Famous Skills
Famous Skills are curated external Agent Skills from well-known repositories. They are ranked for immediate usefulness: start with the one that matches your current task, then move to the others when you need a narrower workflow.
If you only try one, start with Frontend Design. It still gives the strongest end-to-end first run: a concrete prompt produces visible output, and it is the easiest way to judge whether a curated skill feels worth adopting.
Recommended Order
| Priority | Skill | Why start here |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frontend Design | Best first impression: it turns a vague brief into a visible interface and shows the quality of a curated skill immediately. |
| 2 | Setup skillx | Best when you author skills yourself and want a clean Run-with-skillx block in your README without hand-writing it. |
| 3 | Webapp Testing | Best when you already have a running app and want the skill to interact with it directly in the browser. |
| 4 | MCP Builder | Best when your next step is building tools and API integrations instead of screens. |
| 5 | Claude API | Best when you are already shipping Anthropic features and want stronger API defaults fast. |
| 6 | PDF Processing | Best for document-heavy work when you need extraction, transformation, or form handling rather than UI or browser automation. |
Curated Skills
| Skill | Best for | Copyable command |
|---|---|---|
| Frontend Design | Turning a rough product brief into a visible UI result |
skillx run https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/frontend-design "Design a distinctive landing page for a developer tool"
|
| Setup skillx | Advertising your own skill so others can try it with skillx |
skillx run https://github.com/skillx-run/skillx/tree/main/skills/setup-skillx
|
| Webapp Testing | Browser-driven checks against a running local app |
skillx run https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/webapp-testing "Test my local web app at http://localhost:3000 for UI regressions and console errors"
|
| PDF Processing | One-off extraction and transformation work for PDF-heavy tasks |
skillx run https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/pdf "Extract the text, tables, and form fields from this PDF"
|
| MCP Builder | Scaffolding an MCP server around a real API or service |
skillx run https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/mcp-builder "Create an MCP server plan and starter implementation for a GitHub Issues integration"
|
| Claude API | Building or debugging Anthropic API integrations |
skillx run https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/claude-api "Add prompt caching and streaming to my Anthropic API app and explain the code changes"
|
| Canvas Design | Designing polished visual assets and canvas-style layouts |
skillx run https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/canvas-design "Create a bold product announcement poster in a modern editorial style"
|
| DOCX | Creating or editing polished .docx deliverables |
skillx run https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/docx "Create a polished project update memo as a .docx file with headings and a summary table"
|
| XLSX | Cleaning, analyzing, and restructuring spreadsheet workbooks |
skillx run https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/xlsx "Clean this sales workbook, add summary formulas, and prepare it for review"
|
Frontend Design
Use this when you want the most convincing first run: the prompt is concrete, the output is visible, and the value of a reusable skill is easy to judge from the result.
Setup skillx
Use this when you publish a skill and want a tidy “Run with skillx” block in your README. It detects the skill, infers the hosting platform, and inserts a copyable command block with diff preview before writing.
Webapp Testing
Use this when you already have a local app running and want a skill to exercise flows, report browser issues, and give you a faster QA loop.
PDF Processing
Use this when the task is document-heavy and you need a focused capability right now without turning PDF handling into a permanent part of your setup.
MCP Builder
Use this when you need an MCP server faster than you want to write framework boilerplate. It is strong for API-backed agents, tool naming, and workflow-oriented server design.
Claude API
Use this when the problem is not “build a UI” but “ship a better Claude integration.” It is especially useful for prompt caching, streaming responses, tool use, and model-version migrations.
Canvas Design
Use this when the result should feel like a designed artifact, not just an app screen. It is better suited to visual announcements, posters, hero graphics, and other canvas-first outputs.
DOCX
Use this when the real deliverable is a Word document with formatting, not just text the model prints back. It is useful for memos, reports, templates, and other document-heavy workflows.
XLSX
Use this when the important artifact is a workbook, not a note. It is a strong fit for cleaning messy sheets, adding formulas, and delivering spreadsheet-ready outputs instead of generic analysis text.
When to use Famous Skills
Use these when you want a proven workflow that already exists upstream and you do not need to inspect or modify the skill source. If you want to learn the repository’s own skill patterns or build from a local template, use the official examples instead.