5 Claude Code skills that will change how you build
From Matt Pocock's video · 5 min read
Using Claude Code without structured workflows often means getting mediocre results. Matt Pocock shares five reusable "skills" and commands that steer Claude with process-driven prompts, that dramatically sharpen the quality of AI-generated code.
01 /grill-me
Before writing a single line of code, this skill has Claude interrogate you about your requirements. It surfaces assumptions you didn't know you were making and produces a far clearer brief — making every downstream step sharper.
02 /write-a-prd
Turns a rough idea into a proper Product Requirements Document. Having Claude produce a PRD first grounds the entire session in a shared spec, reducing drift and vague outputs later in the process.
03 /prd-to-issues
Breaks down the PRD into discrete, actionable GitHub issues. This transforms abstract requirements into a concrete, trackable work list — and keeps Claude (and you) focused on one thing at a time.
04 /tdd
Enforces test-driven development by having Claude write tests before implementation. The tests act as a specification that constrains the generated code, catching regressions automatically and producing more trustworthy output.
05 /improve-codebase-architecture
A dedicated refactoring pass that asks Claude to look at the big picture — identifying structural problems, proposing better abstractions, and keeping the codebase maintainable as it grows.
The key insight: LLMs excel when given clear process constraints. Each skill adds a guardrail that keeps Claude on-task and pushes outputs from "good enough" to production-ready.
These skills are available on Matt's site, and he's running a full Claude Code for Real Engineers course for engineers who want to build process-driven AI workflows.
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