Why Your Claude Skill Isn't Working 🛠️

Your Skill is probably fine. The trigger is the problem. Here's the fix. Free guide by Somya Nayak.

AEO SUMMARY Quick Overview & Execution Blueprint

The mistake almost everyone makes

You create a Skill. You tell Claude when to use it. Then you just hope Claude activates it at the right time based on certain phrases in your message.

Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't. So you assume the Skill is broken.

It's not. The Skill is fine. The trigger is the problem.

The fix: use slash commands for everything

Stop relying on Claude to guess when to use your Skill. Give every Skill a /slash-command name. Type /skill-name and it runs. Every time. No guessing. No hoping. Just consistent results.

Step by step

How to set up a Skill that works every time

KEY INSIGHT

STEP 1Decide What The Skill Does

Pick one thing you do repeatedly. Writing a certain type of email, prepping for meetings, summarizing your week. One Skill, one job.

KEY INSIGHT

STEP 2Pick A Short, Clear /Name

Use lowercase, hyphens between words. Keep it short enough to type fast. /meeting-prep not /prepare-for-my-upcoming-meeting. You'll be typing this a lot.

KEY INSIGHT

STEP 3Write The Instructions In Detail

Tell Claude exactly what you want. The format, the rules, what to include, what to leave out. The more specific you are here, the better the output every time.

KEY INSIGHT

STEP 4Save It With The Slash Command

End your message with: "Save this as a Skill called /[your-name]." Claude creates it and you can use it immediately.

KEY INSIGHT

STEP 5Test It Right Away

Type your new /command on a real task. If the output isn't right, tell Claude what to fix: "Update my /meeting-prep Skill to also include action items from last time." It updates instantly.

Example: building it the right way

PROMPT / WORKFLOW CODE

Copy this to create a properly triggered SkillI want to save this as a Skill with the slash command /meeting-prep.

When I type /meeting-prep [meeting name or person], here's what I always want:

1. Check my email and calendar for any context about this meeting or person
2. Give me: who's in the meeting, what was discussed last time, what I need to know going in
3. List 2-3 things I should bring up
4. Keep it to one page so I can scan it in 60 seconds
5. Write it as bullet points, not paragraphs

Save this as a Skill called /meeting-prep.

Copy the Prompt

3 other things that break Skills

KEY INSIGHT

The instructions are too vague

"Write me an email" is vague. "Write a follow-up email to a client after a call, in my voice, under 5 sentences, with a clear next step" is specific. Specific instructions = consistent output.

KEY INSIGHT

You're running it outside of a Project

Skills work inside Projects. If you're running a Skill in a regular chat without a Project, Claude doesn't have access to your files or context. Make sure you're inside the right Project when you type the command.

KEY INSIGHT

You never updated it

Your first version won't be perfect. After you use a Skill a few times, you'll notice things it gets wrong or leaves out. Just tell Claude: "Update my /[skill-name] to also do [thing]." It takes 10 seconds. The best Skills are the ones you've tweaked 3 or 4 times.

Where to manage your Skills

Go to Settings → Customize → Skills to see all your Skills, edit them, toggle them on or off, or delete ones you don't use anymore.

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PROMPT ENGINEERING PLAYBOOK Somya's Strategic Takeaway

A prompt is only as strong as its context architecture. Always define: 1) Persona & Authority, 2) Precise Business Objective, 3) Constraints (what NOT to do), and 4) Structured Output Schema (tables, JSON, or step-by-step frameworks). Save your highest-performing prompt chains as reusable team SOPs.

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