Why This Matters
Have you ever found yourself telling Claude the same thing over and over? "Write it in this style." "Check my work before saving." "Always start with this step." It gets old fast.
Custom skills let you save those instructions in a file. Then instead of typing them out every time, you just type one short command and Claude remembers everything.
This lesson walks you through setting it up yourself.
What Is a Skill?
A skill is just a text file with instructions inside it. You give it a name, and from then on you can call it up with a slash command.
Think of it like a sticky note on your desk. Instead of remembering a whole set of instructions, you write them down once. Next time you need them, you just look at the note.
For example, you could make a skill called /write-email that tells Claude exactly how you like your emails written. Your tone, your sign-off, everything. One command and it's all there.
Let's Make Your First Skill
We're going to create a skill that tells Claude how to write in your voice. This way, anything Claude writes for you will sound like you, not like a robot.
Step 1: Open Claude Code
Open your terminal and start Claude Code in any project folder:
claudeStep 2: Ask Claude to Make the Skill for You
Here's the fun part. You don't need to create the file yourself. Just tell Claude what you want:
Create a custom skill called "write-like-me" that tells you to always write in a casual, friendly tone. Keep sentences short. Use simple words. Never sound corporate or stiff. End emails with "Best," followed by my name.Claude will create the file and put it in the right place for you. It will show you exactly what it made.
Step 3: Try It Out
Now start a new conversation with Claude and type:
/write-like-meThen ask Claude to write something for you, like an email or a quick message. You'll notice it follows your style instructions automatically.
What Can You Make Skills For?
Pretty much anything you find yourself repeating. Here are some ideas:
- Email writer. Tell Claude your tone, your greeting, your sign-off. Every email sounds like you wrote it.
- Social media posts. Tell Claude your style, your favorite hashtags, the length you prefer. Consistent posts every time.
- Meeting notes. Paste in messy notes and Claude cleans them up into a clear summary with next steps.
- Daily planner. Tell Claude to organize your tasks by priority and give you a simple to-do list for the day.
How to Edit a Skill
Want to change what a skill does? Just ask Claude:
Update my "write-like-me" skill to also include that I never use exclamation marks and I always keep paragraphs to 2 sentences max.Claude will find the file and update it. No need to dig through folders yourself.
Where Do Skills Live?
When Claude creates a skill for you, it saves it as a small text file inside your project folder. The exact spot is:
.claude/commands/your-skill-name.mdYou don't need to remember this. Claude handles it. But it's nice to know that your skills are just simple files sitting in your project, nothing complicated.
Tips
- Be clear about what you want. The more specific your instructions, the better Claude follows them. "Friendly tone" is good. "Friendly tone, short sentences, no jargon, end with Best" is even better.
- Start with one skill. Pick the thing you repeat most often and make a skill for that first. You can always add more later.
- Give it a simple name. Names like
/write-emailor/clean-notesare easy to remember. Keep them short.
What You Learned
You can save your favorite instructions as a custom skill and call them up with one short command. No more repeating yourself. No more explaining the same things to Claude every time you start a new conversation.
Start with one skill for the thing you do most often, and build from there.
