MATLAB Skills for Claude

A community-driven collection of Claude Skills for MATLAB development. Skills are specialized instruction sets that extend Claude's capabilities for specific tasks, automatically activating when needed.

What are Skills?

Skills are modular, portable capabilities that work across all Claude platforms:

• Composable: Skills stack together automatically when needed
• Portable: Write once, use everywhere (Claude.ai, Claude Desktop, Claude Code, API)
• Efficient: Only load when relevant to your current task
• Powerful: Combine instructions with executable code for reliable results

Available Skills

🔬 MATLAB Live Script Generator

Skill ID: matlab-live-script

Creates properly formatted MATLAB plain text Live Scripts (.m files) with rich text documentation, equations, and visualizations. Automatically handles:

• Correct section formatting with %[text] markers
• LaTeX equation rendering with double backslashes
• Bulleted lists with proper termination
• Required appendix formatting
• Plot and figure management
• Code and documentation integration

When it activates: Creating MATLAB scripts, educational content, Live Scripts, or .m files with documentation.

✅ MATLAB Test Generator

Skill ID: matlab-test-generator

Creates comprehensive unit tests using the MATLAB Testing Framework. Generates test classes, test methods, and test suites following best practices:

• Class-based test structure with matlab.unittest.TestCase
• Proper test method naming and organization
• Comprehensive assertion methods (verifyEqual, verifyError, etc.)
• Parameterized tests for data-driven testing
• Setup and teardown methods for test fixtures
• Test tagging and selective execution
• Mock objects and performance testing

When it activates: Generating test files, test cases, unit tests, test suites, or when testing MATLAB code is requested.

⚡ MATLAB Performance Optimizer

Skill ID: matlab-performance-optimizer

Optimizes MATLAB code for better performance through vectorization, memory management, and profiling guidance:

• Vectorization of loops and operations
• Array preallocation strategies
• Memory optimization techniques (data types, sparse matrices)
• Profiling and benchmarking workflows
• Built-in function usage over manual implementations
• Parallel computing with parfor and GPU arrays
• Algorithm-specific optimizations
• Performance pitfall identification

When it activates: User requests optimization, mentions slow code, performance issues, speed improvements, or asks to make code faster or more efficient.

🌐 MATLAB uihtml App Builder

Skill ID: matlab-uihtml-app-builder

Builds interactive web applications using HTML/JavaScript interfaces with MATLAB computational backends via the uihtml component:

• Bidirectional HTML-MATLAB communication patterns
• Event handling and data transfer strategies
• Security and input validation best practices
• Complete working examples (calculator, visualizer, forms)
• Modern UI design with CSS styling
• Error handling and debugging techniques
• Performance optimization for web apps
• Testing strategies for HTML/MATLAB integration

When it activates: Creating HTML-based MATLAB apps, JavaScript MATLAB interfaces, web UIs, interactive GUIs, or when user mentions uihtml, HTML, JavaScript, web apps, or web interfaces.

Installation & Usage

Claude Code (CLI)

Recommended: Install all skills together as a plugin:

/plugin install github:matlab/skills

This installs all MATLAB skills (matlab-live-script, matlab-test-generator, matlab-performance-optimizer, matlab-uihtml-app-builder) in one command. Skills automatically activate when Claude detects relevant tasks.

Alternative: Manually install to your personal skills directory:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/matlab/skills.git

# Copy all skills to your Claude skills directory
cp -r skills/skills/* ~/.claude/skills/

Once installed, just ask Claude to "create a MATLAB Live Script" or "optimize this code" and the appropriate skill will load automatically.

Claude.ai (Web)

Skills are available to Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise users. Each skill must be uploaded separately as a ZIP file.

Uploading Skills:

1. Navigate to Settings → Capabilities
2. Enable Skills (Team/Enterprise admins must enable organization-wide first)
3. Click Upload Skill for each skill you want to add

Creating ZIP Files:

Each skill requires a ZIP file with SKILL.md at the root level:

# Navigate to the skills directory
cd skills

# Create ZIP for each skill
zip -r matlab-live-script.zip matlab-live-script/SKILL.md
zip -r matlab-test-generator.zip matlab-test-generator/SKILL.md
zip -r matlab-performance-optimizer.zip matlab-performance-optimizer/SKILL.md
zip -r matlab-uihtml-app-builder.zip matlab-uihtml-app-builder/SKILL.md

Upload all ZIP files to get the complete MATLAB skills collection. Skills work transparently - Claude automatically uses them when appropriate.

Claude Desktop

Each skill must be uploaded separately as a ZIP file.

Uploading Skills:

1. Open Settings → Capabilities
2. Enable the Skills feature
3. Click Upload Skill for each skill you want to add

Creating ZIP Files:

Each skill requires a ZIP file with SKILL.md at the root level:

# Navigate to the skills directory
cd skills

# Create ZIP for each skill
zip -r matlab-live-script.zip matlab-live-script/SKILL.md
zip -r matlab-test-generator.zip matlab-test-generator/SKILL.md
zip -r matlab-performance-optimizer.zip matlab-performance-optimizer/SKILL.md
zip -r matlab-uihtml-app-builder.zip matlab-uihtml-app-builder/SKILL.md

Upload all ZIP files to get the complete MATLAB skills collection. Skills integrate seamlessly with your desktop workflow.

Claude API

Use the Skills API for programmatic control:

import anthropic

client = anthropic.Anthropic(api_key="your-api-key")

response = client.messages.create(
    model="claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929",
    max_tokens=4096,
    skills=["matlab-live-script"],
    messages=[
        {"role": "user", "content": "Create a Live Script showing Fourier transforms"}
    ]
)

Requirements:

• Skills API access (see API documentation)
• Code Execution Tool beta enabled

Repository Structure

skills/
├── .claude-plugin/
│   └── plugin.json                 # Plugin manifest for Claude Code
├── skills/
│   ├── matlab-live-script/         # Live Script generation skill
│   │   └── SKILL.md
│   ├── matlab-test-generator/      # Unit testing skill
│   │   └── SKILL.md
│   ├── matlab-performance-optimizer/  # Performance optimization skill
│   │   └── SKILL.md
│   └── matlab-uihtml-app-builder/  # HTML/JavaScript app builder skill
│       └── SKILL.md
├── README.md                       # This file
├── CONTRIBUTING.md                 # Contribution guidelines
└── LICENSE                         # MathWorks BSD-3-Clause License

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Whether you want to:

• Add new MATLAB skills (code generation, debugging, testing, etc.)
• Improve existing skills
• Fix bugs or typos
• Suggest enhancements

Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for detailed guidelines.

Quick Start for Contributors

1. Fork this repository
2. Create a new skill directory: skills/your-skill-name/
3. Add a SKILL.md file with proper frontmatter
4. Test thoroughly with Claude Code
5. Submit a pull request

Skill Development Resources

• Official Skills Documentation
• Agent Skills Specification
• Anthropic Skills Repository
• Claude Code Plugin Guide

Related Projects

• matlab/prompts - AI coding prompts for MATLAB development
• anthropics/skills - Official Anthropic skills repository

License

This project is licensed under the MathWorks BSD-3-Clause License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Copyright (c) 2025, The MathWorks, Inc. All rights reserved.

Community

• Issues: Report bugs or request features via GitHub Issues
• Discussions: Share ideas and ask questions in MATLAB Central GenAI Discussions Channel

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Note: Skills require Claude models with Code Execution Tool support. Feature availability may vary by plan and platform.