SkillHub

Once you've installed skills, Claude automatically uses them when relevant. Here's how to get the most out of skills in both Claude.ai and Claude Code.

Automatic Skill Activation

Skills work automatically — Claude identifies when a skill is relevant to your task and activates it without you needing to do anything special. You'll see the skill referenced in Claude's chain of thought as it works.

For example, if you have document skills installed and ask:

Create a PDF report summarizing our Q4 sales data

Claude will automatically use the PDF skill to create a properly formatted document.

Explicit Skill Invocation

You can also reference skills directly in your requests:

In Claude.ai


    Using the Excel skill, create a spreadsheet with monthly budget categories

In Claude Code

Use the PDF skill to extract form fields from path/to/document.pdf

Best Practices

1. Be Specific About Your Goal

Help Claude understand what you need. Instead of vague requests, be clear about the output format and requirements.

Vague: "Make a document"
Better: "Create a Word document with our company letterhead containing a project proposal"

2. Provide Context

Give Claude the information it needs to use skills effectively:

Reference files or data you want to work with
Describe the desired output format
Mention any specific requirements or constraints

3. Let Skills Work Together

Skills are composable — you can use multiple skills in one workflow. Claude will coordinate between them automatically.


    Extract the data from this PDF, analyze it, and create an Excel summary with charts

Common Use Cases

Document Creation

Generate Word documents, PDFs, PowerPoints, or Excel files
Convert between formats
Extract content from existing documents

Development (Claude Code)

Generate code following specific patterns
Create tests for existing code
Automate repetitive development tasks

Custom Workflows

Follow your organization's specific procedures
Apply brand guidelines consistently
Automate domain-specific tasks

Security Notes

Important things to keep in mind:

Skills execute code in a sandboxed environment
Data doesn't persist between sessions
Only install skills from trusted sources
Custom skills are private to your account

Troubleshooting

If a skill isn't working as expected:

Verify the skill is installed (Settings → Capabilities in Claude.ai)
Check that code execution is enabled
Try being more explicit about which skill to use
See our Troubleshooting guide for more help

How to Use Skills with Claude