Claude, Buyer List.

Someone new to Claude might ask how the buyer list app finds buyers on its own. The video's answer is that it is not an app at all. It is a Claude Skill, a folder of instructions that Claude reads first. Using the buyer list skill as a concrete example, the video shows what is inside such a folder and how Claude executes it, in a little over a minute.

The question: app or skill?

The video opens with the common assumption that a tool like buyer list runs by itself, finding buyers the way an application would. It corrects this right away. What is actually happening is that Claude reads a set of written instructions and then acts on them. The rest of the video is about how that works and why it is more predictable than it sounds.

A skill is a folder

A skill is a folder that Claude reads before it works. In this case the folder is buyer list, and the SKILL.md file inside holds the full instruction set. It is written in plain language, with no hidden logic. Claude reads the file and then acts. The video puts it simply: the file is the program. If you want to know what the skill will do, you read the page.

The pipeline: read, execute, return

The pipeline sits in the steps section of the file. Claude reads each step in order and executes it. The flow is linear, with no branching unless a step says so. There is no secret layer deciding things behind the scenes; the sequence on the page is the sequence Claude carries out.

What the page says, exactly

The buyer list skill is described as a specification written as an instruction set. Its stated job is to build and organize a universe of potential acquirers for sell-side M&A, to spot strategic and financial buyers, and to prioritize outreach. Because Claude follows exactly what is written, the result is the same every run. It also means the skill only covers what the page says. Anything the instructions leave out is not part of what the skill does.

What a skill does and does not do

The carry-out is short. A skill does not make Claude smarter. It makes Claude follow your steps in order, every time. That is the value: repeatability and transparency, rather than new intelligence.

Key takeaways

• Buyer list is not an app; it is a Claude Skill.
• A skill is a folder of instructions that Claude reads before it works.
• The SKILL.md file holds the full instruction set in plain language, with no hidden logic.
• Claude reads each step in order and executes it, with no branching unless a step says so.
• The buyer list skill is aimed at building a universe of potential acquirers for sell-side M&A, covering strategic and financial buyers and prioritizing outreach.
• Because Claude follows exactly what is written, the result is the same every run.
• A skill only covers what its page says, and it does not make Claude smarter.

Try it yourself

Paste a prompt into Claude asking it to explain what a Claude Skill is. Then tell it you have written a three-step SKILL.md for making coffee, and ask it to walk you through exactly how it would read and follow that file, step by step, before it starts. Watching it name the steps before it begins is what shows you the mechanism is real. If you want to look at the real thing, the buyer list skill is the one the video draws on.