Episode Overview

Title: Claude Skills explained: How to create reusable AI workflows
Podcast: How I AI
Host: Claire Vo
Date: October 22, 2025

In this "How I AI" mini episode, host Claire Vo delivers a practical, hands-on guide to Anthropic's newly released Claude Skills feature. The episode focuses on what Claude Skills are, how to create them, best practices for incorporating them into daily workflows, and a live walkthrough of creation and deployment. Claire shares candid tips based on her own trial-and-error, especially aimed at product managers, engineers, and designers seeking to boost productivity via reusable AI workflows.

Key Discussion Points

1. What are Claude Skills?

(Starts ~02:08)

• Claude Skills are specialized sets of instructions and context you bundle for Claude (Anthropic’s AI) to perform specific tasks on demand, across Claude Code, web, desktop, or API.

• Unlike Claude Projects or OpenAI custom GPTs, which are fixed once set up, Claude Skills are dynamic, reusable, and can be invoked contextually.

• “If you find yourself constantly analyzing data a specific way…creating a document a specific way…Claude skills really give you a structured framework for filling out and reusing those those tasks over time.” (Claire Vo, 05:14)

• Skills are defined in natural language, organized as folders with a primary Skill.md file (for instructions and metadata), and optional resource or example files.

• Skills can also include executable Python scripts for technical validation or automation.

Memorable Quote:
“These are clearly primitives built by engineers expected to be groked by everyday people, and I’m going to sit here and translate them for you.” (Claire Vo, 09:01)

2. Claude Skills vs. Traditional AI Project Contexts

(03:41-05:10)

• Existing project contexts (Claude Projects, OpenAI Custom GPTs) carry static instructions; they can’t switch contexts on demand or handle fine-grained, task-specific operations.
• Skills enable precise, micro-instruction “chunks” for repeated tasks, making workflows much less brittle and easier to maintain.

3. Claude Skill File Structure

(08:10-13:45)

• Skill Object: A folder containing:

  • skill.md — with YAML metadata and markdown-formatted instructions.
  • Additional example, resource, or template files.
  • (Optional) Python validation or utility scripts.

• Metadata: At the top of skill.md; includes skill name & description (helps Claude know when to use it).

• Instructions: Detailed task prompts, templates, best practices.

• References: Links to local files/resources via relative paths (e.g., ./examples/template.md).

Quote:
“So at the end of the day, how you set up a Claude skill, no joke, is you either put it in a folder for Claude code to reference, or you zip up this folder and you upload it to the Claude AI website.” (Claire Vo, 11:30)

4. Hands-on Creation: Two Approaches

A. Using Claude's Built-in 'Create Skill' Flow

(14:00-24:55)

• Claire attempts to use the Claude web app’s embedded helper to create a PRD (Product Requirements Doc) generator skill.
• The process generates deeply detailed instructions, including:
  • When to use the skill.
  • Decision tree for actions.
  • Output templates.
  • User clarifying questions.
  • Keywords for invocation.
• Downsides:
  • Generates many unnecessary files (12 instead of 5).
  • File download process is buggy — “...when I actually tried to download the files, it failed. I got an error.” (Claire Vo, 24:31)

Memorable Moment:
Claire finds the skill creation flow “interesting to figure out how the system is prompted,” but “not the most effective way to create a skill itself.” (Claire Vo, 25:40)

B. Using Cursor (Code Editor) for Skill Creation

(25:42-36:20)

• Claire prefers Cursor: "Creating Claude Skills in Cursor was the easiest, easiest way to get this stuff done.” (25:44)
• Steps:
  • Create an empty local folder and open in Cursor.
  • Paste in the docs, ask Cursor to build a “create skill” skill.
  • Cursor quickly generates the right structure, linked files, and even a Python validation script: “it checks the YAML validation and the file formatting…an interesting meta use of the Python script calling ability, but it works.” (27:43)
  • The process is fast (“took probably three minutes, where I think the web app took probably 10 minutes”), and facilitates easy edit/reuse.

5. Invoking & Using Claude Skills in Practice

(36:25-45:15)

• Launch Claude Code in the directory where the skills folder is located.
• Invoke a skill by simply referencing the target context; explicit invocation words are not necessarily required.
  • Example: Feeding a raw changelog, the agent automatically “takes this technical changelog and turn[s] it into an engaging newsletter.”
• Results can be quickly iterated by editing the skill.

Memorable Quote:
“You don’t have to use like a magic, a magic word. ... I literally just said here’s a changelog. And it inferred what I wanted based on the skills available in my folder.” (Claire Vo, 42:30)

• Skills become reusable building blocks for:
  • Technical-to-user newsletters
  • Auto-generating follow-up emails from demo notes
  • Any other repeatable process

6. Workflow Recommendations and Troubleshooting

(45:17-51:20)

• Best Practices:

  • Keep a local “Claude skills” repository; optionally integrate with GitHub for sharing and versioning.
  • Make a “Create skill” skill first for efficient skill generation.
  • Leverage the iterative editing process for quick improvement.

• Web/desktop deployment:

  • Zip the skill folder and upload via Claude web/desktop UI under “Capabilities.”
  • Troubleshooting: Skill names must be lowercase and hyphenated; otherwise upload fails.
  • Once loaded, skills can be called directly in chats for instant utility.

Memorable Moment:
“Bravo. I did it. Okay, so I got to update my thing and now I can transform customer demo notes into a personalized follow up email.” (Claire Vo, 50:13)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Man alive, are these instructions quite detailed!” (Claire Vo on Claude’s auto-generated skill output, 17:30)
• “Being very prescriptive about the output of the skill itself, and then it gives a bunch of examples and ... keywords that invoke the skill itself, something again, that I wouldn't have thought of when writing the prompt, but is very useful.” (18:15)
• “You can really put in a good prompt and have that be that. ...this took me three minutes to create the skill and probably one minute to generate the newsletter.” (44:00)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Description | Timestamp | |---------|-------------|-----------| | Intro & Overview | What Claude Skills are and why they matter | 00:00-04:40 | | Structural Deep Dive | Anatomy of a Claude Skill; File/folder structure | 08:10-13:45 | | Using Claude to Create Skills | Walkthrough of using Claude’s own UI to generate a skill | 14:00-24:55 | | Cursor “pro” Workflow | Faster, more effective skill-building in a local environment | 25:42-36:20 | | Invoking Skills in Real Work | Turning changelogs into newsletters, follow-up email generation | 36:25-45:15 | | Recommendations & Upload Tips | Best practices, troubleshooting, skill deployment via web/desktop | 45:17-51:20 |

Summary Table: Claire’s Recommended Claude Skills Creation Flow

1. Create a local 'Claude Skills' folder.
2. Open in Cursor or code editor; link docs for reference.
3. Ask AI to generate a “Create skill” skill.
4. Rapidly iterate new skills from local editor, testing as you go.
5. Invoke from Claude Code, or zip and upload to Claude Web/Desktop—use lowercase, hyphenated skill names.
6. Iterate and improve with feedback from real use.

Closing Remarks

Claire delivers a refreshingly honest, practical view on Claude Skills, highlighting not just what’s possible, but also the stumbling blocks for new users. Her methodical breakdown, paired with clear, relatable anecdotes, empowers listeners to quickly move from confusion to AI-powered productivity—without needing to be an AI engineer.

Actionable Takeaway:
Set up your own “Claude skills” repository, start with a “skill to create skills,” and use AI (with tools like Cursor) to rapidly prototype workflows you can reuse and share.

“That’s the really simple guide to creating Claude skills in Cursor...This took just a few, just a few minutes. And now I have this lovely Create Skill folder that Claude can use.” (Claire Vo, 36:12)