Claude Projects vs Skills vs Agents: Key Differences Explained

Many people I train already use Claude Projects every day. When they hear about Skills and agents, it can be confusing. Are these three terms for the same thing? Do you need all of them?

The short answer: A Project is what Claude knows. A Skill is how Claude performs a task. An agent is Claude doing the work.

The video below explains this in 90 seconds. The rest of this article provides the details, a comparison table, and three questions for your own classes.

Projects, Skills, and Agents explained in 90 seconds with English narration and captions.

One picture: running a workshop for a client

Imagine you are preparing a workshop for a client.

Project = the client folder. This contains everything about the client: the brief, the agenda, and your instructions. Open it whenever you work on them.
Skill = your method. This is how you always complete a task, such as turning session notes into a recap. You use this method for every client.
Agent = an assistant who does the work. You hand over a job to it. It plans the steps, uses your files and tools, and reports back.

What is a Claude Project?

A Project is a separate workspace with its own chat history and knowledge base. You can upload documents to the project's knowledge and provide instructions to tailor Claude's answers. Anthropic describes Projects as static background knowledge that is always loaded when you start a chat inside them.

In practice: create one Project per client, per course, or per topic you revisit often. Every chat within that Project starts with the same context. This means you stop pasting the same brief repeatedly.

What is a Claude Skill?

A Skill is a folder containing instructions, scripts, and resources that Claude loads for specific tasks. Anthropic compares creating a Skill to putting together an onboarding guide for a new hire.

Three things make Skills different from Projects:

They load only when needed. Claude reads a short description of each Skill and opens the full instructions only when the task requires them.
They work everywhere. A Skill is not tied to one Project. The same recap method works in any chat or Project.
You can build one by talking to Claude. Describe the task, and Claude's built-in skill creator turns it into a Skill.

Skills are available on the Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans, but code execution must be turned on.

What is an agent in Claude, and what is Cowork?

An agent is Claude performing work rather than just providing answers. Anthropic defines agents as systems where the model directs its own process and tool use. Simply put, you provide a goal, and it plans, acts, checks the result, and continues.

You do not build an agent in the Claude app by clicking a button. Instead, you give Claude a task. This is Claude Cowork: it brings agentic capabilities to knowledge work beyond coding and can handle complex, multi-step tasks instead of answering one prompt at a time.

Cowork is changing. Anthropic's help centre now states that "Claude Cowork is now just Claude": you ask for what you need, and Claude decides whether that is a quick answer or a task. This is rolling out gradually to Pro and Max plans, so some users may still see separate "Chat" and "Cowork" options.

Projects vs Skills vs agents at a glance

	Project	Skill	Agent (Cowork)
In one line	What Claude knows	How Claude does a task	Claude doing the work
Workshop picture	The client folder	Your method	An assistant who does the job
What you set up	Files and instructions	A folder of instructions	A task described in plain words
When it is used	Every chat inside the Project	Only when a task needs it	When you hand over a multi-step job
Where it works	Inside that Project	In any chat or Project	In Claude, using your Projects and Skills

How the three work together

From the client's Project, you ask: "Prepare the follow-up pack for this client." The agent understands the Project's context. It applies your recap Skill to determine the method. Then, it provides you with a follow-up email and a one-page summary.

The Project provides the facts. The Skill provides the method. The agent performs the task.

When should you use which?

Do you need the same context every time? Use a Project.
Do you repeat the same method in many places? Build a Skill.
Do you have a multi-step job you would rather hand off? Give it to the agent.

Three questions to ask your participants

When I teach this, I skip the definitions and ask three questions:

Which topic keeps coming back in your work? That is a Project.
Which task do you redo every week? That is a Skill.
Which job would you love to hand off? That is a task for the agent.

That way, each participant can leave with one Project, one Skill and one task to try.

What may change

This article reflects Anthropic's help centre as of 12 October 2026. Two changes are rolling out. Chat and Cowork are merging into one Claude for Pro and Max plans first. Projects are also being rebuilt in a new beta that starts in Claude Code. The workshop picture still holds: the client folder, your method, and an assistant who does the work.

FAQ

What is the difference between a Claude Project and a Skill?

A Project holds background knowledge for one topic. This information is loaded in every chat within that Project. A Skill holds a method for one task. Claude loads it only when a task needs it, in any chat or Project.

Do I need to build an agent in Claude?

No. There is no button to build an agent in the Claude app. You describe a task, and Claude plans the steps and does the work. Anthropic calls this Claude Cowork.

What is Claude Cowork?

Cowork brings Claude's agentic capabilities to everyday knowledge work. Instead of answering one prompt at a time, it can handle complex, multi-step tasks. Anthropic is now merging it into the normal Claude chat, starting with Pro and Max plans.

Can I use a Skill inside a Project?

Yes. A Skill is not tied to one Project. The same Skill works in any chat or Project, and Claude uses it when the task calls for it.

Are Claude Skills available on the free plan?

Yes. Anthropic lists Skills on the Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans. Code execution must be turned on.

Further learning

Official videos from Anthropic:

Getting started with projects in Claude.ai (7 minutes). At 2:58, see how project knowledge applies to every chat in the Project.
Claude Agent Skills Explained (3 minutes). This explains Skills next to subagents, which is where the confusion usually starts.
Claude Cowork and chat are now one Claude (1 minute). This explains why Cowork is no longer a separate option.

Anthropic help centre and free courses:

Sam Wong (黃力桐) designs and runs AI training for teams and trainers in Hong Kong. This article demonstrates how he explains Projects, Skills, and Agents in class.