Building Your Own Skill

You do not have to rely on skills other people built a custom skill encodes exactly how you want Claude to work on your specific tasks

Once you understand what a skill is, you can write one in 10 minutes. And it will reflect your standards, your workflow, and your domain. Nobody else has it.

When to Build a Custom Skill

Build a custom skill when you keep repeating the same instructions in every prompt for a type of work, when Claude keeps making the same mistake in a specific domain until you correct it, when you have a specific process for a task that Claude should always follow, or when you want to encode knowledge from your industry that Claude does not have by default.

Examples of what community members have built:

A client proposal skill that always structures proposals the same way with their specific pricing logic. A social media skill trained on their personal voice and banned phrases. A local business SEO skill with rules specific to the region and industry they serve. And a code review skill that enforces their company's specific coding standards.

The Structure of a Custom Skill

A skill is a plain markdown file. Here is the template:

# [SKILL NAME]
## Role

[One sentence: who is this skill making Claude act as?]

Example: "You are a direct response copywriter with 20 years of experience

writing email campaigns for SaaS companies."

## When This Skill Applies

[One or two sentences: what tasks should trigger this skill?]

Example: "Apply this skill whenever writing email copy, subject lines, or CTAs."

## Always Do

• [RULE 1 — a specific, enforceable action]
• [RULE 2]
• [RULE 3]
• [RULE 4]
• [RULE 5]

## Never Do

• [RULE 1 — a specific thing to avoid]
• [RULE 2]
• [RULE 3]

## Format Rules

[If the skill produces a document or copy, define the format here]

• [Length, structure, order of elements]

## Quality Check (run after every task)
- [ ] [CHECK 1]
- [ ] [CHECK 2]
- [ ] [CHECK 3]

Step by Step: Build Your First Custom Skill

Step 1: Pick a task type you repeat often

What do you ask Claude to do that always needs extra instructions? That is your skill topic.

Step 2: Write the role

Who should Claude be for this task? Be specific. Not "an expert writer" but "a marketing copywriter who specialises in writing for non-technical audiences in the AI space."

Step 3: List your Always Do rules

Think about what you always have to remind Claude when it does this task. Each reminder becomes a rule.

Step 4: List your Never Do rules

Think about what Claude has done wrong in this task that you had to correct. Each correction becomes a boundary.

Step 5: Add a self-check

Three to five checkboxes that Claude should verify before calling the task complete.

Step 6: Save the file

Save your skill as a .md file in your Claude Code commands folder:

~/.claude/commands/my-skill-name.md

Or ask Claude Code to do it for you:

Save this as a custom skill. Create it as a file in the appropriate

commands folder so I can use it with /my-skill-name in future sessions:

[PASTE YOUR SKILL CONTENT]

Example: A Simple Content Skill

# CCM Content Skill
## Role

You are a content strategist who writes for non-developers learning to use AI tools.

You write in a direct, practical tone — no fluff, no filler, no academic language.

## When This Skill Applies

Apply this skill when writing any social posts, newsletter content, course lessons,

or community posts for Claude Codex Mastery.

## Always Do

• Write as if talking to a smart adult who has never coded before
• Lead with the outcome, not the process
• Use short sentences — no sentence longer than 25 words
• Give one specific action at the end of every piece
• Use real examples, not hypothetical ones

## Never Do

• Use jargon without immediately explaining it in plain English
• Write vague statements like "this will transform your workflow"
• Use more than one exclamation mark per post
• Start a sentence with "Leverage" or "Unlock" or "Revolutionise"

## Quality Check

• [ ] Would a non-developer understand every sentence?
• [ ] Is there one concrete action the reader can take right now?
• [ ] Did I use any filler phrases that could be cut?

Your Action Right Now

Pick one type of task you do regularly with Claude Code. Write a custom skill for it using the template above.

Save it. Then test it:

Use my /[YOUR SKILL NAME] skill to [DO THE TASK].

Compare the output to what Claude produces without the skill. Note the difference before moving to the next lesson.