Agent Skills Quick Start
Get Your First AI Agent Running in 10 Minutes
No coding required. No technical knowledge needed. Just results.---
What You Need (2 minutes)
- ✅ Claude Pro account (or Team/Enterprise) - Don't have one? Sign up here - Free tier has limited Skills access - ✅ A task you do repeatedly - Weekly newsletter, monthly reports, event planning, etc. - Something that takes you 2+ hours each time - ✅ 10 minutes to set this up
That's it. Really.
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Choose Your Starting Point
Pick the option that sounds easiest to you:
Option 1: Use Ready-Made Skills ⚡ FASTEST (2 minutes)
Best for: "I just want something that works right now" Partner skills already available: - Atlassian - Create Jira tickets, Trello cards automatically - Notion - Generate documentation in your workspace - Figma - Apply brand guidelines to designs - Canva - Create branded materials - Stripe - Handle payment workflows - Zapier - Connect multiple tools How to do it: 1. Go to Claude.ai 2. Click Settings (gear icon, bottom left) 3. Click "Skills" 4. Browse available partner skills 5. Click "Enable" on any skill that matches your work 6. Done! Start using them in any conversation Try it now: "Create a Jira ticket for bug fix in login flow" (if you enabled Atlassian skill)---
Option 2: Describe What You Want 🎯 EASIEST (5 minutes)
Best for: "I have a specific workflow I want to automate" Claude will interview you and build the skill: Step 1: Start a new conversation in Claude Step 2: Type this (replace [YOUR TASK] with your actual task):
Help me build a skill for [YOUR TASK].
Ask me questions to understand:
- What inputs do I need?
- What's my step-by-step process?
- What should the output look like?
- How do I know when it's done correctly?
Then create the skill for me.
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Option 3: Use Angela's Template 📋 MOST DETAILED (10 minutes)
Best for: "I want a proven example I can customize" Angela automated her newsletter - you can use the same system: What it includes: - Complete newsletter skill (11 sections, 2,500-3,000 words) - Quality checks (catches common errors) - Copyright compliance (15-word quote limits) - Tone guidelines (natural prose, no bullets) - Foundation skills integration How to use it: Step 1: Download the template - Download newsletter-skill-template.zip _(link to be added)_ - Unzip on your computer Step 2: Customize for your workflow - OpenSKILL.md in any text editor
- Replace Angela's newsletter sections with yours
- Update data sources (replace ADP/BLS with your sources)
- Adjust tone guidelines to match your voice
- Keep the structure, change the content
Step 3: Upload to Claude
1. Go to Settings → Skills
2. Click "Add Custom Skill"
3. Select your customized folder
4. Claude validates it (checks for SKILL.md file)
5. Click "Enable"
Step 4: Test it
- New conversation: "Draft this week's newsletter"
- Review output
- Give feedback: "Make headlines punchier" or "Add more data"
- Claude learns and improves
Step 5: Refine over 2-3 weeks
- Week 1: 80-90% match (needs tone adjustments)
- Week 2: 90-95% match (minor tweaks)
- Week 3+: 95%+ match (faster than manual!)
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Using Your Skills
Automatic (Recommended): - Just talk naturally to Claude - "Draft my weekly report" - "Create my monthly summary" - "Help me plan this week's events" - Claude detects which skill to use automatically Manual (If you have multiple similar skills): - "Use the newsletter-skill to draft this week's edition" - "Apply the report-template skill to this data" - Explicitly names which skill you want Check what's active: - Settings → Skills - See all enabled skills - Toggle any on/off - Preview what each skill does---
What You'll See
When Claude uses a skill:
✅ Small indicator - "Using: newsletter-skill" ✅ Following instructions - Applies your workflow automatically ✅ Quality checks - Validates output before showing you ✅ Consistent results - Same quality every time
You'll still review and approve everything - skills make drafts, YOU make decisions.
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Troubleshooting
"My skill isn't triggering"
Check: - Is it enabled? Settings → Skills → Make sure toggle is ON - Is your request clear? Try: "Use [skill-name] to..." - Does skill description match your request? Fix: - Enable the skill in Settings - Be more specific in your request - Edit skill description to be broader---
"Output isn't quite right"
This is normal for Week 1! Fix it: - Give feedback in the conversation: "Make this more casual" or "Add specific numbers" - Update the skill: "Update the skill with this tone guidance" - Add examples: "Here's a good headline vs. bad headline" Week 2-3 will be much better as skill learns your preferences.---
"I want to change my skill"
Easy: 1. Settings → Skills 2. Find your skill 3. Click "Edit" or "View" 4. Make changes to SKILL.md 5. Save 6. Next use applies new instructions---
"Can I share my skill with my team?"
Yes! (Team/Enterprise plans): - Admins can provision skills organization-wide - Everyone uses the same workflow - Ensures consistency - Individuals can still toggle on/off Free/Pro plans: - Skills are personal to your account - Can export and share the folder - Others import to their account---
Success Stories
Newsletter Automation - WORKING ✅ - Before: 9 hours per week - After: 90 minutes (draft + review) - Savings: 82% time, 98.6% quality match - Status: Built Dec 19, 2025 - production ready - Bonus: Skill caught errors made manually! Data Gathering Intelligence - IN PROGRESS ⚠️ - Challenge: Monitoring 40+ sources currently requires AI-assisted research - Current: Collaborative (conversations with Claude for each newsletter) - Goal: Automated monitoring → structured intelligence briefs - Timeline: Next major build using patterns learned from newsletter - Why: Feeds everything - newsletters, dashboard, grants, B2B Wayback Archiving - PARTIALLY AUTOMATED ⚠️ - Working: Batch processor for 10-20 URLs at once - Manual: Failure recovery still needs attention - Impact: Mission-critical for protecting credibility - Next: Smart retry logic and full automation Your Results Will Vary: - Week 1: 70-80% time savings (learning curve) - Week 3: 80-90% time savings (refined) - Week 5+: 85-95% time savings (optimized) The goal isn't 100% automation - it's giving you a solid draft that you refine, instead of starting from scratch every time.---
Next Steps
Just Starting?
1. Pick Option 1, 2, or 3 above 2. Spend 10 minutes setting it up 3. Use it ONCE 4. See how it works 5. Refine based on resultsWant to Go Deeper?
- Read the Complete Guide (90 minutes, full methodology) - Learn how to build multiple skills that work together - Understand the "foundation + specialized" pattern - See advanced examples and lessons learnedNeed Help?
- Email: angela@theopenrecord.org - Subject: "Agent Skills Help: [your question]" - Include: What you're trying to automate, what's not working---
Common Questions
Q: Do I need Claude Pro? A: For full Skills access, yes. Free tier has limited options. Pro is $20/month. Q: Will this work for my specific task? A: If you do it repeatedly and can describe the process, yes. Works for newsletters, reports, events, analysis, campaigns, planning, and more. Q: How long before it pays off? A: If you save 2+ hours per week, pays for itself in Week 1. Build time: 10 minutes to 2 hours depending on complexity. Q: What if I don't like AI writing my content? A: Skills create DRAFTS, you make final decisions. Think of it as a really good research assistant, not a replacement for your judgment. Q: Can skills access my private data? A: Only data you explicitly provide in conversations. Skills don't have access to your files unless you share them. Q: What about other AI tools - does this work with ChatGPT? A: Agent Skills is becoming an open standard. OpenAI is adopting it, along with Microsoft VS Code, Cursor, and others. Built once, works everywhere (soon).---
Want More Examples?
Newsletter Automation - Working (Dec 19, 2025) Data Gathering Intelligence - In progress (next build) Wayback Archiving - Partially automated (iterating) Grant Applications - Planned (reusable frameworks)See Complete Guide for full breakdowns and honest timelines.
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Ready? Pick Your Option Above and Start! ⚡
Option 1: Use ready-made skills (2 min) Option 2: Describe what you want (5 min) Option 3: Use Angela's template (10 min) You'll be running your first agent before you finish your coffee. ☕---
Last Updated: December 19, 2025 Author: Angela Fisher, The Open Record L3C Email: angela@theopenrecord.org