Best Claude Skills: 5 We Installed and Ran for Real (Ranked)

The best Claude skills are the ones that change what Claude actually does, not the ones with the longest README. We installed five popular Claude skills in Claude Code and ran each on a real task: grill-me, the PowerPoint (pptx) skill, skill-creator, the Excel (xlsx) skill and frontend-design. Two changed the result a lot, one was already built in, and one did nothing until we named it in the prompt.

Every test below was run by us in October 2026 with Claude Code 2.1.29x on Linux, and each has its own write-up with screenshots and a screen recording. Each setup ran once or twice, so these are hands-on observations, not benchmarks. The test content was in Vietnamese, which is why the screenshots show Vietnamese text.

Best Claude skills at a glance

How we ranked them: how much the skill changed the outcome compared with plain Claude Code on the same task, and whether it kicked in without being asked by name.

grill-me (#1): the skill that changed the result the most

grill-me makes Claude question you before it writes anything. You type /grill-me, Claude asks numbered questions with a recommended answer under each, and it only starts writing once you confirm.

• With the skill: two rounds of 7 questions, then a summary waiting for "OK, write it". The result was a 317-line plan, under 6 minutes from first prompt to finished file, that respected every constraint: 2 hours on a Friday afternoon, 40 non-coding staff, a budget of at most 15 million VND, held at the office.
• Without the skill: the same request produced 278 lines in about a minute and a half, but built on guesses: a 3.5-hour morning session, blanks for headcount and budget, and groups that included Engineering/IT with code-explaining exercises, for a staff that does not code.

Why it ranks first: it fixes the most common failure of any AI assistant, answering confidently without knowing your situation.

claude plugin install mattpocock-skills@claude-plugins-official --scope project

Full test: Claude's grill-me skill: install and real test.

pptx (#2): real PowerPoint decks that check their own layout

Anthropic's pptx skill (part of document-skills on github.com/anthropics/skills) builds .pptx files with code instead of describing slides in chat.

• From a 9-row CSV, Claude built a 6-slide deck in about 2 minutes 10 seconds.
• The revenue chart is a native PowerPoint chart, so the data stays editable.
• The skill's validation passed, then Claude rendered every slide, found 3 line-wrapping problems on slides 2, 4 and 6, and fixed them before finishing.
• Every figure matched the source file when we re-added them by hand.

What it needs: Node.js with pptxgenjs, Python, LibreOffice and pdftoppm for the self-check.

claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills
claude plugin install document-skills@anthropic-agent-skills --scope project

Full test: What are Claude skills? Install from GitHub and the PowerPoint test.

skill-creator (#3): the fastest way to make your own skill

skill-creator is the skill that writes skills. You describe a repeated task in plain language and it writes the SKILL.md for you.

• One request produced a 106-line SKILL.md for turning rough meeting notes into structured minutes, in about 1 minute 15 seconds.
• In a fresh session, a plain request that never named the skill was enough: Claude loaded it and delivered the Word minutes in 1 minute 11 seconds.
• It caught a real contradiction in the notes ("Tuesday 14/10", but October 14, 2026 is a Wednesday) instead of silently picking one.
• The skill it wrote had one bug: an example date labeled Friday is actually a Saturday. Read what it writes before relying on it.

claude plugin install example-skills@anthropic-agent-skills --scope project

Full test: How to create a Claude skill with skill-creator.

xlsx (#4): excellent, and you probably already have it

The xlsx skill builds spreadsheets with real formulas, but the surprise was that we did not need to install it.

• Signed in to Claude Code with a Claude account and nothing installed, Claude loaded anthropic-skills:xlsx on its own for both tasks.
• The first report took under two minutes, with totals written as SUMIFS formulas and a column chart.
• An October update added up exactly: 664,824,000 for six months plus 91,476,000 for October gave the 756,300,000 in the updated report.
• Installing document-skills gave identical numbers; only the layout differed.

It ranks fourth not because it is weak, but because installing it added nothing in our setup. Not tested with a Free account.

Full test: Claude Excel skill: already built in?.

frontend-design (#5): good design, but only if you ask for it

Anthropic's frontend-design skill tells Claude to choose colors, type and layout for the subject instead of falling back on the look that reads as AI-generated.

• Installed, same prompt: Claude never loaded it. The page followed the same template as the run without the skill.
• Named in the prompt: the terminal showed Skill(example-skills:frontend-design) loading, Claude planned a design direction first, and the 555-line page dropped the cream background, the italic accent phrase and the all-caps eyebrow label.
• Still check the output: in that run the café wordmark was partly covered by a shutter element.

Takeaway: if a skill matters for a task, mention it by name in your prompt.

Full test: Claude frontend design skill: a three-run test.

What our tests say about Claude skills in general

• Skills that add a process beat skills that add knowledge. grill-me and the pptx self-check changed the result because they make Claude do extra steps, not because they know more.
• Automatic triggering is not guaranteed. skill-creator's skill and xlsx triggered on their own; frontend-design did not. Naming the skill in the prompt is the reliable fallback.
• Read anything that will run on your machine. Skills and plugins can run code with your permissions. Claude Code's security documentation advises installing only what you trust.
• AI-written skills need a review. The one skill we generated worked, and still shipped with a wrong example date.

New to skills? Start with what Claude skills are and how to install them.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best Claude skills to install first?

In our tests, grill-me changed the result the most, followed by Anthropic's pptx skill from document-skills. If you repeat the same task often, skill-creator is the quickest way to build a skill of your own.

Do I need to install the Excel skill?

Not in our setup. Signed in to Claude Code with a Claude account and nothing installed, Claude loaded the xlsx skill on its own, and installing document-skills produced identical numbers.

Why didn't my Claude skill trigger?

Claude only loads a skill when your request matches its description, and that does not always happen. In our frontend-design test the installed skill was ignored until the prompt named it, after which it loaded immediately.

Where do Claude skills come from?

The skills we tested come from Anthropic's anthropics/skills repository on GitHub (document-skills and example-skills) and from the mattpocock-skills plugin. You can also write your own and put the folder in ~/.claude/skills/.

Are these rankings based on benchmarks?

No. Each skill was installed and run by us on one real task, once or twice per setup, and every run has its own write-up with screenshots. Treat the ranking as hands-on observation, not a statistic.