Mastering Claude

Skills library

A skill is a folder of instructions that Claude loads when the task calls for it. These are the ones worth your time, sorted so you know where to start.

Surveyed on September 28, 2026. 286 public skills, each with its source.

A third-party skill runs with your permissions: read its SKILL.md before you install it. Understand skills in one lesson

To get started

The first ones to install, whatever your job.

  • anthropics/skills (repo + marketplace anthropic-agent-skills)Anthropic official

    Anthropic's canonical public skills repo: 17 reference skills, the Agent Skills spec, and a skill template; installable as plugin sets via the built-in marketplace.

    Why This is the public repository that gathers Anthropic's official skills and serves as the entry point to the built in marketplace, whatever the person's job.

    Install/plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills ; then /plugin install document-skills@anthropic-agent-skills or example-skill

    Source : github.com/anthropics/skills
  • document-skills bundle (docx, pdf, pptx, xlsx)Anthropic official

    The four production document skills that power Claude's file creation: read/create/edit Word, PDF, PowerPoint and Excel files with proper formatting, tracked changes, formulas and charts.

    Why These four skills cover Word, PDF, PowerPoint and Excel, the most common document formats in an office, with correct formatting from the first try.

    Install/plugin install document-skills@anthropic-agent-skills

    Source : github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills
  • skill-creatorAnthropic official

    Anthropic's official skill for writing skills: scaffolds a SKILL.md with correct frontmatter, structure and intention-revealing supporting files; the recommended starting point before authoring anything by hand.

    Why This is the official starting point for writing your own skill, with the expected structure and files already in place, which avoids starting from a blank page.

    Install/plugin install example-skills@anthropic-agent-skills (also as skill-creator plugin in claude-plugins-official)

    Source : github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills
  • doc-coauthoring + internal-comms + algorithmic-art + slack-gif-creatorAnthropic official

    The remaining anthropics/skills examples: structured document co-writing, enterprise comms drafting, generative art, and Slack GIF generation, mainly useful as patterns to copy.

    Why This bundle of official examples shows how to write a document, an internal communication, or a Slack GIF, needs that almost every job runs into sooner or later.

    Install/plugin install example-skills@anthropic-agent-skills

    Source : github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills
  • claude-plugins-official (default marketplace)Anthropic official

    Anthropic-managed directory auto-available in Claude Code: 26 first-party plugins (feature-dev, hookify, plugin-dev, commit-commands, code-modernization, code-simplifier, claude-md-management, claude-code-setup, mcp-apps, mcp-tunnels, agent-sdk-dev, math-olympiad, playground, learning/explanatory output styles, 8+ LSP language servers) plus 300+ vetted partner plugins (github, linear, playwright, firebase, context7...).

    Why This is the marketplace already available in Claude Code, with dozens of plugins vetted by Anthropic and partners, ready to use from day one.

    Install/plugin install <name>@claude-plugins-official (marketplace preinstalled; browse via /plugin Discover or claude.com/plug

    Source : github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-official
  • obra/superpowers (collection)Community collection

    The reference agentic-development framework: ~14 process skills (brainstorm, plan, TDD, debug, review, verify) that turn Claude Code into a methodology-driven senior engineer; portable to Cursor, Codex, Copilot CLI, Gemini CLI, OpenCode.

    Why This collection turns Claude Code into a methodical collaborator (brainstorming, planning, tests before code, review, verification) and serves as the reference point for the rest of the library.

    Install/plugin install superpowers@claude-plugins-official

    Source : github.com/obra/superpowers
  • academy-guideAnthropic official

    Recommends matching Claude Academy (academy.claude.com) courses, tutorials, and use cases whenever a user asks how to use Claude or a Claude product, composing with product documentation answers rather than replacing them.

    Why This official skill recommends the exact Claude Academy tutorial or course that matches the question asked, which shortens a beginner's learning curve.

    Install/plugin install academy-guide@anthropic-agent-skills

    Source : github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/academy-guide

The essentials for each job

The must-haves, job by job.

Office and documents

Development

Design, images and media

  • frontend-design (skill + first-party plugin)Anthropic official

    Anthropic's anti-generic UI skill: aesthetic direction, typography and layout guidance for production-grade interfaces that do not look templated; exists both in anthropics/skills and as a plugin in the official directory.

    Install/plugin install frontend-design@claude-plugins-official

    Source : github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-official
  • canvas-design + theme-factory + brand-guidelinesAnthropic official

    Creative trio for visual output: fixed-canvas design (posters, slides), 10 ready-made or generated color/font themes applicable to any artifact, and enforcing a company brand system across deliverables.

    Install/plugin install example-skills@anthropic-agent-skills

    Source : github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills
  • web-artifacts-builderAnthropic official

    Builds elaborate self-contained HTML artifacts (multi-component single-file pages) reliably, the official recipe behind rich claude.ai artifacts.

    Install/plugin install example-skills@anthropic-agent-skills

    Source : github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills
  • /dataviz (bundled skill, v2.1.198+)Anthropic official

    Chart and dashboard design guidance loaded into context: chart-type selection, color-by-role, layout rules, plus a runnable palette validator for colorblind safety and contrast; shipped 2026-07-01.

    Installbuilt-in since Claude Code v2.1.198

    Source : code.claude.com/docs/en/commands

Marketing, sales and SEO

Research and analysis

  • /deep-research (bundled workflow)Anthropic official

    Fans out web searches on a question, fetches and cross-checks sources, and synthesizes a cited report as a background multi-subagent workflow.

    Installbuilt-in bundled workflow

    Source : code.claude.com/docs/en/commands
  • market-research (ECC)Community collection

    Source-attributed market and investor research with decision-oriented summaries.

    Install/plugin install ecc@ecc

    Source : github.com/affaan-m/ECC/tree/main/skills/market-research
  • paper-searchCommunity collection

    Search 250M+ academic works via OpenAlex by keyword or DOI to find and cite papers.

    Installgit clone into ~/.claude/skills

    Source : github.com/ykdojo/paper-search
  • firecrawlMarketplace

    Official Firecrawl skill: crawl and scrape websites into clean markdown/structured data via the Firecrawl CLI (companion skills exist for scrape, search, crawl, map).

    Installnpx skills add firecrawl/cli/firecrawl (89.5K installs)

    Source : skills.sh/firecrawl/cli/firecrawl

Security

Method, agents and skills

  • skill-creatorAnthropic official

    Anthropic's official skill for writing skills: scaffolds a SKILL.md with correct frontmatter, structure and intention-revealing supporting files; the recommended starting point before authoring anything by hand.

    Install/plugin install example-skills@anthropic-agent-skills (also as skill-creator plugin in claude-plugins-official)

    Source : github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills
  • /batch (bundled skill)Anthropic official

    Orchestrates large-scale codebase changes: decomposes work into 5-30 independent units, spawns one background subagent per unit in isolated git worktrees, each running tests and opening a PR.

    Installbuilt-in bundled skill

    Source : code.claude.com/docs/en/commands
  • hookify (first-party plugin)Anthropic official

    Creates custom hooks to block unwanted Claude behaviors, the official path to enforce automated rules the model itself cannot guarantee.

    Install/plugin install hookify@claude-plugins-official

    Source : github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-official
  • Agent Skills open standard (agentskills.io + spec)Anthropic official

    The SKILL.md format published as an open standard: the spec lives in anthropics/skills/spec, and skills written for it run across ~40 adopter clients (Copilot, VS Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, Goose...).

    Installspec + template in the repo; Claude Code extends it with invocation control, subagent exec

    Source : github.com/anthropics/skills/blob/main/spec/agent-skills-spec.md
  • obra/superpowers (collection)Community collection

    The reference agentic-development framework: ~14 process skills (brainstorm, plan, TDD, debug, review, verify) that turn Claude Code into a methodology-driven senior engineer; portable to Cursor, Codex, Copilot CLI, Gemini CLI, OpenCode.

    Install/plugin install superpowers@claude-plugins-official

    Source : github.com/obra/superpowers

The ones I use

Installed and used every day by the author of this course.

High potential

Less known, and able to change the way you work.

  • ralph-loopAnthropic official

    Run Claude in a continuous self-referential loop on the same prompt (the Ralph Wiggum technique) until the task is complete.

    Why It reruns Claude in a loop on the same goal until it is reached, which makes it possible to let a long task run without staying at the screen to relaunch it.

    Install/plugin install ralph-loop@claude-plugins-official

    Source : github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-official/tree/main/plugins/ralph-loop
  • iterative-retrieval (ECC)Community collection

    Progressive context refinement for subagents: retrieve, narrow, and re-query instead of dumping everything into context.

    Why It makes a subagent retrieve, narrow, and re query instead of dumping everything into its context, which makes it possible to search a very large corpus without overflowing it in one go.

    Install/plugin install ecc@ecc

    Source : github.com/affaan-m/ECC/tree/main/skills/iterative-retrieval
  • cost-aware-llm-pipeline (ECC)Community collection

    LLM cost optimization and model-routing patterns for pipelines; content-hash-cache-pattern adds SHA-256 content-hash caching.

    Why It routes each call to the cheapest model that suffices and caches by content hash, which makes it possible to run an AI pipeline at scale without the bill exploding.

    Install/plugin install ecc@ecc

    Source : github.com/affaan-m/ECC/tree/main/skills/cost-aware-llm-pipeline
  • regex-vs-llm-structured-text (ECC)Community collection

    Decision framework for choosing regex versus LLM parsing on structured text.

    Why It decides case by case between a regular expression and a model call to extract data from text, which makes it possible to build a faster, cheaper pipeline without losing reliability.

    Install/plugin install ecc@ecc

    Source : github.com/affaan-m/ECC/tree/main/skills/regex-vs-llm-structured-text
  • qdrant-skillsCommunity collection

    Operate Qdrant vector databases: search operations, performance tuning, deployment, and upgrades.

    Why It drives a Qdrant vector database (search, tuning, deployment), which makes it possible to give Claude a persistent semantic memory well beyond its context window.

    Installgit clone into ~/.claude/skills

    Source : github.com/qdrant/skills
  • swarmclawCommunity collection

    Drive a self-hosted multi-agent runtime to delegate work across multiple coding CLIs.

    Why It drives a self hosted swarm of agents that split work across several coding CLIs, which makes it possible to parallelize a project beyond a single Claude Code session.

    Installsee repo; skill file plus runtime

    Source : github.com/swarmclawai/swarmclaw/blob/main/skills/swarmclaw.md
  • agent-browserMarketplace

    Gives the agent a driveable headless browser (navigate, click, fill, screenshot) for testing and inspecting live web pages from the CLI.

    Why It gives the agent a drivable headless browser from the command line (navigate, click, fill, screenshot), which makes it possible to test or inspect a live site without a graphical interface.

    Installnpx skills add vercel-labs/agent-browser/agent-browser (526.2K installs)

    Source : skills.sh/vercel-labs/agent-browser/agent-browser
  • discernment-nudgeAnthropic official

    After a substantive answer or draft the user may act on, appends two to three short follow-up questions tied to specific claims in that answer, to help the user check facts, probe the reasoning, and notice missing context; at most once per conversation.

    Why It appends two or three targeted questions after a consequential answer (a plan, an estimate, an email), which makes it possible to catch a fragile assumption before acting on it.

    Install/plugin install discernment-nudge@anthropic-agent-skills

    Source : github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/discernment-nudge

The full catalogue