Anthropic has unveiled Agent Skills, a new feature that enables its Claude AI models to load targeted resources and instructions to perform specialized tasks more effectively. These Skills act as modular folders containing scripts, documentation, and assets that Claude can selectively access when needed.

The update significantly expands how users and developers can tailor Claude’s behavior, turning the conversational model into a more adaptive and task-aware AI assistant across Claude apps, Claude Code, and the Claude API.

While performing a task, Claude automatically scans available Skills and loads only those relevant to the current context. This selective activation helps Claude stay fast and efficient while still leveraging specialized knowledge.

Each Skill is:

According to Anthropic, Skills can be viewed as “custom onboarding materials” that package expertise into reusable, structured units that make Claude a specialist in key areas.

For a technical deep-dive on the Agent Skills design pattern, architecture, and development best practices, Anthropic directs readers to its engineering blog.

Skills are available for Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise tiers. Anthropic provides templates for common tasks like document and presentation creation, while users can also build and customize their own.

The “skill-creator” skill provides interactive guidance: Claude asks about your workflow, generates the folder structure, formats the SKILL.md file, and bundles the resources you need — no manual file editing required.

Once enabled via Settings, Claude can automatically invoke the most relevant Skills as it works — visible directly in its reasoning process.

Enable Skills in Settings. For Team and Enterprise users, admins must first enable Skills organization-wide.

Developers can now integrate Skills programmatically through the Messages API or manage them using the new /v1/skills endpoint, which gives developers programmatic control over custom skill versioning and management. This functionality requires the Code Execution Tool beta, providing a secure environment for running executable code within Skills.

With Anthropic’s prebuilt Skills, Claude can now read and generate professional documents — including Excel spreadsheets with formulas, PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, and fillable PDFs. Developers can also create custom Skills to extend Claude’s capabilities for their specific use cases.

Developers can also create, view, and upgrade Skill versions and distributions through the Claude Console, with full documentation and training available via Anthropic Academy.

Within Claude Code, Skills integrate team workflows and domain expertise. Teams can install them as plugins via the anthropics/skills marketplace, or manually by adding them to the ~/.claude/skills directory.

Skills can also be version-controlled and shared across teams, and the Claude Agent SDK provides full support for building custom agents that leverage the same Skills infrastructure.

Anthropic provides multiple entry points for users and developers to begin using Agent Skills:

Because Agent Skills allow Claude to execute code, Anthropic emphasizes caution when loading external or third-party Skills. Users should rely on trusted sources and organizational policies to maintain data security.

The company is also developing simplified creation workflows and enterprise-wide deployment tools to make Skill management more scalable across large organizations.

Q1: What are Agent Skills in Claude?
A: Agent Skills are modular folders containing scripts, documentation, and assets that help Claude perform specialized tasks.

Q2: How do Skills improve Claude’s performance?
A: They allow Claude to load targeted resources only when needed, enhancing precision while maintaining speed.

Q3: Can developers create their own Skills?
A: Yes. Developers can use the Claude Console, Messages API, or Agent SDK to build and manage custom Skills.

Q4: Are Skills available for all Claude users?
A: Skills are available for Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise users, with organization-wide management options.

Q5: Does using Skills raise security concerns?
A: Since Skills can execute code, users should install only trusted Skills to safeguard data integrity.

The release of Agent Skills represents a key shift in how enterprise AI is designed and deployed. Instead of treating large language models as static generalists, Anthropic is positioning Claude as a flexible, modular system that can be taught domain-specific expertise through safe, controlled extensions.

This modularity could redefine how organizations adopt AI—allowing teams to embed brand guidelines, compliance logic, or workflow scripts directly into the model’s behavior. For developers, it creates a path toward more maintainable, versioned AI integrations without retraining or fine-tuning.

The introduction of executable code within Skills also signals a merging of AI reasoning and traditional programming, enabling hybrid systems that are both creative and deterministic. While this increases capability, it also raises new questions around security, data governance, and access control—areas Anthropic appears keen to address with its secure execution sandbox and admin-level management features.

If adopted widely, Agent Skills could make AI deployment as modular as modern software—bridging the gap between conversational intelligence and enterprise automation.

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant used for research and drafting. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.