Agent Skills: folders of instructions and scripts that Claude loads only when needed

Anthropic introduces Agent Skills, a way to teach Claude how to perform specific tasks, for example working on an Excel sheet with formulas or filling in a PDF. A skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file with instructions, plus optional scripts and supporting files.

The key point is that Claude loads them only when needed. At first it reads only the name and description of each available skill; if a task needs one, it loads the full instructions, and the extra files only if necessary. Many skills can therefore be installed without filling up the context.

Anthropic provides ready-made skills for Excel, PowerPoint, Word and fillable PDFs, plus a "skill-creator" skill that guides users step by step in building new ones. Skills are available in the Claude apps on Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans, in Claude Code and in the API. At launch, companies such as Box, Canva, Notion and Rakuten describe their first uses.