Install Your First Claude Skill, Step by Step

A skill is a saved set of instructions Claude can use whenever a task comes up. It is how you stop retyping the same guidance every week. The first one is the hardest, mostly because people start with the wrong task.

Choose a task that repeats

A good first skill has three traits. You do the task at least weekly. The result should look the same each time. You can describe a good result clearly. Weekly status updates, meeting summaries, and customer replies in a consistent format all qualify. A one-off project does not.

Write the instructions

Before you touch any settings, write the instructions in plain language. Cover:

• The goal: what the skill produces and who it is for.
• The inputs: what you will give Claude each time.
• The steps: the order Claude should follow.
• The format: headings, length, and tone of the result.
• The limits: what to avoid, and what to flag for you instead of deciding.

Aim for a page. Longer instructions often add confusion and not precision.

Add it to Claude

Skills need code execution. Open Settings → Capabilities and make sure Run code in the cloud is switched on (called Create and edit files in the newer Settings layout). In the current interface, skills live under Customize, then Skills. From there you can upload a skill you have written or create one. There is also a Create with Claude shortcut, where Claude helps you draft the skill from a description of the task. Menus and labels change often, so look for the Customize area if the wording has moved.

Review it before you rely on it

This step is the one people skip. Before you trust a skill with real work:

1. Read the instructions once more, as if you were a new colleague seeing them for the first time.
2. Run the skill on a past task where you already know the right answer, and compare.
3. Check that it does not ask for, store, or repeat anything sensitive.
4. Fix what the test exposed, and run it again.

If you installed a skill that someone else wrote, review it with extra care. You are responsible for what it does in your account.

Keep it improving

After each real use, note what you edited by hand. Those edits are the next revision of the skill. A skill that is refined three or four times usually outperforms one that was perfect on day one.

Go deeper

Module 8 of Claude Unlocked, Building Your Own Claude Skills, now has seven steps. The new step, Add it to Claude, covers the path through Customize and Skills and the Create with Claude shortcut, and the step after it shows how to test a skill before you rely on it. The guide includes a worked example you can copy. Module 7, on Claude Projects, was rewritten to match the new Project page. The guide has 78 prompts across 10 modules, is updated for the October 2026 interface, and costs $39.99, one time.

Read about Claude Unlocked

Next in this series: the model picker and the Effort setting.