Agent Skill
Claude API skill
claude-apiAnthropic Skillsskills/claude-api/SKILL.md
Reference for the Claude API / Anthropic SDK — model ids, pricing, params, streaming, tool use, MCP, agents, caching, token counting, model migration. TRIGGER — read BEFORE opening the target file; don't skip because it "looks like a one-liner" — whenever: the prompt names Claude/Anthropic in any form (Claude, Anthropic, Fable, Opus, Sonnet, Haiku, `anthropic`, `@anthropic-ai`, `claude-*`, `us.anthropic.*`, `[1m]`); the user asks about an LLM (pricing/model choice/limits/caching) — never answer from memory; OR the task is LLM-shaped with provider unstated (agent/MCP/tool-definition/multi-agent/RAG/LLM-judge/computer-use; generate/summarize/extract/classify/rewrite/converse over NL; debugging refusals/cutoffs/streaming/tool-calls/tokens). SKIP only when another provider is being worked on (overrides all triggers): OpenAI/GPT/Gemini/Llama/Mistral/Cohere/Ollama named in the query; OR `grep -rE 'openai|langchain_openai|google.generativeai|genai|mistralai|cohere|ollama'` over the project hits (run this grep FIRST if no provider named — don't Read the file).
always on
294 tokname + description
once used
26,383 tokSKILL.md body
bundled files
954 scripts
installs
74kskills.sh
Install the Claude API skill
Skills CLI (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and others)
npx skills add https://github.com/anthropics/skills --skill claude-api
Claude Code, by hand (all projects)
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/anthropics/skills.git /tmp/skills mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills cp -R /tmp/skills/skills/claude-api ~/.claude/skills/claude-api
For one project only, copy the folder into .claude/skills/ in that project instead. The agent picks it up when a task matches its description.
What it costs your context
Agent Skills load in three steps. Tokens counted with the o200k tokenizer; your model's count will differ a little.
| When | What loads | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Every session | Name and description | 294 tok |
| When the agent uses it | The SKILL.md instructions | 26,383 tok |
| Only if opened | 95 bundled files (1.9 MB) | varies |
Until it is used, claude-api costs about 4.6× less than the median MCP server we measured (1,362 tokens on every turn). Installing all 20 skills from anthropics/skills would load 2,065 tokens of descriptions. Skills vs MCP study
Checks
- Ships scripts the agent can run. Read them before installing.
- The instructions are over 5,000 tokens, the Agent Skills specification's guideline for SKILL.md.
- The instructions are over 500 lines; the specification suggests moving detail into reference files.
- The description is longer than the specification's 1,024-character limit, so some agents may cut or reject it.
Checked 2026-10-22 · method
What's inside
The headings of its SKILL.md. Read the full file on GitHub.
- Building LLM-Powered Applications with Claude
- Before You Start
- Output Requirement
- Defaults
- Warning: API Drift - Your Training Prior May Be Stale
- Subcommands
- Language Detection
- Language-Specific Feature Support
- Which Surface Should I Use?
- Building an Agent: Four Approaches
- Should I Build an Agent?
- Architecture
- Current Models (cached: 2026-10-06)
- Claude Fable 5.1 (claude-fable-5-1) - most capable widely released model
- Claude Opus 5.5 (claude-opus-5-5) - the current Opus and the default model
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 (claude-sonnet-5-5) - the current Sonnet: speed and capability for everyday coding, agent, and enterpr
- Claude Haiku 5.5 (claude-haiku-5-5) - the current Haiku
- Authentication (Quick Reference)
- Thinking & Effort (Quick Reference)
- Compaction (Quick Reference)
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