How to open a .skill file on iPad

Find the file on your iPad

• Downloaded in Safari: Apple puts it in Files, under Browse, iCloud Drive, Downloads. Just after the download, the Downloads button next to Safari's search field lists it too.
• From the Claude app: Anthropic says Download on Claude Mobile opens the file in the system preview or in another app. Save it to Files from there.
• From email or a chat app: save the attachment to Files, in a folder you'll find again.

Read it in the viewer

1. Open aiskillpod.com/skill-file-viewer in Safari.
2. Tap Choose a file. If a menu opens, choose Choose File or Browse, not Photo Library, then pick the .skill file.
3. Read the checks first. They list what would stop Claude's upload, such as a name with capital letters or a name that doesn't match the skill's folder, then notes worth knowing.
4. Open the other files from the file list: scripts, reference sheets, templates. Back to SKILL.md returns to the instructions.
5. Keep it or copy it. Keep it and share it with your team saves the instructions to AI Skill Pod; it's the only button on the page that sends anything.

Why it doesn't open like a ZIP

Apple's ZIP article for iPhone and iPad says: open Files, tap the ZIP file, and a folder is created with the files in it. A .skill file is a ZIP made by Anthropic's packaging script, named after the skill's folder, but its name ends in .skill, and Apple's article doesn't mention that ending. We haven't tested a .skill file in Files on an iPad, so this page doesn't tell you to tap or rename it there. The viewer reads the ZIP inside without either.

Install it in Claude from a computer

Anthropic's help describes the upload in Customize > Skills, then +, + Create skill, Upload a skill, with a ZIP of the skill's folder, and Customize is on claude.ai and in the desktop app. The help doesn't mention the iPad or phone apps. Move the file to a Mac or PC (iCloud Drive, or email it to yourself) and follow how to open a .skill file on a Mac or on Windows. If the upload picker won't take a .skill file, rename it to end in .zip: inside, it already is one.

A worked example: a lesson-plan skill that wouldn't upload

Illustration: a made-up business. Mei runs a small tutoring school and plans lessons on an iPad. A tutor sent her lesson-plan.skill and said Claude refused it. Mei opened it in the viewer in Safari:

Files in this skill
lesson-plan/SKILL.md
lesson-plan/references/curriculum-year-8.md

---
name: lesson-plans
description: Writes a 50-minute lesson plan from a topic and a year
  group. Use when a tutor asks for a lesson plan or a worksheet.
---

Checks
- The name is lesson-plans but the folder is lesson-plan. They must
  match, or Claude's upload fails.

One letter was the whole problem. She sent the tutor that line; he renamed the folder to lesson-plans, packaged it again, and the upload went through.

Next step: one copy for every tutor

Fixing the file fixed one copy. Every tutor who already had the old one still has it. How to send a skill file to a coworker covers what email, Slack and Teams do with the file and the link that replaces it: in AI Skill Pod, the skill sits in one pod, and each person reaches it from their own Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT (Pro, Business, Enterprise). Free covers up to 3 members and 10 skills.

Questions

How do I open a .skill file on iPad?

Open the free .skill file viewer in Safari, tap Choose a file and pick the file from Files. You see the skill's instructions, every file in it and anything that would stop Claude's upload. The iPad reads the file; nothing is uploaded.

Where do downloads go on iPad?

Apple says: Files, Browse, iCloud Drive, Downloads. Right after a download in Safari, the Downloads button next to Safari's search field lists it too.

Can I unzip a .skill file in Files on iPad?

Apple's help describes tapping a ZIP file in Files to unpack it, and doesn't mention .skill. A .skill file is a ZIP inside, but we haven't tested one in Files on an iPad, so this page sends you to the viewer, which reads it whatever its ending.

The viewer says the name doesn't match the folder. Does that matter?

Yes, for Claude. Anthropic's help lists a folder name that doesn't match the skill's name as a reason an upload fails. Ask whoever made the skill to rename one of them and package it again.