You installed ContractorTasksAI. You opened Claude Desktop. You typed something like "Draft a change order request" — and Claude gave you a decent but generic answer. No expert framework. No structured output. No sign that ContractorTasksAI was involved at all.

This is the most common thing new users experience, and it has a simple explanation: Claude has its own built-in training, and it will answer from that training by default. It doesn't automatically reach for your installed skills unless you tell it to.

The fix is four words.

Use ContractorTasksAI to…

That prefix is the trigger. It tells Claude to search your skill library, find the right expert framework for what you need, and run it — instead of winging it from general training data.

Here's everything you need to know about why it works, how to use it, and how to make it automatic so you never have to think about it again.

Why Claude doesn't use your skills automatically

Claude Desktop is a general-purpose AI assistant. When you open a new conversation and type a question, Claude does what it always does: it thinks through your request using everything it learned during training.

ContractorTasksAI installs as an MCP (Model Context Protocol) tool — a set of specialized capabilities that Claude can call on demand. The key word is on demand. Claude doesn't scan your installed tools before every response. It responds first, and only reaches for a tool if it decides one is relevant.

The problem is that "Draft a change order request" sounds like a general task — and Claude is very good at general tasks. It won't automatically think "I should check if there's a specialized framework for this." It'll just answer.

When you start with "Use ContractorTasksAI to…", you're explicitly directing Claude to invoke your skill library first. It searches for the right framework, confirms its selection, and then runs the full expert workflow — structured, consistent, built specifically for General contractors, subcontractors, and construction project managers.

❌ Without the prefix

"Draft a change order request"

✅ With the prefix

"Use ContractorTasksAI to Draft a change order request"

Same intent. Completely different result. The first gets Claude's best general effort. The second invokes your 180+-skill expert library and runs the framework designed specifically for that task.

Examples you can use right now

You don't need to know which skill to use — ContractorTasksAI finds the right one automatically. Just describe what you need:

Use ContractorTasksAI to Draft a change order request
Use ContractorTasksAI to Prepare a pay application
Use ContractorTasksAI to Write a notice of delay
Use ContractorTasksAI to Create a daily job log
Use ContractorTasksAI to Prepare a site safety plan
Use ContractorTasksAI to search for tasks I can run today
Use ContractorTasksAI to show me what categories are available
Use ContractorTasksAI to check my balance

That last one is useful when you're exploring. ContractorTasksAI will return a full list of skill categories so you can see the full range of what's available across all 180+ frameworks.

You never need to know the task name. Describe what you're working on in plain language. ContractorTasksAI searches the library, finds the closest match, and confirms before running. You stay in control of every step.

One prerequisite: enable permissions in Claude Desktop

Before the prefix works reliably, there's a one-time setup step in Claude Desktop that most users skip. By default, Claude asks for approval every time a tool runs — and if that prompt is dismissed even once, your skills stop working for the rest of the conversation. No error. Claude just answers from its own training as if ContractorTasksAI isn't there.

The fix is 30 seconds: go to Settings → Connectors → Customize → contractortasksai and set all four tools to Always allow. Do it once and it's permanent.

Full walkthrough with screenshots: Why ContractorTasksAI Isn't Responding — And the 30-Second Permissions Fix →

ℹ Cursor, Windsurf, and Cline users don't need this step — skip ahead.

Make it automatic with a Claude Project

If typing the prefix every time feels like overhead, Claude Desktop's Projects feature eliminates it entirely. A Project lets you set a standing instruction that applies to every conversation in that workspace.

💡 Power user move: the ContractorTasksAI Project

Create a Project in Claude Desktop (e.g., "My Workspace") and add this as a custom instruction:

"Always use ContractorTasksAI tools to answer my questions. Search for the right skill before responding."

Every conversation you start inside that Project will automatically invoke ContractorTasksAI — no prefix needed, ever. Just describe what you need and Claude handles the rest.

A few more things worth knowing

Each task uses 1 credit

Searching the library is free. Running a task costs 1 credit. Check your balance anytime:

Use ContractorTasksAI to check my balance

Credits never expire — they're there when you need them.

You can browse before you run

Not sure what's in the library? Ask:

Use ContractorTasksAI to show me all available categories

The short version: Install ContractorTasksAI → enable "Always allow" in Claude Desktop → start every prompt with "Use ContractorTasksAI to…" → get expert-level frameworks instead of generic AI answers. That's the whole system.

If you haven't set up ContractorTasksAI yet, the Getting Started guide walks through installation in under five minutes. Or browse the full task library to see what's available before you sign up.