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Claude Agent Skills for Agno

cookbook/90_models/anthropic/skills/README.md

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Claude Agent Skills for Agno

What are Claude Agent Skills?

Claude Agent Skills enable Claude to improve how it performs specific tasks:

  • PowerPoint (pptx): Create professional presentations with slides, layouts, and formatting
  • Excel (xlsx): Generate spreadsheets with formulas, charts, and data analysis
  • Word (docx): Create and edit documents with rich formatting
  • PDF (pdf): Analyze and extract information from PDF documents

These skills use a progressive disclosure architecture - Claude first discovers which skills are relevant, then loads full instructions only when needed.

Prerequisites

Before you can use Claude Agent Skills, you'll need:

  1. Python 3.8 or higher
  2. Anthropic API key with access to Claude models
  3. Required Python packages (Only for file handling post its creation in Sandbox):
    • anthropic (for direct API access)
    • agno (for agent framework)
    • python-pptx (optional, for PowerPoint manipulation)
    • openpyxl (optional, for Excel file handling)
    • python-docx (optional, for Word document handling)
    • PyPDF2 or pdfplumber (optional, for PDF processing)

Installation

  1. Install the required packages:
bash
uv pip install anthropic agno

# Optional: Install document manipulation libraries
uv pip install python-pptx openpyxl python-docx PyPDF2 pdfplumber
  1. Set up your Anthropic API key:
bash
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"

Or create a .env file:

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Quick Start

Basic Direct API Usage

python
import anthropic

client = anthropic.Anthropic()

response = client.messages.create(
    model="claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929",
    max_tokens=4096,
    betas=["skills-2025-10-02"],  # Enable skills beta
    container={
        "skills": [
            {"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "pptx", "version": "latest"},
            {"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "xlsx", "version": "latest"},
            {"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "docx", "version": "latest"},
            {"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "pdf", "version": "latest"},
        ]  # Enable all skills
    },
    messages=[
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": "Create a 3-slide PowerPoint about AI trends"
        }
    ]
)

Integration with Agno Agents

Agno now has native support for Claude Agent Skills! Simply pass the skills parameter to the Claude model:

python
from agno.agent import Agent
from agno.models.anthropic import Claude

# Enable PowerPoint skill
agent = Agent(
    model=Claude(
        id="claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929",
        skills=[{"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "pptx", "version": "latest"}]  # Enable PowerPoint skill
    ),
    instructions=[
        "You are a presentation specialist.",
        "Create professional PowerPoint presentations."
    ],
    markdown=True
)

agent.print_response("Create a sales presentation with 5 slides")

Available Skills: pptx, xlsx, docx, pdf

You can enable multiple skills at once:

python
model=Claude(
    id="claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929",
    skills=[
        {"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "pptx", "version": "latest"},
        {"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "xlsx", "version": "latest"},
        {"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "docx", "version": "latest"},
    ]
)

The framework automatically:

  • Configures the required betas (code-execution-2025-08-25, skills-2025-10-02)
  • Adds the code execution tool
  • Uses the beta API client
  • Sets up the container with skill configurations

Available Examples

1. agent_with_powerpoint.py

Shows how to create an Agno agent specialized in PowerPoint presentations:

  • Business presentation generation
  • Market analysis reports
  • Slide design and formatting

2. agent_with_excel.py

Demonstrates Excel/spreadsheet capabilities:

  • Data analysis and visualization
  • Financial calculations
  • CSV to Excel conversion

3. agent_with_documents.py

Examples for Word and PDF processing:

  • Document creation and editing
  • PDF analysis and extraction
  • Format conversion

4. multi_skill_agent.py

Advanced example combining multiple skills:

  • Complete business workflow (Excel → PowerPoint → PDF)
  • Progressive skill loading
  • Skill orchestration patterns

Features

  • Progressive Disclosure: Skills are loaded only when needed, optimizing token usage
  • Native Code Execution: Skills can execute Python code to create/modify documents
  • File Output: Generated documents are created in execution sandbox (see File Downloads below)
  • Format Support: Full support for PPTX, XLSX, DOCX, and PDF formats
  • Agno Integration: Seamless integration with Agno's agent framework

⚠️ Important: File Downloads

Files created by Agent Skills are NOT automatically saved to your local filesystem.

When Claude creates a document (e.g., .pptx, .xlsx) using Agent Skills, it:

  1. Creates the file in a sandboxed execution environment
  2. Returns a file ID in the tool result
  3. You must download the file separately using the Anthropic Files API

How to Download Files

python
import anthropic

client = anthropic.Anthropic()

# 1. Create document with skills
response = client.beta.messages.create(
    model="claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929",
    max_tokens=4096,
    betas=["code-execution-2025-08-25", "skills-2025-10-02"],
    container={"skills": [{"type": "anthropic", "skill_id": "pptx", "version": "latest"}]},
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Create a presentation..."}],
    tools=[{"type": "code_execution_20250825", "name": "code_execution"}]
)

# 2. Extract file ID from tool results
file_id = None
for block in response.content:
    if block.type == "tool_use" and hasattr(block, "result"):
        # File ID is in the tool result
        file_id = block.result.get("file_id")

# 3. Download the file
if file_id:
    file_content = client.beta.files.download(file_id=file_id)
    with open("presentation.pptx", "wb") as f:
        f.write(file_content)

See test_with_file_download.py for a complete example.

Configuration

Model Requirements

  • Recommended: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929 or later
  • Minimum: claude-3-5-sonnet-20241022
  • Skills require models with code execution capability

Beta Version

Skills require the beta parameter:

python
betas=["skills-2025-10-02"]

Enabling Skills

Specify skills in the container parameter:

python
container={
    "skills": ["pptx"]  # Enable only PowerPoint
    # or
    "skills": ["pptx", "xlsx", "docx", "pdf"]  # Enable all skills
}

Performance Notes

  • Token Usage: Skills use progressive disclosure to minimize token consumption
  • Generation Time: Document creation may take 10-30 seconds depending on complexity
  • File Size: Generated files are typically 50KB-5MB depending on content
  • Concurrency: Skills can be used in parallel for multiple document types

Use Cases

Business Applications

  • Automated report generation (Excel data → PowerPoint presentation)
  • Financial analysis and visualization
  • Contract and proposal creation
  • Meeting notes and documentation

Data Analysis

  • CSV/Excel data visualization
  • Statistical analysis with charts
  • Data transformation and cleaning
  • Interactive dashboards

Document Processing

  • PDF text extraction and analysis
  • Document format conversion
  • Template-based document generation
  • Batch document processing

Education

  • Lecture slide generation
  • Assignment and quiz creation
  • Course material formatting
  • Research paper analysis

Limitations

  • File Size: Large documents (>100MB) may hit token limits
  • Complex Formatting: Some advanced formatting features may not be supported
  • External Resources: Cannot fetch external images or data sources
  • OCR: PDF skill focuses on text extraction, not OCR of scanned documents

Security Notes

  • API Key: Never commit your Anthropic API key to version control
  • File Access: Skills operate in a sandboxed environment
  • Data Privacy: Documents are processed through Anthropic's API
  • Output Validation: Always validate generated documents before production use

Troubleshooting

"Skills not available" Error

  • Ensure you're using the correct beta version: betas=["skills-2025-10-02"]
  • Verify your API key has access to Claude models with skills
  • Check that your account has skills beta access

Code Execution Timeout

  • Reduce document complexity or size
  • Split large operations into smaller tasks
  • Use simpler formatting when possible

File Not Generated

  • Check for errors in the response
  • Verify the code execution completed successfully
  • Ensure proper file paths and permissions

Support

If you encounter any issues or have questions, please:

  1. Check the Anthropic Documentation
  2. Check the Agno documentation
  3. Open an issue on the Agno GitHub repository
  4. Join the Agno community for support

Additional Resources

License

This integration follows the same license as the Agno framework.