you didn't just say "I did this and it's a game-changer". Instead you systematically tried four different hook implementations, and you measured them systematically against a suite of synthetic and real-world situations. This way we have confidence that you understand the landscape of all possible implementations, and there's reason to believe that yours is an optimum. Thank you! I've shared it with my team. More on reddit.com

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Claude Skills Might Be One of the Most Game-chaging Ideas Right Now

This is hilarious. You thought deeply about skills and made a 12 paragraph dissertation about how amazing and special they are. I looked into it and said "these are literally just prompts". More on reddit.com

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