Guide
How to send a skill file to a coworker
To send a skill file to a coworker, attach the .skill (or .zip) file to an email or a Slack or Teams message, with a link to the free .skill file viewer so they can read it in any browser. A .skill file is a Claude skill packed as a ZIP. Two catches: Gmail refuses certain script types even inside a ZIP, such as .js and .ps1, and each file is a copy, so when you fix the skill, everyone keeps the old one. Your coworker installs it in Claude's Customize > Skills, or saves it with the viewer's keep button to a pod you can all share.
Send this link with the file
The viewer opens a .skill file in the browser on a phone or a computer, with nothing uploaded, so your coworker can read it before installing it.
Share AI skills with your team, easily
Keep your team's skills in one pod. Everyone uses them from their own AI.
14 days free · No card needed
What each app does with the file
| How you send it | What its help says |
|---|---|
| Gmail | Blocks certain types, including inside archives like .zip: .js, .mjs, .bat, .cmd, .ps1, .vbs, .exe and others. Also blocks password-protected archives with files inside. Suggests sending it as a Google Drive attachment instead. |
| Outlook | Blocks certain attachment types, .js and .ps1 among them, and says it doesn't recognize a compressed archive's extension as a threat. Recommends uploading to OneDrive or SharePoint and sending a link. An Exchange administrator can unblock some types. |
| Slack | Files up to 1 GB. Uploads may be restricted in Slack Connect conversations and for Frontline members, and some file types can't be added at all. |
| Teams chat | The file goes to your OneDrive for Business, in Microsoft Teams Chat Files, shared only with the people in that chat. In a channel, it goes to the team's SharePoint folder. |
From each company's help, read 7 November 2026. Most skills are Markdown and maybe a Python script, and .py isn't on Gmail's list. Check the file list in the viewer before you send it: if you see a .js or .ps1, use a Drive or OneDrive link.
What your coworker does when it arrives
- Open it. In the viewer, on any device. Step by step: iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, Mac.
- Read every file. Anthropic's docs call a skill trusted when you made it yourself or got it from Anthropic, and say to audit every file in any other, scripts included.
- Install it. In Claude: Customize > Skills, +, + Create skill, Upload a skill (a ZIP; rename a .skill if the picker won't take it). In Claude Code signed in with the same claude.ai account, the upload arrives by itself; otherwise unzip it into
~/.claude/skills/.
Share it without sending a file
- Everyone in one Claude Team or Enterprise organization: share the skill in Claude with specific colleagues, view-only (groups on Enterprise). Each person turns it on. Outside Team and Enterprise, Anthropic says each person uploads skills to their own account.
- Mixed plans, ChatGPT users, contractors: keep the skill in AI Skill Pod and send one invite link. 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 it and share it with your team button is the shortest way in: it saves the instructions from your .skill file to a new pod.
A worked example: a skill with a script in it
Illustration: a made-up business. Ana runs bookings for a five-guide walking-tour company. She made a skill in Claude that turns a booking export into the next day's guide sheets, and was about to email tour-sheets.skill to the guides from Gmail. First she dropped it into the viewer:
Files in this skill
tour-sheets/SKILL.md
tour-sheets/scripts/format_sheet.js
tour-sheets/references/meeting-points.mdA .js script, a type Gmail refuses even inside archives, so she didn't attach it. She could have sent a Drive link, but three of the guides use ChatGPT Business and two are on Claude Pro, and the meeting points change every season. She kept the skill in a pod and sent one invite link; the script stayed on her laptop, and the instructions now tell the AI to lay out the sheet itself.
Next step: stop the copies drifting
Every file you send is a version someone will keep using after you've fixed it. How to stop skill version drift compares the ways to keep one copy: a repository for Claude Code users, sharing inside one Claude or ChatGPT workspace, or one pod every AI connects to. In AI Skill Pod, Free covers up to 3 members and 10 skills.
Questions
Can I email a .skill file?
Usually, yes: it's a ZIP. Gmail refuses certain file types even inside a ZIP, .js and .ps1 among them, so a skill with such a script may be refused; Gmail suggests sending it from Google Drive instead. Outlook blocks attachments by their own type, and Microsoft says it doesn't treat a compressed archive's extension as a threat.
Can I send a skill file in Slack or Teams?
Slack takes files up to 1 GB, though Slack Connect conversations, Frontline members and some file types can be restricted. In a Teams chat, the file goes to your OneDrive for Business and is shared only with the people in that chat.
My coworker can't open the .skill file. What do I tell them?
Send them the free .skill file viewer: it opens the file in the browser on a phone or a computer. Or rename it to .zip and unzip it on a computer.
Is there a way to share a skill without sending a file?
Inside one Claude Team or Enterprise organization, share it in Claude, view-only. Across plans and AIs, keep it in AI Skill Pod and send one invite link: each person's Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT (Pro, Business, Enterprise) reaches the same copy.
Sources
- anthropics/skills: skill-creator's package_skill.py — a .skill file is a deflate ZIP of the skill's folder; scripts the skill uses are inside it (read 2026-11-07)
- Gmail Help: File types blocked in Gmail — Gmail doesn't allow certain file types, including when found within archives like .zip; the list includes .bat, .cmd, .exe, .js, .jse, .mjs, .ps1, .vbs; password-protected archives with archived content are blocked too; tip: send it as a Google Drive attachment (read 2026-11-07)
- Microsoft Support: Blocked attachments in Outlook — Outlook blocks sending and receiving certain attachment types, .js and .ps1 among them; Outlook doesn't recognize a compressed archive's extension as a threat; recommends OneDrive or SharePoint and sending a link; an Exchange administrator can unblock some types (read 2026-11-07)
- Slack Help Center: Add files to Slack — members and guests add files up to 1 GB; uploads may be restricted in Slack Connect conversations and for Frontline members, and certain file types can't be added at all (read 2026-11-07)
- Microsoft Support: File storage in Microsoft Teams — files sent in a chat are stored in the sender's OneDrive for Business (Microsoft Teams Chat Files) and shared only with the people in that conversation; files in a channel go to the team's SharePoint folder (read 2026-11-07)
- Claude Help Center: Use skills in Claude — Team and Enterprise share skills view-only with colleagues (groups on Enterprise), and each recipient turns the skill on; on all other plans each person uploads skills to their own account (read 2026-11-07)
- Claude Code Docs: Extend Claude with skills — personal skills at ~/.claude/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md; 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/; no sync in a session that authenticates with an API key (read 2026-11-07)
- Claude Docs: Agent Skills overview — use skills only from trusted sources; audit every bundled file before use (read 2026-11-07)