Agent Skills are folder-shaped packages Claude loads to do specific tasks better. So where do you get useful skills? This page is a catalog of skills whose existence is verified, with their sources. (For how to build a skill yourself, see the Claude Code skills guide.) Sources: Claude official docs and the anthropics/skills repo.
🟢 Model references match the current lineup · model notice · Fable subscription
Fable 5 and 5.1 subscription (updated November 1, 2026): Claude Fable 5.1, released September 1, 2026, is the current Fable model and Fable 5 is now legacy. Plan terms are the same for both — Max, Ultra, and Team Premium plans include Fable at up to 50% of the weekly usage limit; Pro and Team Standard use usage credits ($10/M input, $50/M output tokens). The one-time $100 credit applied only to the Fable 5 transition and is not offered for 5.1. Some coding and debugging requests may be answered by an Opus model due to a security classifier (both models). See the Fable 5.1 guide and the Fable 5 availability guide for details.
There are three main ways to get skills: (1) pre-built skills Anthropic ships, (2) the public open-source example repo, and (3) custom skills you build yourself. We'll go through them in order.
1. Pre-built document skills — pptx, xlsx, docx, pdf
The most-used are the four document skills. Per the official docs, each does:
- pptx — create presentations, edit slides, analyze presentation content
- xlsx — create spreadsheets, analyze data, generate reports with charts
- docx — create Word documents, edit content, format text
- pdf — generate formatted PDF documents and reports
These skills are available on the Claude API, Claude Platform on AWS, Microsoft Foundry, and claude.ai. On claude.ai paid plans they work automatically with no setup when you create documents; on the API you reference them by skill_id (e.g. pptx, xlsx).
2. The Claude API skill
Another pre-built skill the docs describe is the Claude API skill, which gives Claude up-to-date API reference material, SDK documentation, and best practices for 8 programming languages. It's bundled with Claude Code and can also be installed from the public skills repo.
3. The public repo — anthropics/skills
Anthropic publishes skills in the public repo github.com/anthropics/skills. Many of its skills are open source (Apache 2.0), and the document skills above (docx, pdf, pptx, xlsx) are included as source-available (not open source) references for more complex, production-used skills. The repo is organized into skills/ (example skills), spec/ (the spec), and template/ (a template). You can read them and use them as-is, or adapt them to your needs.
The official README notes that the repo's document skills are point-in-time snapshots for demonstration and educational purposes, and that the behavior you get from Claude may differ from the repo's implementation. The exact list and contents of individual skills change over time, so check the repo directly.
4. Build your own
If the skill you want doesn't exist, build it. Write a SKILL.md (YAML frontmatter with a name and description, plus Markdown instructions) and put it in a folder. Claude Code discovers filesystem-based custom skills automatically; on the Claude API you upload via the /v1/skills endpoint and the whole workspace can share it. See the Claude Code skills guide for details.
Summary
Key point: you get useful skills three ways — (1) pre-built (document skills pptx/xlsx/docx/pdf and the Claude API skill), (2) the public repo (anthropics/skills, open-source examples), and (3) building your own. Paid plans use document skills automatically; developers can pull from the repo or build with a SKILL.md.
The skill list and sources here reflect official docs and the repo, re-checked on September 9, 2026 (pre-built document skills, availability, and the Apache-2.0 vs source-available split all match). The set of skills and their availability can change by product, plan, and date, so check the official docs and repo for the latest before relying on them.
Related: Claude Plugins Guide (2026): How to Install Them and Which Ones to Use
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