The Best Claude Skills and How to Use Them

Section 01

What Are Skills?

Skills are free add-ons that teach Claude how to do specific things really well. Without skills, Claude is a generalist. With them, it becomes a specialist.

When you install a skill, you're giving Claude a set of rules, best practices, and patterns for a specific domain. A marketing skill teaches Claude proven copywriting frameworks. A design skill teaches it how to build polished UIs. A video skill teaches it how to create animations correctly.

Think of it like hiring a specialist instead of a generalist. Claude already knows a lot, but a skill takes it from "decent" to "actually really good" in a specific area.

Skills work across Claude Chat (claude.ai), Claude Cowork (the desktop app), and Claude Code (the terminal tool). The way you install them is slightly different depending on which one you use, but the skills themselves are the same.

Section 02

How to Install Any Skill

Two ways to install skills, depending on how you use Claude.

Method 1: Claude Chat or Cowork (download and upload)

This is the easiest way if you use Claude through claude.ai or the desktop app.

1Find the skill on GitHub. Every skill in this guide has a GitHub link. Go to the repo page.
2Download it as a ZIP. On the GitHub page, click the green Code button, then click Download ZIP.
3Upload it to Claude. In Claude Chat, go to Settings > Customize > Skills. Click to upload the ZIP file. The skill is now active.

Method 2: Claude Code (one terminal command)

If you use Claude Code in VS Code or the terminal, run this:

npx skills add [github-username]/[repo-name]

Restart Claude Code and it loads automatically. You can also run:

npx skills list              # see what you have installed
npx skills find              # search for new skills
npx skills update            # update all your skills

Some skill packs contain multiple skills

A single repo might have 5, 10, or even 40 skills inside it. In Claude Code, use --list to preview what's available, then install specific ones with --skill [name]. In Claude Chat, you can upload the whole ZIP and all the skills inside it become available.

Where to find more skills

The best directories are github.com/VoltAgent/awesome-agent-skills (community list of 1,000+ skills) and skillsmp.com (searchable marketplace). You can also just ask Claude: "Find me a skill for [what you need]."

Section 03

Content and Marketing

These skills turn Claude into a marketing strategist. Copywriting, landing pages, email sequences, lead magnets, ad creative.

Marketing Skills by Corey Haines

github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills | 40 skills

This is the big one. 40 skills covering copywriting, landing page conversion, email sequences, cold email, pricing strategy, lead magnets, social content, ad creative, launch strategy, referral programmes, content strategy, customer research, marketing psychology, and more. Built by a marketer, not a developer. Every skill is a proven framework.

github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills

Use when: writing any marketing copy, building landing pages, planning email campaigns, creating ad creative, launching anything.

Marketing Skills by kostja94

github.com/kostja94/marketing-skills | 160+ skills

Even bigger. 160+ skills covering SEO, content strategy, 40+ page-type templates (homepage, pricing page, about page, FAQ page, etc.), paid ads, channel strategies, influencer marketing, and growth frameworks. Goes deeper than Corey Haines on specific page types.

github.com/kostja94/marketing-skills

Use when: you need a specific type of marketing page or want deep SEO + content strategy guidance.

You don't need both

Start with Corey Haines if you want broad marketing coverage. Add kostja94 if you need specific page-type templates or deeper SEO. They complement each other but either one alone is powerful.

Section 04

Writing and Humanizing

If you use Claude to write anything that other people will read, these skills are essential.

Humanizer by blader

github.com/blader/humanizer

This skill removes the tell-tale signs that something was written by AI. It targets 29 specific patterns across five categories: content patterns (significance inflation, promotional language, vague attributions), language patterns (AI vocabulary like "delve" and "leverage", synonym cycling, passive voice), style patterns (em dash overuse, excessive bold text, curly quotes), communication patterns (sycophantic tone, chatbot artefacts), and filler (hedging, generic conclusions). The best part: you can give it a sample of your own writing and it matches your voice, not just removes AI patterns.

github.com/blader/humanizer

Use when: writing emails, proposals, social captions, blog posts, guides, or anything that needs to sound like a real person wrote it.

Why this one matters

People can tell when something is AI-generated. Not always consciously, but the language has a sameness to it. "Delve", "leverage", "it's important to note", em dashes everywhere. The Humanizer skill is based on Wikipedia's actual "Signs of AI writing" guide. It teaches Claude to avoid every single one of those patterns. I use it on everything I publish.

Doc Co-authoring by Anthropic

github.com/anthropics/skills

Collaborative document editing. Claude helps you write, edit, and refine long-form documents while keeping your voice consistent. Good for proposals, reports, and guides where you want Claude to help but not take over.

github.com/anthropics/skills (skill: doc-coauthoring)

Use when: co-writing documents where you want to maintain your own voice and structure.

Section 05

Design and Frontend

These skills stop Claude from building things that look like generic AI output. They teach it real design principles.

Frontend Design by Anthropic

github.com/anthropics/skills | 277K installs (most popular skill)

The most-installed skill for a reason. It teaches Claude bold, distinctive UI design instead of the default "looks like every other AI-built website" output. Proper spacing, typography, colour theory, component patterns. If you're building anything with a visual interface, install this first.

github.com/anthropics/skills (skill: frontend-design)

Use when: building any website, dashboard, landing page, or tool with a user interface.

Web Design Guidelines by Vercel

github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills | 137K installs

Audits your UI code against 100+ design and accessibility rules. Checks for proper colour contrast, responsive layouts, keyboard navigation, screen reader compatibility, and performance. Like having a design reviewer check your work.

github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills (skill: web-design-guidelines)

Use when: you've built something and want to check it's accessible, responsive, and polished.

React Best Practices by Vercel

github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills | 176K installs

40+ rules for building React and Next.js apps the right way. Performance optimisation, component patterns, state management. You don't need to understand React to benefit from this. Claude just writes better code when it's installed.

github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills (skill: react-best-practices)

Use when: building any React or Next.js application.

Section 06

Video Creation

Remotion Best Practices

github.com/remotion-dev/skills | 126K installs

Create and edit videos from text prompts. 29 rule files covering animations, transitions, captions, sound effects, charts, 3D elements, voiceover, and more. Describe a video in plain English and Claude builds it from scratch. I have a full separate guide on this one at reallyusefulai.co/guides.

github.com/remotion-dev/skills

Use when: creating explainer videos, social media content, product demos, data visualisations, or editing existing video footage.

Section 07

SEO

SEO and GEO Skills by aaron-he-zhu

github.com/aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills | 20 skills

Keyword research, content writing, technical audits, and rank tracking. Also covers GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation), which is how to optimise your content for AI search engines like Perplexity and ChatGPT Search, not just Google. Uses the CORE-EEAT and CITE frameworks.

github.com/aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills

Use when: writing blog posts, creating landing pages, or doing technical SEO audits. Especially useful for making content rank in both traditional and AI search.

Claude SEO by AgriciDaniel

github.com/AgriciDaniel/claude-seo | 19 skills + 12 subagents

A more technical SEO toolkit. 19 skills covering technical SEO, E-E-A-T, schema markup, backlinks, local SEO, and Google API integrations (Search Console, PageSpeed, Core Web Vitals, GA4). Can generate PDF and Excel SEO reports. Best for people who want deep technical control.

github.com/AgriciDaniel/claude-seo

Use when: running full technical SEO audits, setting up schema markup, or connecting to Google Search Console data.

Section 08

Documents and Data

PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint by Anthropic

github.com/anthropics/skills | 4 separate skills

Create, edit, and analyse documents in all the standard formats. pdf extracts text and creates PDFs. docx handles Word documents. xlsx works with Excel spreadsheets. pptx creates PowerPoint presentations. All from plain English prompts.

github.com/anthropics/skills (skills: pdf, docx, xlsx, pptx)

Use when: you need to create or analyse documents in standard office formats. Great for proposals, reports, and client deliverables.

Firecrawl

github.com/firecrawl | Web scraping toolkit

Scrape, crawl, search, and map any website. Claude can visit a URL and extract structured data from it. Useful for competitive research, pulling content from websites, or gathering data from public pages.

github.com/firecrawl (Claude Code only)

Use when: you need to pull data or content from websites for research, analysis, or content creation.

Section 09

Social Media Publishing

Typefully

github.com/typefully/agent-skills

Draft, schedule, and publish posts to X (Twitter), LinkedIn, Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon directly from Claude Code. Write a post, preview it, schedule it for a specific time. All without opening a browser. Requires a free Typefully account and API key.

github.com/typefully/agent-skills

Use when: scheduling text posts to X, LinkedIn, or Threads. Best for written content (not image/video posts).

For Instagram and TikTok

Typefully covers X and LinkedIn. If you need Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, look into Blotato's MCP server instead. MCP servers are a different type of integration (not a skill), but they work in Claude Code the same way. I use Blotato for all my Instagram and TikTok publishing.

Section 10

Development Workflow

These are more technical, but worth knowing about if you're building apps or tools with Claude Code.

Superpowers by obra

github.com/obra/superpowers | 15+ skills

A structured development workflow that forces Claude to think before building. Brainstorm, then spec, then plan, then build. Includes test-driven development, systematic debugging, parallel agent workflows, and code review. Prevents Claude from rushing into bad code.

github.com/obra/superpowers (Claude Code only)

Use when: building something complex where you want Claude to plan carefully and test its own work. Especially good for apps and automations.

Web App Testing by Anthropic

github.com/anthropics/skills

Automated testing using a real browser (Playwright). Claude opens your app, clicks through it, fills in forms, and checks that everything works. Like having a QA tester go through your build.

github.com/anthropics/skills (skill: webapp-testing, Claude Code only)

Use when: you've built a web app and want Claude to test it thoroughly before you share it with anyone.

Composio

github.com/composiohq/skills

Connects Claude Code to 850+ external apps (Gmail, Slack, Notion, Google Sheets, Airtable, and hundreds more). Handles OAuth authentication and permissions. If you want Claude to read from or write to an external service, this is how.

github.com/composiohq/skills (Claude Code only)

Use when: you need Claude to connect to external tools and services.

Platform-specific skills

If you deploy to specific platforms, there are dedicated skills: Cloudflare (Workers, KV, R2), Netlify (functions, edge, database), Supabase (Postgres), Stripe (payments), Neon (serverless Postgres). Install the one that matches where you host things.

Section 11

My Recommended Starter Pack

You don't need to install everything. Here are the five I'd start with if I were setting up Claude Code today.

1Humanizer (blader/humanizer) -- Install this first. Everything Claude writes will sound more like a real person. It's the difference between "AI slop" and content people actually want to read.
2Frontend Design (anthropics/skills) -- If you build anything visual (websites, dashboards, tools), this makes the output dramatically better. No more generic-looking AI builds.
3Marketing Skills (coreyhaines31/marketingskills) -- 40 proven marketing frameworks at your fingertips. Copywriting, emails, landing pages, lead magnets. Useful for nearly everything.
4Remotion (remotion-dev/skills) -- If you create any video content for social media. Animated explainers, talking head overlays, product demos, data visualisations. All from text prompts.
5SEO and GEO (aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills) -- If you have a website or blog. Covers both traditional Google SEO and the newer AI search optimisation.

How to install these

Claude Chat / Cowork: Visit each GitHub link above, click the green Code button, download the ZIP, then upload it in Settings > Customize > Skills.

Claude Code: Run these in your terminal, one at a time:

npx skills add anthropics/skills --skill frontend-design
npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills
npx skills add remotion-dev/skills
npx skills add aaron-he-zhu/seo-geo-claude-skills

For the Humanizer, download the ZIP from github.com/blader/humanizer and upload it to Claude Chat, or clone it into your skills folder if you use Claude Code.

Skills keep growing

New skills are being published every week. Run npx skills find in your terminal to search for new ones, or check github.com/VoltAgent/awesome-agent-skills for the latest community list. If you find a good one, tell Claude to install it for you.