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Full Walkthrough: Writing & Using Skills — Nick Nisi and Zack Proser
Takeaway
Skills give Claude portable, composable, scriptable units of expertise that route in by description and stop you from re-explaining context every conversation.
Summary
- Nick Nisi and Zack Proser (WorkOS devex/applied AI) run a hands-on workshop on Claude Skills — markdown files (skill.md) with YAML front matter (name, description) that the LLM uses at runtime to route to the skill.
- Contrast with claude.md/agents.md memory files: those bloat context, live in one repo and lack script execution; Skills are composable, only load when relevant, and can carry executable scripts to inject deterministic results into a non-deterministic conversation.
- Demo: a 30-line markdown 'roast this repo' skill turns generic feedback into project-specific advice citing conventions, semantic commits and readme drift.
- Skills can be a folder, not just a single file — supporting sub-skills, scripts, and structured outputs; encode the DRY principle into the agentic era so individuals or teams stop re-explaining conventions every chat.
- Builds on WorkOS infrastructure for securing MCP and OAuth for agentic startups.
skillsclaudeagents
Original description
Write once, run in Claude, Codex, Cursor, and your own agents Every developer using AI tools has the same problem: they prompt the same way, for the same tasks, over and over. Skills fix this. A skill is a portable unit of agent behavior that teaches any AI tool how to do a specific job. Write one, drop it into your editor, and it just works. Across tools. Across teams. Most people don't know this primitive exists. In this hands-on workshop, you'll write real skills, test them live, and see how one file can power Claude.ai, Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex without changing a line. Then we'll go deeper. You'll see how one CLI uses this same pattern to power 15 framework integrations — each one a skill composed with others, wired into an agent that installs and configures auth! What you'll do: Write 2+ skills for tasks you actually do at work Install and test them across AI tools in real time Learn the craft of good skill writing — specificity, constraints, composability See how skills compose and scale inside a real CLI powered by the Claude Agent SDK Speaker info: - Nick Nisi | https://nicknisi.com/about/ - Zach Proser | https://zackproser.com/