Use your first AI skill in 5 minutes
AI assistants can browse the web, read your files, and work in your Notion — but nobody tells you how to switch that on. Here is the entire foundation, once, in plain language.
- 1An app that supports skills
The easiest is Claude Desktop (free download, Mac & Windows). If you already use Claude Code, Cursor, or VS Code, those work too — every skill page here has a tab for each.
- 2The one-time foundation (only for local skills)
Skills come in two kinds. Hosted skills (Notion, GitHub) need nothing — you paste a URL into your app and sign in with your browser. Local skills (browser automation, files on your computer) run on your machine and need Node.js installed once (free, two clicks, like any other program). Every local skill reuses it — you never do this twice.
- 3A recipe — not a manual
Don't start from documentation. Pick a recipe for something you actually want done — it walks you from install to the exact prompt to paste, and tells you what you should see when it works.
Good first recipes
- · Connect your AI to Notion — zero install, just a browser sign-in (~3 min)
- · Give your AI a long-term memory — simplest local skill, no API key (~4 min)
- · Let your AI browse the web — the most impressive one (~5 min)