The brand-guidelines skill: a model for your own brand skill

Source: anthropics/skills · Maintainer: Anthropic · License: Apache 2.0 · Checked: 24 October 2026

What is the brand-guidelines skill?

The brand-guidelines skill tells an agent exactly which colors and fonts to use so that slides, documents and other artifacts match Anthropic's visual identity. For most developers, its real value is as a template: a short, complete example of how to write a brand skill for your own company.

Its description in the SKILL.md reads: "Applies Anthropic's official brand colors and typography to any sort of artifact that may benefit from having Anthropic's look-and-feel."

It lives in Anthropic's anthropics/skills repo, whose README lists "creating documents with your company's brand guidelines" as an example of what skills are for. The skill's skills.sh page listed 109.0K installs (snapshot, 24 October 2026).

What does the brand-guidelines skill do?

The description says to use it "when brand colors or style guidelines, visual formatting, or company design standards apply." The SKILL.md also carries a keyword line (branding, corporate identity, brand colors, typography and similar) that helps it match those requests.

Once loaded, it gives the agent a fixed palette and type system.

Colors

Typography

• Headings (24pt and larger): Poppins, falling back to Arial.
• Body text: Lora, falling back to Georgia.

Rules for applying them

• Pick text color based on the background so it stays readable.
• Keep the existing text hierarchy and formatting.
• Color non-text shapes with the accents, cycling through orange, blue and green.
• Use RGB values for exact color matching. The SKILL.md says this is "Applied via python-pptx's RGBColor class," which points at PowerPoint as the main target.

What is in the folder?

Just two files: SKILL.md and LICENSE.txt (Apache 2.0). There are no scripts, font files or templates. The "Smart Font Application" and "Color Application" sections describe behavior, and the agent carries it out by writing its own code for the file it's styling.

How do you install the brand-guidelines skill?

Three documented routes. Pick one per agent.

Claude Code plugin. The anthropics/skills README registers the repo as a plugin marketplace. In a Claude Code session:

/plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills
/plugin install example-skills@anthropic-agent-skills

That installs the whole example-skills set (12 skills in the repo's marketplace file), including theme-factory and canvas-design. Plugin skills are namespaced, so this one appears as /example-skills:brand-guidelines. See Claude Code plugins.

The skills CLI. To install only this skill, use the command from its skills.sh page:

npx skills add https://github.com/anthropics/skills --skill brand-guidelines

The skills CLI README says it installs into the current project by default; add -g for all projects or -a claude-code to target Claude Code. The folder lands in .claude/skills/brand-guidelines/ or ~/.claude/skills/brand-guidelines/, the Claude Code skill locations. Codex and Cursor read the same SKILL.md format; see Codex skills and Cursor skills.

Claude.ai. The README says the example skills "are all already available to paid plans in Claude.ai." To upload your own edited copy, the help article on using skills in Claude says to package the folder as a ZIP and add it under Customize, Skills, with code execution turned on. Its list of common upload errors includes a folder name that doesn't match the skill name, so rename both together.

How do you use it?

Ask for on-brand output and the agent should load it. Some prompts that fit (suggestions, not quotes from the repo):

• "Make a five-slide summary of this doc using the brand guidelines."
• "Restyle this deck so the headings use the brand font and the charts use the accent colors."
• "Create a one-page PDF handout in our brand style."
• "Check this HTML page against the brand palette and list anything off-brand."

How do you turn it into your own brand skill?

This is the most common reason to read it. The structure carries over directly:

1. Copy the folder and rename it, for example acme-brand. Set name: acme-brand in the frontmatter so it matches the folder.
2. Rewrite the description with your company name and the same trigger phrases: brand colors, style guidelines, company design standards.
3. Replace the color table with your palette, keeping a role and a use for each color.
4. Replace the fonts and fallbacks, and keep the size rule if you have one.
5. Add the rules your designers repeat most: logo clear space, which accent goes on charts, what never to do.

The guide to how to write a SKILL.md covers frontmatter limits and descriptions in more detail.

Requirements

Install Poppins and Lora where files are rendered for the intended look; otherwise the agent uses Arial and Georgia. For PowerPoint output, the agent needs a way to write .pptx files, such as python-pptx, which the SKILL.md references, or the pptx skill.

Tips and limits

• It is Anthropic's brand, not yours. Using it unchanged gives your work Anthropic's look. The skill's Apache 2.0 license states it "does not grant permission to use the trade names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor," so treat it as a pattern, not permission to brand things as Anthropic.
• No logo or imagery rules. The skill covers colors and type only. If your brand needs logos or photography rules, add them in your own version.
• Short is a feature. The whole SKILL.md is about 2 KB, so it costs little context when it loads. Keep your version similarly tight.
• Pair it with a file skill. It styles; it doesn't create files. Combine it with pptx or docx for Office files.
• Status and audits. Anthropic's README calls the example skills "provided for demonstration and educational purposes only." As of 24 October 2026, the skills.sh page showed Pass from Gen Agent Trust Hub, Socket and Snyk.

Save it in your Kipt library

A brand skill is one you will edit, so it helps to keep it somewhere you control. In Kipt, open Skills and paste the skill's GitHub folder link into the import box; Kipt reads the SKILL.md and its files, and for a repo with many skills it shows a list to pick from. You can also drop the folder or a .zip, which is handy once you have your own edited copy. Your skills live in your own private GitHub repo and install into Claude Code or Codex with one command:

npx skills add https://github.com/<you>/<repo>.git --all -g

Kipt is not affiliated with Anthropic.

Similar skills

• theme-factory skill: ten preset themes when you have no fixed brand.
• canvas-design skill: posters and art pieces as PDF or PNG.
• frontend-design skill: design direction for web interfaces, which a brand skill can sit alongside.
• Claude skills examples: more SKILL.md patterns to learn from.