In this post I want to share how I use Claude to periodically add my permanent notes into an A-Z index, a job I can safely automate within my AI PKM framework as it would be considered an administrative task.
I will also use this as an opportunity to introduce you to the concept of skills within Claude and other generative AI models.
What is a Skill in Claude
All skills sit within the skill folder in the .claude folder for my vault; it sits in the folder that hosts my Obsidian vault. Each skill you and Claude create will live in this folder.
Every skill folder will contain one Markdown file called SKILL.md. This file contains metadata at the front of the file which describes what the skill does. This part of each skill is read into the context window by Claude Code. It allows the model to know what skills are available to it, while keeping the loss of valuable context to a minimum. The rest of the skill is only read in when required.
As well as the SKILL.md file the folder can contain scripts that the AI can execute when using the skill. It can also host any other files that would help the AI to use the skill successfully such as an example of the required output.
How I created my A-Z Index skill
It started as a conversation between myself and Claude Code. I had started an A-Z index of my permanent notes sometime earlier, which I was able to share with the model to give it some context of what I was looking to do.
Claude Code spun up some agents and started to analyse my vault and worked out the logic on what I was asking and it created a skill from our conversation.
How to use a Claude Skill
You can use a skill by calling it with a / and then typing in the name of the skill. Alternatively you can ask the AI as part of the conversation and if the model deems it appropriate to run the skill it will do so.
Run the skill in Claude plan mode and it will plan the operation and in this instance decided to spin up agents to help it plan the changes required to update my index. As I had used planning mode I had to accept the plan that Claude was proposing to follow to change in index order.
It took about 10 minutes to add 32 notes in my index when I just ran it. I would normally try to run it around the end of the month and the start of the next one.
Conclusion
After reading this post you should have an idea of what a skill in Claude is and how you can build your own. It also shows how it works to carry out an administrative task in my vault, making it a stage 0 skill in my AI PKM framework.
If you want to be kept up to date with our latest content sign up for our monthly newsletter.