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Have you heard of Claude Skills?
If your answer was option B or C, then you are in luck.
For those who picked option A, we have something for you as well.
To put it simply: a skill is simply a set of instructions Claude remembers and applies on its own.
Instead of re-explaining the same thing 6 times a day, you teach Claude once.
And It remembers.
I’ll walk you through how to build your own and save yourself from the pain of repetition. But before that let’s catch up on what’s happening this week.
CES 2026 Roundup:
TOOLS that caught my attention
1. northr.ai:
An adaptive planning tool that helps you set direction and automatically reprioritise daily work as plans change, built for knowledge workers and founders.
2. Aident AI:
Describe workflows in plain English and Aident compiles them into a working "Playbook" (scripts + prompts). Connects 250+ tools, update automations through chat.
3. Noodle Seed:
A no-code platform that turns your website into an AI-ready app inside ChatGPT, letting users browse content, book services, and capture leads directly in chat.
Building your first skill
There are two ways to build a Claude Skill:
Quick Way: Use the skill-creator tool (Claude builds it for you in ~2 minutes)
Custom Way: Build it manually (More control, better for complex workflows)
I'll show you both.
Method 1: Quick Way (skill-creator tool)
Claude ships with creator skill, a meta-skill that helps you generate other skills.
Instead of writing instructions line by line, I defined decision logic once and let Claude encode it.
Building a Cold Email Scorer
Step 1: Settings → Skills → Toggle "creator-skill" ON
Step 2: New chat. Input prompt:
Step 3: Creator-skill asks clarifying questions.
I answered with explicit scoring logic:
Q: Optimal subject line length?
A: 30-50 characters = full points. 20-29 or 51-60 = partial. Outside that = zero.
Q: Define personalization depth?
A: Name only = 0 points. Company mention = 10. Recent company event = 20. Specific recent post/achievement = 30.
Q: Value prop placement?
A: First sentence = 25 points. Second = 15. Third+ = 5. Not in first paragraph = 0.
Q: CTA clarity?
A: Single specific CTA with time = 15 points. Single vague CTA = 10. Multiple or none = 0.
Q: Word count?
A: Under 100 = 10 points. 101-150 = 5. Over 150 = 0.
Q: Output format?
A: Total score, breakdown by factor, top 3 problems, rewritten version.
Step 4: Creator-skill generated a complete skill:
Step 5: Download → .zip file → Settings → Skills → Upload → Toggle ON
Step 6: Tested with a real email:
Claude's output:
Accuracy test: 10 real emails with known response rates.
Results: 80% accurate
Method 2: Custom Way (Manual Build)
Some skills are easier to write manually
Required Structure
I learned quickly that Claude treats skills more like executable instructions than documentation.
When I deviated from this structure, skills failed silently with no error message.
Step 1: Create Files
New folder: writing-style-no-slop/
Inside:
skill.mdresources/folderresources/style-guide.md
Step 2: Write skill.md
I kept this under ~150 words because longer skills consistently performed worse.
Trigger keywords activate the skill.
Step 3: Write resources/style-guide.md
Step 4: Zip and Upload
Right-click folder → Compress to ZIP → Settings → Skills → Upload → Toggle ON
Step 5: The Critical Hack
Skills trigger 40% without this. 95% with it.
Settings → Personalization → Custom Instructions → Add:
When I reference a skill by name or use trigger keywords, ALWAYS check if that skill exists and apply it.
This line in Custom Instructions (your general behaviour preferences) tells Claude to actively look for uploaded skills instead of passively waiting.
It's a reliability workaround; without it, Claude often misses trigger keywords.
Step 6: Test the Writing Style Skill
Open a new conversation. The skill activates when you use trigger keywords from Step 2 (write, draft, blog post, article, newsletter).
Enter the prompt: "Write a blog post intro about AI productivity tools.”
Output Without Skill:
In today's rapidly evolving landscape, AI tools are becoming increasingly important for professionals seeking to leverage cutting-edge technology. Let's delve into the most impactful solutions...
Output with skill active:
I tested 8 AI productivity tools last week. Three saved me 10+ hours. Five were overhyped garbage.
Here's what worked and what was marketing smoke.
What changed: It removed banned phrases (landscape, leverage, delve into), added personal pronouns (I, me), added specific numbers (8 tools, 10+ hours, 3, 5), used 2-sentence paragraphs, and led with action.
2 skills I tried and tested
a. processing meeting notes
Turns an 800-word transcript into a structured summary in 8 seconds:
Output:
Results: 15 min per meeting, 95% accuracy (10 meetings tested)
b. drafting an email response
Turns bullet points into complete professional emails in 10 seconds.
Input:
- decline the proposal
- too expensive for current budget
- open to discussing reduced scope version
- timeline doesn't work
Output:
Results: 10 min per email, 90% requiring zero edits (20 emails tested)
Skills vs Projects
Using them together:
When I used Projects alone, Claude remembered information but applied it inconsistently.
When I used Skills alone, Claude followed the rules but lacked the full context.
Combining them fixed both problems.
Projects hold the reference material, and skills control how that material is used, so Claude consistently applied the same logic without me restating context or correcting outputs.
My Take
Remember when ChatGPT GPTs were supposed to solve this?
They didn't.
Then OpenAI tried to make AI "personalities." An empathetic voice, a professional voice, a quirky one, etc.
Nobody wanted that either.
Skills will work because they're instructions, that are repeatable and dependable. Unlike the personalities.
Claude doesn't need a personality. It just needs to remember your rubric and apply it without you repeating it 6 times a day.
Built your first skill yet? Reply and tell me what you made.
Until next time
Vaibhav 🤝🏻
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