Anthropic Unveils Agent Skills, Enabling Claude to Specialize in Diverse Workflows

Anthropic has introduced "Agent Skills," a new framework designed to empower its Claude AI models with domain-specific expertise and procedural knowledge. Announced on October 16, 2025, this innovation allows Claude to move beyond static prompts, transforming into a specialist capable of handling a wide array of tasks with enhanced efficiency and accuracy. The feature is now available to Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise users across Claude apps, Claude Code, the Claude Agent SDK, and the Claude Developer Platform.

Agent Skills are structured as folders containing instructions, scripts, and resources that Claude can dynamically load as needed. This "progressive disclosure" mechanism ensures that Claude only accesses relevant information, maintaining speed while leveraging specialized knowledge. Rohan Paul highlighted this shift, stating that it represents "quite a shift in AI customization, moving beyond static prompts to dynamic, context-aware capability enhancement."

A core aspect of Agent Skills is the ability to include executable code, such as Bash or Python scripts, allowing Claude to perform deterministic tasks like extracting form fields from PDFs. This approach ensures repeatable and reliable outcomes, addressing limitations of token generation for certain operations. The SKILL.md file, starting with YAML frontmatter for metadata, guides Claude in triggering and utilizing these specialized capabilities.

Companies like Box, Rakuten, and Canva are already leveraging Agent Skills to integrate Claude more deeply into their workflows. For instance, a PDF skill can enable Claude to fill forms, while other skills facilitate the creation of professional Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, and Word documents. This development positions Claude as a more adaptable and powerful tool for enterprise and individual users seeking tailored AI solutions.

The introduction of Agent Skills underscores a broader industry trend towards more practical and specialized AI agents, with Anthropic emphasizing security by recommending users install skills only from trusted sources and audit code. This advancement aims to reduce the need for repetitive prompt engineering and allow users to package their organizational expertise directly into Claude's capabilities.