# Anthropic Skills

> Anthropic Skills (~186k stars) is Anthropic's collection of example skills for Claude, with the Agent Skills specification and a template. The 19 skills cover art and design, web app testing, MCP server building, and Word, PDF, PowerPoint and Excel files. Licensing varies by folder: 14 carry Apache-2.0, the four document skills are source-available under Anthropic's terms, and doc-coauthoring has no licence file. The README says they are for demonstration and education only. Install through the Claude Code plugin marketplace; also on paid Claude.ai plans and through the API.

- Repository: https://github.com/anthropics/skills
- Official docs: https://github.com/anthropics/skills#readme
- Checked: 2026-10-31

## What it replaces
Nothing people pay for: a free tool, listed because people search for it.

## Facts, with sources

| Question | Status | Answer | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on my machine? | Partial | Install into Claude Code on your machine, or use in Claude.ai and the API; the model itself is hosted by Anthropic | https://github.com/anthropics/skills/blob/main/README.md | 2026-10-31 |
| Code licence | Partial | Mixed by folder: 14 skills Apache-2.0, 4 document skills source-available, 1 with no licence file; no licence at the repo root | https://github.com/anthropics/skills/blob/main/README.md | 2026-10-31 |
| Model weights licence | Confirmed | No bundled weights; skills run on Claude | https://github.com/anthropics/skills/blob/main/README.md | 2026-10-31 |
| Commercial use | Partial | Apache-2.0 skills allow it; the document skills are governed by your agreement with Anthropic. The README calls all of them demonstrations | https://github.com/anthropics/skills/blob/main/README.md | 2026-10-31 |
| Paid services needed? | Partial | The files are free to read; in Claude.ai the skills are on paid plans, and Claude Code and the API need an Anthropic account | https://github.com/anthropics/skills/blob/main/README.md | 2026-10-31 |
| Hardware | Confirmed | No hardware needs of its own; skills are folders that run wherever Claude runs | https://github.com/anthropics/skills/blob/main/README.md | 2026-10-31 |
| Operating systems | Unknown | Not documented; the README names no host OS (the skills run inside the host agent) | none found | - |
| Setup effort | Confirmed | Easy; two plugin commands in Claude Code | https://github.com/anthropics/skills/blob/main/README.md | 2026-10-31 |

GitHub: 186780 stars, 22059 forks, last push 2026-10-28, archived: no.

## Alternatives to Anthropic Skills
- [Superpowers](https://repoquarry.dev/projects/superpowers.md): Skill library for coding agents that walks them through brainstorming, planning, test-driven development, subagent work and code review.
- [Skills For Real Engineers (Matt Pocock)](https://repoquarry.dev/projects/mattpocock-skills.md): Matt Pocock's small, composable agent skills for engineering work, such as grilling sessions, TDD, bug diagnosis, specs and code review.
- [ECC](https://repoquarry.dev/projects/ecc.md): Large plugin of agents, skills, hooks, rules and memory for Claude Code, with native Codex and Qoder plugins and partial adapters for other agents.
- [Ponytail](https://repoquarry.dev/projects/ponytail.md): A skill (one prompt) for AI coding agents that makes them reuse what exists and write less code, plus /ponytail-review and /ponytail-audit commands.
- [UI UX Pro Max](https://repoquarry.dev/projects/ui-ux-pro-max.md): Design skill for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and other agents that picks UI styles, palettes, fonts and UX rules and generates a design system.
- [Graphify](https://repoquarry.dev/projects/graphify.md): A /graphify skill that maps a codebase and its docs into a knowledge graph your coding agent queries instead of grepping files.
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Source: RepoQuarry (https://repoquarry.dev/projects/anthropic-skills). Data licence: CC BY 4.0. Quotes are from project documentation and belong to their authors.