What is this article talking about?
Have you ever had this experience: working with AI to create a very satisfactory version, but next time you want to do the same thing, you have to re-explain a lot? "I want this format" "The tone should be the same as last time" "Remember to keep the passage where students ask questions". It is very tiring to repeat the lecture every time. The skill pack solves this problem. Who is
· Teachers, supervisors, consultants: If you can teach classes, lead newcomers, and write training manuals, you will already be able to write skill packages.
· People who often achieve satisfactory results with AI, but suffer from having to teach it again next time
· Knowledge workers who want to turn their personal expertise into assets that can be accumulated and passed down
· The essence of the skill package and its real innovation point
· Two production methods: starting from scratch and pushing back from the actual workflow
· Three core benefits, as well as practical points such as layered loading and version backup
What is the skill package: an operation manual for AI
The skill package is an operation document, written in Markdown syntax, it’s that simple. Operation manuals have been around for a long time, so the format itself is nothing new. Its real innovation lies in standardizing how AI should read and use this manual. As long as you write it in the format of the skill package, the AI will execute according to the above process to the greatest extent possible.
Why is this important? Because AI can be lazy easily. Throw in a verbatim draft of a one-hour speech and ask to "compile a detailed report of at least 3,000 words." It may only give you a 500-word summary; read it again and it will become 1,000 words. Once the instructions become complicated, the AI falls apart. The core value of the skill package is to let the AI follow the specifications honestly.
"Cook a dish for me" "Steam an egg for me". Explaining one thing in one sentence is instant and convenient, but the result depends on the chef's mood every time.
The standards for knife skills, heat, and ingredients are all clearly stated, and how to handle exceptions for lack of ingredients and sauces are also provided. You can write thousands or even tens of thousands of words.
You can also think of the use of AI as a spectrum: the most rigorous end is the program code, like a computer, each step is fixed; the middle is the skill package, which gives the AI a judgment framework, like a trick bag, flexible but disciplined; the most divergent end is the empty prompt words, the most immediate and the most unstable.
A manual with tens of thousands of words, why AI can read it easily: layered loading
The skill package can be written very long, but the way AI reads it is like reading an event poster: the first layer reads the headline, the second layer reads the subtitle, only those who are interested read the details, and finally scan the QR code to enter the official website. The same goes for skill packs. The AI reads the first description first and determines whether "I need this manual for the task I'm doing now." If not, it won't load it at all.
For example: A company has made all the rules for writing plans into a skills package, which contains more than a dozen business plans over the years as examples, adding up to tens of thousands of words. When the AI is replying to the email, it determines that it is not needed and does not start. When it is time to write a plan, and the target is a government unit, it only loads the section of the plan document format of the government unit.
This is why the skill package is obedient: it stipulates when the AI will read, which paragraph to read, and what information to refer to. The unused parts will not even be loaded.
Three core benefits
Teach the AI once, tell the rules well, and then you can rerun the entire process with a trigger word.
When a new person comes and reads the same manual, AI can also help him check whether the format is correct and who he should contact for confirmation.
Write down the principles when you are in the best condition, and let AI use this standard to help you check when you are tired.
The first benefit is to use my verbatim draft as an example. I often give a one- or two-hour speech that I have to organize into a teaching manual, but if I throw it directly to the AI, it will not be able to organize it into the specifications I want. So I taught it once, wrote the rules into the skill package, and clearly defined the corresponding specifications of the words "detailed", "super detailed" and "one-to-one". Then just say "Help me organize it in super detail", and it will know how far it has to go.
The third benefit is what I think is the most important for personal brand entrepreneurs. I am more stable when writing in the morning, but I tend to get emotional when writing at night. So when I was in good condition in the morning, I wrote the principles of "how to teach knowledge in a friendly way and avoid a condescending tone" into a skills package. Later, when I was busy, tired, or in a bad mood, I would ask AI to use this skill package to help me check my tone to see if there were any words that could easily provoke confrontation or offend others. It encapsulates not only professional knowledge, but also my best cognitive state.
How to start: two ways to make it
There is only one thing to prepare beforehand: find the Skills section in "Customization" of the Claude interface and open the official built-in "skill-creator". The free version is also available. Then open a new conversation and say "Help me make a skill pack" to start.
Method 1: Start from scratch
It will guide you to answer: what do you want to do, whether it is new or existing, and what functions are needed. Just select and fill in the required details and you're done. Suitable for situations where you already know exactly what you want.
Method 2: Push back from the workflow (more practical)
The best material is your actual satisfactory work results. For example, I sent the verbatim draft of my lecture to AI to compile the teaching manual. I was not satisfied with the first version, so I revised it back and forth: retaining my tone of voice and retaining the students’ questions. After you are satisfied with the changes, tell it:
The core logic is: after teaching it for three hours this time, the next instruction will be in place. You don’t need to think about “what functions do I need” out of thin air, start from the real results and let AI encapsulate the process.
Going up a level: Context Engineering
There are actually three more fundamental things behind the skill package: make your words clear; figure out how the AI will understand what you say (how I say it is one thing, how the AI listens is another); and give the AI the right information at the right time.
Imagine a newcomer wants to write a business plan. You throw all the hundreds of business plans from the company over the past ten years to him. He can’t read them all and throws them away. In other words: "When you write a government case this time, read these two books first. If you don't understand after reading them, ask me again." He was willing to read them. The same goes for AI. Throwing everything away at once will cause indigestion. This is collectively called contextual engineering, and the hierarchical loading of skill packages is one of its implementations.
Without a skillset, you basically won’t have good AI employees. No matter how smart the AI is, it still has to guess what you want to do.
How you can practice
As long as the skill package and knowledge base are well written, no matter what tools you change in the future, AI will find a way to cooperate with you. This is a long-term project and the most cost-effective investment: the more knowledge you accumulate, the AI will understand you better and you will become less and less anxious.
- Open Claude’s skill pack creator (Customization → Skills → skill-creator). I want to see what others have written first.Skill Pack Download PageThere are more than 20 packages that can be opened.
- Recall the last time you had a satisfactory result with AI, go back to that conversation, and ask it to sort out "how did you teach it?"
- Confirm that the organization is correct, please make it into a .skill file, and use English as the file name.
- Download a backup copy and actually trigger it again to verify that the command is really in place next time.