Skills Are Claude Code's Cheat Code. Here's How to Use Them

Claude Code Skills have changed the way I’ve been working lately.

I have scattered notes, half-read documents, metrics pointing in different directions, and the feeling that something important is there… but it’s still not clear.

It’s not that there isn’t enough information. It’s the opposite.

I could ask Claude to summarize everything. I’ve done that before. The result is usually correct, but not necessarily useful. A summary doesn’t tell you what truly matters, what risks you’re taking on, or what real options you have.

Instead, I started doing something different.

I created a Skill whose job isn’t to “write better,” but to impose order on chaos, the same way, every time.

What’s a Skill? Instead of re-explaining your preferences and processes in every conversation, skills let you teach Claude once and benefit every time

Skills are powerful when you have repeatable workflows

By the end of this article, you’ll learn:

1. When something deserves to become a Skill

2. How to work with skills in Claude Code

3. A Skill that automatically builds new Skills

I’m creating a series of guides on Claude, Claude Cowork and Claude Code.

You can find all my Claude guides here

1. When something deserves to become a Skill

The Skill doesn’t come first. What comes first is a pattern.

Every time I faced messy strategic notes, I was unconsciously applying the same mental structure:

Clarify the context → Extract key signals → Surface risks → Compare trade-offs → Present structured options → Define next steps

That repetition is what changed everything.

Because repetition is the signal that something deserves structure.

Here are the problems I had before using skills (and what they led to):

• No defined role → Inconsistent responses

• No rules → Shifts in tone

• No boundaries → Unnecessary creative drift

• No environment → Constant repetition

That shift didn’t happen because I created a Skill. It happened because I stopped improvising.

Structure came first. Automation came second.

The hidden step most people skip can be summarized like this:

The difference is massive. In the first case (left side), you automate an idea. In the second case (right side), you automate a proven framework.

A Skill is not a clever idea. It is a structure that has already proven it works multiple times.

Claude Skills on the Web App (why it’s not enough)

This approach is based on a simple idea: instructions can be reused to carry out specialized tasks.

With Skills, you can:

• Build custom workflows

• Save hours on repetitive tasks such as reports and documentation

• Generate content that follows your company’s brand guidelines, chart styles, font selections, visual design standards, and more

In a previous guide, we’ve seen how to easily create and use skills in the Claude web app. That’s the easiest way to work with skills. However, this comes with certain limitations:

• Skills are downloaded as files

• They start to multiply (especially in more complex projects)

• Staying organized can become a headache due to the web’s limited environment

In short, creating a Skill on the web is easy.
Keeping it alive, consistent, and reusable is not.