Skills are the feature that makes Claude follow your standards. They're built in, free, and off by default. Here's how to switch them on and start using them today.
A Skill is a folder of instructions that Claude reads only when it's relevant. Instead of re-typing the same guidance every session, you write it down once and Claude applies it on demand.
The payoff is consistency. Ask for a presentation without a Skill and you get something generic. Ask with a brand-guidelines Skill turned on and you get your colors, your fonts, your layout — every time.
Skills are off by default, which is why most people never use them. Open your settings and switch them on, then start a fresh chat so Claude loads them.
Settings → Capabilities → turn on Skills
Once Skills are on, you'll see a set built by Anthropic. Two are worth knowing immediately: brand-guidelines, which styles outputs to a brand, and skill-creator, which builds new skills for you from a plain-English description.
Toggle on the ones you want and leave skill-creator on permanently — it's how you'll make your own skills without writing any code.
There are two ways a skill runs. Claude can pick it automatically when your request matches what the skill does, or you can open the skill menu and choose "Try in chat" to force it.
Either way, glance at the first lines of Claude's reply to confirm the right skill fired. If it didn't, rephrase your request using words that match the skill's purpose.
A short, printable checklist to turn on Skills, pick your starter set, and confirm they're firing.