Claude Skills
Teach Claude your way of working once, then reuse it: install a skill, apply your brand, build your own, work with Excel and automate code tasks.
Claude Skills is a free, hands-on AI course for Claude users who repeat the same kind of request every week: 7 short modules (about 45 minutes in all) where you do each step yourself in a safe practice copy of Claude and Claude Code, which checks your work. No coding, no cost, and you can start without signing up.
Who it’s for: Claude users who repeat the same kind of request every week.
The business case
The problem
You repeat the same kind of request every week and explain your layout, brand and way of working to Claude each time.
The payoff
Teach Claude once and reuse it: install a skill, apply your brand, build your own skill, work with Excel and automate code tasks.
What you’ll build
- Module 2: Code execution and file creation switched on, which Anthropic’s built-in Excel, Word, PowerPoint and PDF skills need. The internal-comms example skill turned on in Customize, Skills.
- Module 5: For Brightline Painting, a made-up painting company: a weekly-job-report skill that turns crews’ day-by-day notes into the standard report (week at a glance, jobs with crew hours, problems and follow-ups, next week, calls to make).
- Module 1 · Stepthrough · Beginner · ~2 min
Start Here: How Stepthrough Works
Welcome to Stepthrough: you learn AI by doing it, on practice copies of real app screens, free and with no risk to your real accounts. Your first practice takes under two minutes.
- Module 2 · Claude · Beginner · ~7 min
What are Claude Skills?
You have a way you like things done: how a spreadsheet is laid out, how a staff update sounds. Explaining it in every chat gets old, and when you forget, the result comes back in some other style.
- Module 3 · Claude · Beginner · ~6 min
Install a custom skill
Upload your own skill to Claude as a .zip, check that it’s switched on, see what’s inside its SKILL.md, and watch Claude use it to write a landscaping quote your way.
- Module 4 · Claude · Beginner · ~7 min
Use case: a brand skill that makes every doc on-brand
Build a brand skill for a small flower shop by chatting with Claude: colors, fonts, logo placement and voice. Then ask for a proposal and a social post and watch both come out on brand.
- Module 5 · Claude · Intermediate · ~8 min
Use case: build your own skill with the skill creator
Some reports you write the same way every week: the Friday job report, the monthly summary, the site visit write-up. Each time you dig out last week’s version, explain the layout again and fix the same mistakes.
- Module 6 · Claude · Intermediate · ~8 min
Use case: messy export to clean Excel workbook
Upload a messy sales export to Claude and get back a clean Excel workbook with a Data tab, a Summary tab built with formulas, and a chart, thanks to Claude's built-in Excel skill.
- Module 7 · Claude Code · Advanced · ~7 min
Install skills in Claude Code
See what a SKILL.md looks like, learn where Claude Code keeps skills, install Anthropic's document skills from a plugin marketplace, and watch Claude use them on its own.
Prerequisites
- For the practice: a web browser. Each module runs in a copy of the real tool’s screens, so you need no account and no sign-up to start module 1.
- To do it for real: a Claude account. Each module says which one it uses.
Time to complete
About 45 minutes of hands-on practice across 7 modules (160 steps in all). Modules take 2 to 8 minutes each, so you can do one in a sitting and come back for the next.
Questions about this course
Is Claude Skills free?
Yes. All 7 modules of Claude Skills are free, and you can start module 1 without signing up.
How long does Claude Skills take?
About 45 minutes of hands-on practice across 7 modules, beginner to advanced. Each module takes 2 to 8 minutes, so you can do one at a time.
Which tools will I practice in?
Claude and Claude Code. You practice in a copy of each tool's real screens that checks every step, so nothing touches your real accounts, and no coding is needed.
Who is Claude Skills for?
Claude users who repeat the same kind of request every week.
Where do I start?
Start with module 1, Start Here: How Stepthrough Works. The modules are in order, so each one builds on the last.
Is there a free Claude skills guide?
Yes. This course is a hands-on Claude skills guide: you learn what a skill is, install one, apply your brand with a skill, build your own with the skill creator, use a skill with Excel and automate code tasks. You do each step in a practice copy of Claude.
What is a Claude skill?
A saved set of instructions, sometimes with files or scripts, that Claude loads when a request matches the skill's description. You teach Claude a way of working once and reuse it every time.
What do I need before I start Claude Skills?
Only a web browser for the practice: it runs in a copy of each tool's screens, so you need no account and no sign-up to start module 1. To repeat a module in your own tools afterwards, the modules list a Claude account.