What it means in practice
Most companies use AI by explaining the same thing over and over. A skill is the opposite: you write the procedure once, give it a name, and the AI pulls it up itself when its turn comes.
An example: “When I send you a complaint, check the terms in the price list, check the order status, and write a reply in our tone.” That is not a single-use prompt. That is a procedure your company should carry out the same way every time.
Why it is a step beyond chat
On the maturity ladder this is the jump from L1 to L2. You stop using AI as a clever advisor and start making it part of the process. The difference is that a skill works the same way when a colleague who knows nothing about it uses it.
An example from the workshop
In the Vibe coding in business workshop, every participant gets a reusable vibe-coding skill with practical rules for spec-driven work. It is not a bonus gift, it is what stays with the team once we leave.
The same principle holds across tools: in Claude they are skills, elsewhere they are custom GPTs or saved prompts. What matters is not the name of the feature but that the procedure exists outside one person’s head.