---
id: "concept-claude-skills"
type: "concept"
source_timestamps: ["00:00:48", "00:04:05"]
tags: ["claude", "features", "prompting"]
related: ["concept-composable-lego-bricks", "concept-super-prompts", "claim-skills-are-platform-agnostic"]
definition: "Reusable, customizable instruction packages (Markdown files) stored in Claude that can be invoked in any chat to execute complex workflows without re-typing context."
sources: ["s40-super-prompts"]
sourceVaultSlug: "s40-super-prompts"
originDay: 40
---
# Claude Skills

## Definition

Reusable, customizable instruction packages — typically Markdown files, sometimes packaged as `.zip` archives — that are stored in Claude and can be invoked in any chat to execute complex workflows without re-typing context.

## Where They Live

Claude Skills are stored in the **Capabilities** section of user settings on [[entity-claude-d40]]. Once enabled, [[entity-claude-d40]] can call them in any conversation, in any combination, on the fly.

## Two Forms

1. **Standard Skills** — provided by [[entity-anthropic-d40]]. Examples called out in the source include *Brand Guidelines*, *Canvas Design*, and *MCP Builder*.
2. **Custom Skills** — created by the user. The speaker's own [[entity-prompting-pattern-library]] is one such custom skill: a comprehensive library of prompt-engineering best practices that Claude invokes whenever it is asked to draft a new prompt.

## How They Work

When a skill is invoked, the LLM automatically retrieves the stored context — preferred job roles, compensation requirements, analysis frameworks, formatting rules, etc. — and applies it to the current conversation. The user does not need to remember or paste a massive prompt. Instead, they simply reference the skill ("help me with X using my skill") and the underlying [[concept-super-prompts]] does the heavy lifting in the background.

## Why They Matter

Skills are Anthropic's answer to [[concept-prompt-dependency]] — the so-called "tyranny of the prompt." By packaging context once, they unlock the [[concept-composable-lego-bricks]] mental model and provide what the speaker calls a 10x lever on prompting (see [[claim-skills-provide-10x-lever]]).

## The Undocumented Twist

Because skills are ultimately just structured Markdown, they are not locked to Claude. They can be exported and used inside [[entity-chatgpt-d40]] or [[entity-gemini-d40]] — see [[claim-skills-are-platform-agnostic]] and [[contrarian-ecosystem-lock-in]].


## Related across days
- [[concept-skill-file-format]]
- [[concept-agent-callable-primitive]]
- [[concept-composable-lego-bricks]]