MessagesSkills

Get started with Agent Skills in the API

Learn how to use Agent Skills to create documents with the Claude API in under 10 minutes.

This tutorial shows you how to use Agent Skills to create a PowerPoint presentation. You'll learn how to enable Skills, make a simple request, and access the generated file.

Prerequisites

Claude API key
Python 3.7+ or curl installed
Basic familiarity with making API requests

Agent Skills overview

Pre-built Agent Skills extend Claude's capabilities with specialized expertise for tasks like creating documents, analyzing data, and processing files. Anthropic provides the following pre-built Agent Skills in the API:

PowerPoint (pptx): Create and edit presentations
Excel (xlsx): Create and analyze spreadsheets
Word (docx): Create and edit documents
PDF (pdf): Generate PDF documents

Want to create custom Skills? See the Agent Skills Cookbook for examples of building your own Skills with domain-specific expertise.

Step 1: List available Skills

First, check what Skills are available. Use the Skills API to list all Anthropic-managed Skills:

# List Anthropic-managed Skills
ant beta:skills list --source anthropic

You see the following Skills: pptx, xlsx, docx, and pdf.

This API returns each Skill's metadata: its name and description. Claude loads this metadata at startup to know what Skills are available. This is the first level of progressive disclosure, where Claude discovers Skills without loading their full instructions yet.

Step 2: Create a presentation

Now use the PowerPoint Skill to create a presentation about renewable energy. Specify Skills using the container parameter in the Messages API:

# Create a message with the PowerPoint Skill
response = client.beta.messages.create(
    model="claude-opus-4-8",
    max_tokens=16000,
    betas=["code-execution-2025-08-25", "skills-2025-10-02"],
    container={
        "skills": [{"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "pptx", "version": "latest"}]
    },
    messages=[
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": "Create a presentation about renewable energy with 5 slides",
        }
    ],
    tools=[{"type": "code_execution_20250825", "name": "code_execution"}],
)

print(f"stop_reason={response.stop_reason}, blocks={len(response.content)}")

Let's break down what each part does:

container.skills: Specifies which Skills Claude can use
type: "anthropic": Indicates this is an Anthropic-managed Skill
skill_id: "pptx": The PowerPoint Skill identifier
version: "latest": The Skill version set to the most recently published
tools: Enables code execution (required for Skills)
Beta headers: code-execution-2025-08-25 and skills-2025-10-02

The examples here use the code_execution_20250825 tool version with its matching code-execution-2025-08-25 beta header. Skills also work with the newer code execution tool revisions (code_execution_20260120 and later); any code execution tool version satisfies the Skills requirement. Whichever version you use, keep its tool type and beta header consistent with the code execution tool page, and always include skills-2025-10-02.

When you make this request, Claude automatically matches your task to the relevant Skill. Since you asked for a presentation, Claude determines the PowerPoint Skill is relevant and loads its full instructions: the second level of progressive disclosure. Then Claude executes the Skill's code to create your presentation.

Step 3: Download the created file

The presentation was created in the code execution container and saved as a file. The response includes a file reference with a file ID. Extract the file ID and download it using the Files API:

# Extract file ID from the code-execution tool result. The Skill might run
# its work through either the Python or bash code-execution tool, so check
# both result types.
file_id = None
for block in response.content:
    if block.type == "code_execution_tool_result":
        if block.content.type == "code_execution_result":
            for output in block.content.content:
                file_id = output.file_id
    elif block.type == "bash_code_execution_tool_result":
        if block.content.type == "bash_code_execution_result":
            for output in block.content.content:
                file_id = output.file_id

if file_id:
    # Download the file and save it
    output_path = Path(tempfile.gettempdir()) / "renewable_energy.pptx"
    file_content = client.beta.files.download(file_id=file_id)
    file_content.write_to_file(output_path)
    print(f"Presentation saved to {output_path}")

For complete details on working with generated files, see the code execution tool documentation.

Try more examples

Now that you've created your first document with Skills, try these variations:

Create a spreadsheet

response = client.beta.messages.create(
    model="claude-opus-4-8",
    max_tokens=16000,
    betas=["code-execution-2025-08-25", "skills-2025-10-02"],
    container={
        "skills": [{"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "xlsx", "version": "latest"}]
    },
    messages=[
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": "Create a quarterly sales tracking spreadsheet with sample data",
        }
    ],
    tools=[{"type": "code_execution_20250825", "name": "code_execution"}],
)

Create a Word document

response = client.beta.messages.create(
    model="claude-opus-4-8",
    max_tokens=16000,
    betas=["code-execution-2025-08-25", "skills-2025-10-02"],
    container={
        "skills": [{"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "docx", "version": "latest"}]
    },
    messages=[
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": "Write a 2-page report on the benefits of renewable energy",
        }
    ],
    tools=[{"type": "code_execution_20250825", "name": "code_execution"}],
)

Generate a PDF

response = client.beta.messages.create(
    model="claude-opus-4-8",
    max_tokens=16000,
    betas=["code-execution-2025-08-25", "skills-2025-10-02"],
    container={
        "skills": [{"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "pdf", "version": "latest"}]
    },
    messages=[
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": "Generate a PDF invoice template",
        }
    ],
    tools=[{"type": "code_execution_20250825", "name": "code_execution"}],
)

Next steps

Now that you've used pre-built Agent Skills, you can:

API Guide

Use Skills with the Claude API

Create Custom Skills

Upload your own Skills for specialized tasks

Authoring Guide

Learn best practices for writing effective Skills

Use Skills in Claude Code

Learn about Skills in Claude Code

Agent Skills Cookbook

Explore example Skills and implementation patterns

Was this page helpful?

MessagesSkills

Get started with Agent Skills in the API

Learn how to use Agent Skills to create documents with the Claude API in under 10 minutes.

This tutorial shows you how to use Agent Skills to create a PowerPoint presentation. You'll learn how to enable Skills, make a simple request, and access the generated file.

Prerequisites

Claude API key
Python 3.7+ or curl installed
Basic familiarity with making API requests

Agent Skills overview

PowerPoint (pptx): Create and edit presentations
Excel (xlsx): Create and analyze spreadsheets
Word (docx): Create and edit documents
PDF (pdf): Generate PDF documents

Want to create custom Skills? See the Agent Skills Cookbook for examples of building your own Skills with domain-specific expertise.

Step 1: List available Skills

First, check what Skills are available. Use the Skills API to list all Anthropic-managed Skills:

# List Anthropic-managed Skills
ant beta:skills list --source anthropic

You see the following Skills: pptx, xlsx, docx, and pdf.

Step 2: Create a presentation

Now use the PowerPoint Skill to create a presentation about renewable energy. Specify Skills using the container parameter in the Messages API:

# Create a message with the PowerPoint Skill
response = client.beta.messages.create(
    model="claude-opus-4-8",
    max_tokens=16000,
    betas=["code-execution-2025-08-25", "skills-2025-10-02"],
    container={
        "skills": [{"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "pptx", "version": "latest"}]
    },
    messages=[
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": "Create a presentation about renewable energy with 5 slides",
        }
    ],
    tools=[{"type": "code_execution_20250825", "name": "code_execution"}],
)

print(f"stop_reason={response.stop_reason}, blocks={len(response.content)}")

Let's break down what each part does:

container.skills: Specifies which Skills Claude can use
type: "anthropic": Indicates this is an Anthropic-managed Skill
skill_id: "pptx": The PowerPoint Skill identifier
version: "latest": The Skill version set to the most recently published
tools: Enables code execution (required for Skills)
Beta headers: code-execution-2025-08-25 and skills-2025-10-02

Step 3: Download the created file

The presentation was created in the code execution container and saved as a file. The response includes a file reference with a file ID. Extract the file ID and download it using the Files API:

# Extract file ID from the code-execution tool result. The Skill might run
# its work through either the Python or bash code-execution tool, so check
# both result types.
file_id = None
for block in response.content:
    if block.type == "code_execution_tool_result":
        if block.content.type == "code_execution_result":
            for output in block.content.content:
                file_id = output.file_id
    elif block.type == "bash_code_execution_tool_result":
        if block.content.type == "bash_code_execution_result":
            for output in block.content.content:
                file_id = output.file_id

if file_id:
    # Download the file and save it
    output_path = Path(tempfile.gettempdir()) / "renewable_energy.pptx"
    file_content = client.beta.files.download(file_id=file_id)
    file_content.write_to_file(output_path)
    print(f"Presentation saved to {output_path}")

For complete details on working with generated files, see the code execution tool documentation.

Try more examples

Now that you've created your first document with Skills, try these variations:

Create a spreadsheet

response = client.beta.messages.create(
    model="claude-opus-4-8",
    max_tokens=16000,
    betas=["code-execution-2025-08-25", "skills-2025-10-02"],
    container={
        "skills": [{"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "xlsx", "version": "latest"}]
    },
    messages=[
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": "Create a quarterly sales tracking spreadsheet with sample data",
        }
    ],
    tools=[{"type": "code_execution_20250825", "name": "code_execution"}],
)

Create a Word document

response = client.beta.messages.create(
    model="claude-opus-4-8",
    max_tokens=16000,
    betas=["code-execution-2025-08-25", "skills-2025-10-02"],
    container={
        "skills": [{"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "docx", "version": "latest"}]
    },
    messages=[
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": "Write a 2-page report on the benefits of renewable energy",
        }
    ],
    tools=[{"type": "code_execution_20250825", "name": "code_execution"}],
)

Generate a PDF

response = client.beta.messages.create(
    model="claude-opus-4-8",
    max_tokens=16000,
    betas=["code-execution-2025-08-25", "skills-2025-10-02"],
    container={
        "skills": [{"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "pdf", "version": "latest"}]
    },
    messages=[
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": "Generate a PDF invoice template",
        }
    ],
    tools=[{"type": "code_execution_20250825", "name": "code_execution"}],
)

Next steps

Now that you've used pre-built Agent Skills, you can:

API Guide

Use Skills with the Claude API

Create Custom Skills

Upload your own Skills for specialized tasks

Authoring Guide

Learn best practices for writing effective Skills

Use Skills in Claude Code

Learn about Skills in Claude Code

Agent Skills Cookbook

Explore example Skills and implementation patterns

Was this page helpful?

Prerequisites

Agent Skills overview

Step 1: List available Skills

Step 2: Create a presentation

Step 3: Download the created file

Try more examples

Create a spreadsheet

Create a Word document

Generate a PDF

Next steps

Prerequisites

Agent Skills overview

Step 1: List available Skills

Step 2: Create a presentation

Step 3: Download the created file

Try more examples

Create a spreadsheet

Create a Word document

Generate a PDF

Next steps

Prerequisites

Agent Skills overview

Step 1: List available Skills

Step 2: Create a presentation

Step 3: Download the created file

Try more examples

Create a spreadsheet

Create a Word document

Generate a PDF

Next steps

Prerequisites

Agent Skills overview

Step 1: List available Skills

Step 2: Create a presentation

Step 3: Download the created file

Try more examples

Create a spreadsheet

Create a Word document

Generate a PDF

Next steps