October 27, 2026
Learn to build your own
AI-powered tools and workflows
TODAY’S BUILD
Turn your expertise into reusable AI skills
We all have our own way of doing things at work. A lot of that knowledge lives in our heads, scattered documents, or old project folders. So when we ask AI to help, we often end up explaining our approach all over again, or getting generic results that don't quite match how we work.
But what if you could teach AI how you work once, and have it follow your approach whenever you need it?
For this week's build, imagine you're a project manager at a small web design agency. We're going to turn an existing project into a reusable AI Skill that helps you kick off new projects your way.
Using Claude, you'll turn an old project folder into a skill that captures your process, then use it to create a kickoff pack for a new client.
No coding required. Just follow along, step by step.
Time to build 💪
Before you start
✓ The Claude desktop app for Mac or Windows, on a paid plan (Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise). Claude can only work on folders on your computer through the desktop app
✓ Enable Claude Skills: Go to Settings > Capabilities and make sure Run code in the cloud is turned on under Code execution and file creation. This setting is required to use Skills.
✓ Our sample folders: We've prepared a fictional example for you to work with. Download the ZIP file and extract it somewhere easy to find, like your Documents folder. The Client projects folder contains a messy project folder from last year for Fernhill Garden Co., along with a new client brief for Mill Lane Bakery.
Prefer video? You can watch the recording of our live build here.
Let's build it
Let Claude clean up your old project folder
Open the Client projects folder you downloaded earlier. Inside, you'll find Fernhill website 2025, a messy folder from a fictional client project. It contains multiple versions of the kickoff document, confusing filenames, and even a quote that belongs to another client.
Open the Claude desktop app and start a new conversation. Click Project or folder under the message box, choose Add folder and select the Fernhill website 2025 folder inside Client projects. This gives Claude access to the files in that folder, so it can read, rename and move them.
When Claude asks for permission to modify files, click Allow. Now paste the prompt below. It asks Claude to suggest a plan before making changes, so you can review and approve it first. If Claude asks how to organize the files, answer By project stage: brief, kickoff, delivery, handover. Anything that doesn't belong goes in Archive.
Read the plan, approve it and open the folder to see the result. Check whether Claude kept the final kickoff doc, moved the older versions to Archive and spotted that the Ashby quote belongs to another client. To tidy the folder, Claude had to read every file in it, and the next step builds on that.
>_ COPY THIS PROMPT
This is the folder from a client project I ran last year: a new website for Fernhill Garden Co. It's a mess. Look through all the files, rename them with clear names and sort them into a logical folder structure. Show me your plan before you move anything.
Let Claude work out how you kick off a project
Stay in the same conversation. Last year's project started with a short email from Marcus, the client, asking Northlight to get started. That email is the input.
Based on that input, the project manager put together a kickoff pack: an email back to Marcus with kickoff questions, a one-page kickoff doc, a stakeholder map (who's involved and how to keep them in the loop), an agenda for the kickoff meeting and a plan for the first four weeks. Those five documents are the outputs.
Now copy the prompt below into the chat. As you can see, we're not telling Claude how to kick off a project. Instead, we're asking it to compare the original input with the finished documents and work out the steps that connect them. Claude will also review the lessons learned from the previous project to identify what could be improved next time.
Before moving on, review Claude's summary carefully. Does it describe all five documents and their structure, the five questions sent to Marcus, and the plain and direct tone? It should also identify lessons from the previous project, such as unclear responsibility for website content, which delayed the launch by six weeks.
Remember, Claude can only learn from the information you provide. Anything that lives only in your head, you need to add yourself, the same way you'd fill in the gaps for a new colleague. For example, send: Good. Add one more question I always ask the client: what's definitely out of scope?
>_ COPY THIS PROMPT
This project started with Marcus's brief: his email asking us to get started. From that, I put together a kickoff pack: my email back to Marcus with my questions, the kickoff doc, the stakeholder map, the kickoff agenda and the plan for the first four weeks. At the end, the lessons learned file records what went wrong.
Work out my process for turning a client's brief into a kickoff pack: what's in the pack, how each document is structured, the questions I ask, the pitfalls I should check for next time and the tone I write in. Summarize it before you do anything else.
Turn your process into a skill
Now save that process so Claude can use it again. Every skill starts with a short description, and Claude reads the description to decide when to use the skill, without you having to ask for it.
Paste the prompt below in the same conversation. Claude will use its built-in skill-creator to write the skill and may ask you a few questions first. Answer them the way you'd brief a new colleague, or reply Use what you found in the folder. If it offers to test the skill, you can skip that for now, because you'll test it on a new brief in step 6.
When it's done, Claude lists what went into the skill and shows a card with information about the skill. Read the list, ask for changes in the chat if anything looks wrong, then click Save skill.
To read the instructions that Claude created, go to Customize > Skills, select Yours and open the project-kickoff skill under Created by you.
>_ COPY THIS PROMPT
Turn this into a skill called project-kickoff. When I give it a new client's brief, it should make the same kickoff pack, using my Fernhill documents as templates with the Fernhill details taken out (keep our Northlight Studio branding and my details), and check the brief for every pitfall in the lessons learned. It should be used whenever I ask to kick off, start or set up a new project.
Set up a project for all your client work
So far, we've been working in a single client folder. Now we'll move one level up to the main Client projects folder, where we can keep our reusable processes alongside all our client work. To do this, we'll create a Claude Project: a workspace that keeps related conversations together and can be connected to a folder on your computer.
Click Project or folder below the message box and select New project. Name it Client projects and connect it to the main Client projects folder you downloaded earlier. This gives Claude access to all the client folders inside it, so we can build a reusable skill that works across different projects.
Save your other processes as markdown files
Start a new conversation inside your Claude Project and use the prompt below. If Claude asks for permission to modify files, click Allow.
The Fernhill folder holds more information about how you work, like two weekly status updates for the client and the checklist for handing the finished site over, and Claude will write each one up as a process.
Claude saves them as markdown files: plain text with a few symbols for formatting, like # for a heading and - for a bullet. They end in .md, any text editor can open them and AI tools read them easily. Open the new Processes folder in Client projects and have a look at the files.
Your skill's SKILL.md is a markdown file too. The difference is the description at the top, which lets Claude use it on its own. That gives you two ways to save a process:
A skill for work you do often and want Claude to use in any conversation without being asked.
Other markdown files for processes that also belong with the work or the team. Add these files to a shared folder like Client projects, where anyone can open and edit it, and any AI tool can read it.
To use the other markdown files, point Claude at it, for example: Write this week's status update for Mill Lane, following our process in the Processes folder.
>_ COPY THIS PROMPT
Look at the Fernhill website 2025 folder. It shows how I write my weekly status updates for the client and how I hand a finished site over. Write each one up as a process in its own markdown file, in a new folder called Processes next to the client folders.
Test your skill on a new client's brief
Start a new conversation in your Client projects project, so Claude has only the skill to go on and nothing from the conversations you built it in. Click Project or folder, pick Client projects and send the prompt below to kickoff a new project. It doesn't mention the skill or explain anything.
Watch Claude's working notes as it starts. Your request matches the skill's description, so Claude opens project-kickoff on its own. When it finishes, open the new Kickoff pack folder: the same five documents as last year, made from Ines's six sentences.
Then check that last year's lessons came along. Ines's brief repeats Fernhill's mistakes: nobody with final say is named, the shop managers who'll update the site aren't involved, the budget isn't signed off, nobody owns the words and photos, and 150 old pages need moving. Look for a question, an owner or a flagged risk for each one.
If something's missing, tell Claude in the chat and ask it to update the skill, so the next kickoff gets it right too. From now on, whenever you ask Claude to kick off, start or set up a new project, it uses your skill, in any conversation.
And this is just one example. Any old project folder has processes in it, like proposals, status updates or onboarding a new colleague.
>_ COPY THIS PROMPT
Ines from Mill Lane Bakery has sent her brief. It's in the Mill Lane website 2026 folder. Help me kick off this project, and save everything in a new folder called Kickoff pack inside that folder.
Stuck? Here’s what to try:
If Claude doesn't use your skill in the new conversation, check that project-kickoff is switched on in Customize > Skills. Then read its description. Claude only uses a skill when your request matches it, so ask Claude to add the words you'd use, like kick off or set up a new project. You can also name the skill in your message: Use my project-kickoff skill. Still stuck? Just reply to this email. We're happy to help.
YOUR TURN
Make it your own
Now it's your turn! Try it on a copy of a folder from one of your own projects, or pick another process you repeat, like writing proposals or onboarding a new colleague. Let Claude work out how you do it, add what only lives in your head, and save it as a skill or as a markdown file your team can use too. We'd love to hear what you teach it, so let us know how it goes.
We hope this week's build inspires you to teach AI more of your everyday processes, so you can save time and work smarter.
Keep building,
Harold and Kieran
Build it yourself
With Build it yourself we want to help you learn how to build your own AI-powered tools and workflows.