Guide
Claude made me a .skill file: what do I do with it?
Open the .skill file in the free .skill file viewer first: it's the skill you just made, packed as a ZIP of the skill's folder. Then upload it in Claude's Customize > Skills (Upload a skill), on claude.ai or in the desktop app; Claude Code signed in with the same claude.ai account gets it from there. To give it to coworkers, share it inside a Claude Team or Enterprise organization, or keep it in a pod where each person's AI reaches the same copy.
See what Claude packed
Drop the file in the viewer: the instructions, every file, and anything that would stop Claude's upload, read in your browser with nothing uploaded. Its Keep it and share it with your team button saves the instructions to a pod for your team.
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What's inside the file
From skill-creator's packaging script, read on 7 November 2026:
- A ZIP, named after the skill's folder, such as
meeting-recap.skill. - The folder at the top, with
SKILL.mdin it: the name, the description Claude matches requests against, and the instructions. - Any files the skill uses, such as
references/orscripts/. The script leaves out Python caches,node_modules,.DS_Storeand anevalsfolder at the skill's top level.
Where to save it depends on where you are. On claude.ai or the desktop app you download it from the conversation. In the Claude app on a phone, Download opens it in the system preview or another app; on iPhone, iPad and Android, the viewer opens it in the browser.
Install it for yourself
- In Claude (any plan with skills): Customize > Skills, then +, + Create skill, Upload a skill, and pick the file. Claude's help asks for a ZIP of the skill folder and doesn't mention .skill; if the picker won't take it, rename it to end in .zip. Code execution must be on.
- In Claude Code: unzip it into
~/.claude/skills/(%USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\on Windows). The skill lands at~/.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md. - Both? If you sign in to Claude Code with the same claude.ai account (Claude Code 2.1.273 or later), the skill you uploaded on claude.ai reaches Claude Code by itself;
/skillslists it under claude.ai sync. Unzip it into~/.claude/skills/only if you sign in to Claude Code another way, such as with an API key.
Give it to your coworkers
| Where they are | What works |
|---|---|
| Your Claude Team or Enterprise organization | Share the skill with specific colleagues, view-only; on Enterprise, with groups too. Each person turns it on. |
| Claude Free, Pro, Max or Ultra | Anthropic says each person uploads skills to their own account, so each gets the file and uploads it. |
| ChatGPT (Pro, Business, Enterprise), Cursor, a contractor's own account | Claude's sharing doesn't reach them. Send the file, or share one copy through AI Skill Pod. |
Sending the file has its own catches: what Gmail, Outlook, Slack and Teams do with it is in how to send a skill file to a coworker.
A worked example: one recap skill, three people
Illustration: a made-up business. Priya runs a four-person event agency. She asked Claude's skill-creator for a skill that turns client call notes into a recap email, tested it on two calls, and Claude gave her meeting-recap.skill. In the viewer she saw:
Files in this skill
meeting-recap/SKILL.md
meeting-recap/references/recap-template.md
---
name: meeting-recap
description: Turns notes from a client call into a recap email with
decisions, open questions and who does what by when. Use when someone
pastes call notes or asks for a recap.
---No checks to fix. She uploaded it in Customize > Skills on her Claude Pro account. Then the question was the other three: two on Claude Pro, one who works in ChatGPT Business. With Pro there's no sharing inside Claude, so the file would have to go to each of them, and again after every change. She clicked Keep it and share it with your team in the viewer instead.
Next step: one copy instead of a file per person
A .skill file is a copy frozen on the day it was made. AI Skill Pod keeps the skill in one pod: each person adds the pod to their own Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT (Pro, Business, Enterprise) once, and an edit reaches all of them. The viewer's keep button sends the instructions to your pod; scripts and other files stay on your device. Free covers up to 3 members and 10 skills.
Questions
What is the .skill file Claude gave me?
The skill you made with Claude's skill-creator, packed by Anthropic's script as a ZIP of the skill's folder: SKILL.md with its name, description and instructions, plus any scripts or reference files.
Is the skill already installed after Claude makes the file?
No. skill-creator's own instructions say Claude points you to the .skill file so you can install it: upload it in Customize > Skills. Claude Code signed in with the same claude.ai account gets it from there; otherwise unzip it into ~/.claude/skills/.
Claude's upload asks for a ZIP. Will a .skill file work?
A .skill file is a ZIP with the skill's folder at the top, the shape Claude's help asks for. The help doesn't mention .skill, so if the picker won't take it, rename it to .zip.
How do I give the skill to my coworkers?
On Claude Team and Enterprise you can share it view-only with colleagues in your organization. On other plans each person uploads their own copy. To reach people on other plans or other AIs, keep it in AI Skill Pod and send one invite link.
Sources
- anthropics/skills: skill-creator — after packaging, direct the user to the .skill file so they can install it; on Claude.ai, package_skill.py runs and the user downloads the resulting .skill file; keep the skill's folder name and name field unchanged (read 2026-11-07)
- anthropics/skills: skill-creator's package_skill.py — writes <skill-folder>.skill as a deflate ZIP of the skill's folder, with the folder at the top; leaves out __pycache__, node_modules, *.pyc, .DS_Store and a top-level evals folder (read 2026-11-07)
- Claude Help Center: Use skills in Claude — Free, Pro, Max, Ultra, Team, Enterprise with code execution on; Customize > Skills, +, + Create skill, Upload a skill, a ZIP of the skill folder; Team and Enterprise share skills view-only with colleagues (groups on Enterprise); on all other plans each person uploads to their own account; doesn't mention .skill files (read 2026-11-07)
- Claude Help Center: Browse skills, connectors, and plugins in one directory — open Claude or Claude Desktop and click Customize in the left sidebar; skills are in Customize > Skills (read 2026-11-07)
- Claude Help Center: Create and edit files with Claude — on web and desktop you download a file from the conversation; on Claude Mobile, Download opens it in the system preview or another app (read 2026-11-07)
- Claude Code Docs: Extend Claude with skills — personal skills at ~/.claude/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md, picked up without a restart; in terminal sessions signed in with a claude.ai account, Claude Code v2.1.273 or later downloads the skills enabled on claude.ai into ~/.claude/skills/synced/ and adds, updates or removes them while the session runs; /skills lists them under claude.ai sync; no sync in a session that authenticates with an API key (read 2026-11-07)
- Claude Docs: Agent Skills overview — custom skills in claude.ai upload as zip files; use skills only from trusted sources and audit every bundled file (read 2026-11-07)