Claude Cowork Extending Capabilities begins with Skill authoring (scope, drift testing, versioning, and publishing to the open standard), then moves into building and shipping plugins with proper permissions, secrets handling, and private enterprise marketplaces. From there students go deep on custom MCPs that mutate state, run async, compose inside plugins, and fail usefully, then graduate to Managed Agents; including multi-agent orchestration, cross-session memory, and outcomes-driven self-improvement. The course closes with a capstone in which students assemble a production-grade IDirectShips stack for a fictional customer. By the end, students will be able to package, harden, and operate reusable Claude Code capabilities across an organization.
Overview
COURSE DIFFICULTY
COURSE DURATION
1h 30m
Skills Learned
After completing this online training course, students will be able to:
Define what a Skill actually is, scope it cleanly, and test it for drift over time
Version and manage Skills across an organization and publish them to the open Skill standard
Build a plugin end to end — anatomy, permissions, secrets, and shipping a first release
Operate a private enterprise marketplace and write plugin documentation that stays accurate
Design custom MCP servers that mutate state safely, run asynchronously, and compose inside plugins
Handle MCP failures explicitly with fail-loud, fail-useful error patterns
Choose between MCP app patterns and plain connectors for a given integration
Promote a plugin into a Managed Agent and apply multi-agent orchestration patterns
Give agents durable memory and cross-session continuity
Apply the Outcomes and Self-Improvement research-preview capabilities to evolve agents over time
Assemble a full production stack in the Rivertown Defense “IDirectShips Stack v1” capstone
Access to Claude Cowork
01. Skill Authoring
- What a Skill Actually Is
- Skill Scope Discipline
- Testing a Skill Against Drift
- Skill Versioning and Org-Wide Management
- Publishing a Skill to the Open Standard
02. Plugin Building
- Anatomy of a Plugin
- Shipping the First Plugin
- Plugin Permissions and Secrets
- Private Enterprise Marketplace
- Plugin Docs That Do Not Lie
03. Custom MCPs at Depth
- MCPs That Mutate State
- Async MCP Patterns
- MCP Composition Inside a Plugin
- MCP Error Handling: Fail Loud, Fail Useful
- MCP App Patterns vs. Plain Connector
04. Managed Agents
- Managed Agents 101
- Multi-Agent Orchestration
- Agent Memory and Cross-Session Continuity
- Outcomes and Self-Improvement
- Capstone Claude Agent
SKILLS LEARNED
Skills Learned
After completing this online training course, students will be able to:
Define what a Skill actually is, scope it cleanly, and test it for drift over time
Version and manage Skills across an organization and publish them to the open Skill standard
Build a plugin end to end — anatomy, permissions, secrets, and shipping a first release
Operate a private enterprise marketplace and write plugin documentation that stays accurate
Design custom MCP servers that mutate state safely, run asynchronously, and compose inside plugins
Handle MCP failures explicitly with fail-loud, fail-useful error patterns
Choose between MCP app patterns and plain connectors for a given integration
Promote a plugin into a Managed Agent and apply multi-agent orchestration patterns
Give agents durable memory and cross-session continuity
Apply the Outcomes and Self-Improvement research-preview capabilities to evolve agents over time
Assemble a full production stack in the Rivertown Defense “IDirectShips Stack v1” capstone
PREREQUISITES
Access to Claude Cowork
COURSE OUTLINE
01. Skill Authoring
- What a Skill Actually Is
- Skill Scope Discipline
- Testing a Skill Against Drift
- Skill Versioning and Org-Wide Management
- Publishing a Skill to the Open Standard
02. Plugin Building
- Anatomy of a Plugin
- Shipping the First Plugin
- Plugin Permissions and Secrets
- Private Enterprise Marketplace
- Plugin Docs That Do Not Lie
03. Custom MCPs at Depth
- MCPs That Mutate State
- Async MCP Patterns
- MCP Composition Inside a Plugin
- MCP Error Handling: Fail Loud, Fail Useful
- MCP App Patterns vs. Plain Connector
04. Managed Agents
- Managed Agents 101
- Multi-Agent Orchestration
- Agent Memory and Cross-Session Continuity
- Outcomes and Self-Improvement
- Capstone Claude Agent
