What are Claude skills?
A plain answer to what a skill is, what it does and why it helps.
A skill is a small set of instructions that teaches Claude to do one job well, every time. You add it once, and Claude reaches for it when the job comes up. Skills keep answers consistent, in your preferred style, with the details you care about already built in.
What is inside a skill
A short, plain description of the job, the steps to follow, and any rules or preferences you want kept. No code for you to write.
Why people use them
You stop repeating yourself. The result looks the same each time, so you can trust it and hand it to someone else.
Where they run
Skills work inside the Claude app. Add one, then just ask Claude for the job it covers.
Questions
Is a skill the same as a prompt?
A prompt is what you type in one chat. A skill is a saved set of instructions that shapes every chat that uses it.