What is a Skill?
Day 12 · Week 3 · Skills — Recipe Book
Slack Message — copy & paste
🤖 Tip #12 — A skill is a markdown file with instructions. Write it once, invoke with /skill-name, get consistent results every time. No code needed.
#12 Claude Code · CLI
The Simplest, Most Powerful Concept
- A skill is the simplest concept in agentic AI — and the most powerful. It's a markdown file with instructions. Put it in the right directory, invoke it with /skill-name.
- Why skills are powerful
- › Repeatable — same instructions, consistent results
- › Shareable — commit to git, entire team benefits
- › Composable — skills can invoke other skills
- › No code needed — it's just markdown
- The anatomy of a skill
- › YAML frontmatter (name, description, tools)
- › Instructions (what the AI should do)
- › Optional: scripts, references, templates
- Think of the difference between telling a new hire 'figure out the build' vs handing them a step-by-step checklist. Skills are the checklist.
Skill Markdown Slash Command
#12 Skills — Recipe Book
Get Started in 2 Minutes
- 1 Where skills live
- › .claude/commands/ — for Claude Code
- › .github/skills/ — for Copilot CLI (in GitHub repos)
- 2 Create .claude/commands/hello.md with 'Say hello and tell me three interesting facts about this project' — then run /hello in Claude Code
- 3 Identify a task you repeat weekly and write a skill for it — you'll save time on every future run
- 4 Commit your skills to git so the entire team can invoke them with the same /command
Skill Markdown Slash Command
Your screenshot here Optional — add a screenshot from your own workflow