Applied AI: Building Claude Code Skills
3h 7mBeginner2026-05-14
Authors
Lucas Soares
Course details
Automating repetitive workflows with Claude Code requires a different approach than traditional prompt engineering. In this course, discover context-engineering principles and learn how to build reusable Claude Code Skills that package common tasks into reliable, repeatable automations. Join AI engineer and instructor Lucas Soares as he walks you through extracting structured data from PDFs, processing spreadsheets programmatically, and generating customized slide decks using specific frameworks and animation patterns. Along the way, learn how to organize your skills with proper metadata and directory structures to keep your work maintainable and scalable.
Skills covered
AI Builders and Low/No-Code ToolsClaudeAnthropicBusiness AnalysisAI Agents and Agentic SystemsOperations ManagementBuilding with AIProject ManagementBusiness Analysis and StrategyOne-Off
Concepts
Introduction
- Creating practical Claude Code Skills
Building a Spreadsheet Skill
- Introduction to Claude Code Skills
- Scaffold a basic skill directory
- Process user intent
- Produce structured spreadsheet outputs
- Test the skill against multiple spreadsheet tasks
Building a PDF Extraction and Transformation Skill
- Extract structured data from PDFs
- Merge and split PDFs
- Generate branded PDF documents
- Handle PDF forms
- Manage ambiguous PDF layouts
Context Engineering in PowerPoint Skill
- Generates slide decks from source material
- Edits existing presentations
- Maintains consistent tone and structure
- Control how much context is injected per request
Create a Document Authoring Skill
- Read and edit Word docs with a docx skill
- Create and edit formatting rules
- Work with comments
- Build a doc cheat sheet generator skill
Formalizing What You ve Built
- From prompts to context engineering to skills
- An anatomy of skills - Directories, Markdown, and YAML
- Building reusable instruction structures
- Applying common context strategies
- Handling failure modes
Capstone Project - Custom Research Workflow Skills
- Discover and triage research sources
- Extract and structure knowledge
- Synthesize and generate research reports
- Manage and orchestrate research workflows
Conclusion
- Next steps