Claude Skills Guide
What Are Claude Skills?
Claude Skills are specialized capabilities that extend Claude's functionality for specific tasks. Think of them as "plugins" or "add-ons" that give Claude domain-specific knowledge and tools.
Available Skills
Document Processing
- PDF Skill: Extract text, analyze structure, parse forms
- Excel Skill: Read spreadsheets, analyze data, create reports
- Word Skill: Process documents, extract content, format text
Data Analysis
- Chart Skill: Generate visualizations from data
- Statistics Skill: Perform statistical analysis
- Data Cleaning Skill: Normalize and clean datasets
Development
- API Testing Skill: Test endpoints, validate responses
- Database Skill: Query optimization, schema design
- Code Review Skill: Automated code quality checks
How Skills Work
Basic Usage
User: Analyze this sales data spreadsheet
Claude: [Activates Excel Skill]
[Reads data, performs analysis]
[Returns insights and visualizations]
Behind the Scenes
- Skill Detection: Claude identifies task type
- Skill Activation: Loads relevant skill
- Task Execution: Uses skill-specific knowledge
- Result Synthesis: Combines skill output with general knowledge
Using Skills Effectively
1. Be Explicit About Document Types
Better:
"Analyze the Q4 sales data in this Excel file"
Than:
"Look at this file"
2. Specify Desired Output
"Extract all invoice numbers from this PDF
and create a CSV list"
3. Combine Skills
"Read the Excel sales data, then create a
PDF report with charts showing trends"
Practical Examples
Example 1: PDF Data Extraction
Task: Extract all email addresses from contract.pdf
Claude Process:
1. Activate PDF Skill
2. Parse document structure
3. Identify email patterns
4. Extract and validate
5. Return formatted list
Example 2: Excel Analysis
Task: Find top 10 customers by revenue in sales.xlsx
Claude Process:
1. Activate Excel Skill
2. Read worksheet data
3. Group by customer
4. Sum revenue columns
5. Sort and return top 10
Example 3: Multi-Skill Workflow
Task: Generate quarterly report from database
Workflow:
1. Database Skill → Query sales data
2. Statistics Skill → Calculate metrics
3. Chart Skill → Create visualizations
4. Word Skill → Generate formatted report
Creating Custom Skills
Note: Custom skill creation is an advanced topic
Skill Structure
class CustomSkill:
name = "My Custom Skill"
description = "What this skill does"
def can_handle(self, task):
# Determine if skill applies
return task.type == 'specific_type'
def execute(self, task):
# Perform specialized task
return results
Example: Code Formatter Skill
class CodeFormatterSkill:
name = "Code Formatter"
def can_handle(self, task):
return 'format code' in task.text
def execute(self, code, language):
# Apply language-specific formatting
if language == 'python':
return self.format_python(code)
elif language == 'javascript':
return self.format_javascript(code)
Skill Best Practices
1. Understand Skill Limitations
Each skill has boundaries: - PDF Skill: May struggle with scanned images - Excel Skill: Limited to certain formula types - Chart Skill: Works best with clean data
2. Prepare Your Data
Good Data:
- Consistent formatting
- Clear column headers
- Proper data types
Poor Data:
- Mixed formats
- Merged cells
- Hidden rows/columns
3. Iterate
First pass: "Analyze this Excel file"
Refinement: "Focus on Q4 revenue trends"
Final: "Compare Q4 revenue to Q3, highlight anomalies"
Common Skill Workflows
Data Pipeline
1. Excel Skill: Import raw data
2. Data Cleaning Skill: Normalize values
3. Statistics Skill: Calculate metrics
4. Chart Skill: Visualize results
5. PDF Skill: Export report
Document Processing
1. PDF Skill: Extract text from scans
2. NLP Skill: Identify key entities
3. Database Skill: Store structured data
4. Word Skill: Generate summary
Development Assistance
1. Code Review Skill: Analyze code quality
2. Security Skill: Check vulnerabilities
3. Performance Skill: Identify bottlenecks
4. Documentation Skill: Generate docs
Troubleshooting
Skill Not Activating?
Problem: Claude doesn't use expected skill
Solution: Be more explicit about file type
Before: "Look at this"
After: "Analyze this Excel spreadsheet"
Unexpected Results?
Problem: Skill produces incorrect output
Solution: Check data format and provide examples
"Extract invoice numbers (format: INV-12345)
from the PDF in column A"
Performance Issues?
Problem: Skill processing is slow
Solution: Break into smaller tasks
Instead of: "Analyze entire 50MB spreadsheet"
Try: "Analyze Q1 data in Sheet1, rows 1-1000"
Future of Skills
Upcoming Capabilities
- Real-time API integration
- Custom skill marketplace
- Skill chaining automation
- Cross-document analysis
Integration Ideas
# Future workflow example
@skill_chain(['pdf', 'excel', 'chart'])
def monthly_report(input_pdf, output_format):
data = PDFSkill.extract(input_pdf)
analysis = ExcelSkill.analyze(data)
charts = ChartSkill.create(analysis)
return format_report(charts, output_format)
Resources
Learning More
- Official Claude Skills documentation
- Community skill repository
- Skill development tutorials
- Example workflows
Getting Help
Ask Claude:
- "What skills are available for [task]?"
- "Can you use [skill] to [action]?"
- "What's the best skill for [problem]?"
Conclusion
Claude Skills transform Claude from a general assistant into a specialized expert for specific tasks. By understanding available skills and how to leverage them, you can:
- Process documents more efficiently
- Analyze data with greater accuracy
- Automate repetitive workflows
- Build sophisticated multi-step pipelines
Start simple, experiment, and gradually build more complex skill-based workflows.
Skills are continuously evolving - check for updates and new capabilities regularly!