SKILLS & PROMPTING · 19 OCTOBER 2026
Move step-by-step jobs out of CLAUDE.md and into skills
A popular post walked through a tip from Anthropic's own Claude Code docs: keep CLAUDE.md for short facts and turn every procedure into a skill, a folder with a SKILL.md file. Only the skill's one-line description sits in memory until the job comes up, so long checklists cost almost nothing until they're used. The docs confirm skills can also run on a cheaper model in their own separate session and switch on only for certain folders.
Why it mattersShorter instructions mean faster, cheaper and more reliable agent runs. Ask Claude Code to audit your CLAUDE.md, split facts from procedures, and show you the changes before it edits anything.
Sources
How we knowCompany figures are labelled as their own claims; anything we couldn't verify is labelled as a report or a claim.
MORE FROM 19 OCTOBER 2026
- DeepSeek ships a faster, cheaper Flash model and opens its web search API
- Anthropic puts 5% of its shares into a public benefit fund
- Big brands are starting to block AI agents
- When your agent gets something wrong, save the reason as a skill
- Inbox Zero Mail: an open-source alternative to Superhuman
- shim-cli: stop your coding agent seeing your secrets