You installed TherapistTasksAI. You opened Claude Desktop. You typed something like "Write a therapy progress note" — and Claude gave you a decent but generic answer. No expert framework. No structured output. No sign that TherapistTasksAI 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 TherapistTasksAI 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.

TherapistTasksAI 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 "Write a therapy progress note" 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 TherapistTasksAI 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 Therapists, counselors, social workers, and mental health professionals.

❌ Without the prefix

"Write a therapy progress note"

✅ With the prefix

"Use TherapistTasksAI to Write a therapy progress note"

Same intent. Completely different result. The first gets Claude's best general effort. The second invokes your 200+-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 — TherapistTasksAI finds the right one automatically. Just describe what you need:

Use TherapistTasksAI to Write a therapy progress note
Use TherapistTasksAI to Draft a treatment plan summary
Use TherapistTasksAI to Prepare an insurance medical necessity letter
Use TherapistTasksAI to Create a client intake packet
Use TherapistTasksAI to Write a safety plan
Use TherapistTasksAI to search for tasks I can run today
Use TherapistTasksAI to show me what categories are available
Use TherapistTasksAI to check my balance

That last one is useful when you're exploring. TherapistTasksAI will return a full list of skill categories so you can see the full range of what's available across all 200+ frameworks.

You never need to know the task name. Describe what you're working on in plain language. TherapistTasksAI 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 TherapistTasksAI isn't there.

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

Full walkthrough with screenshots: Why TherapistTasksAI 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 TherapistTasksAI Project

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

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

Every conversation you start inside that Project will automatically invoke TherapistTasksAI — 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 TherapistTasksAI 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 TherapistTasksAI to show me all available categories

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

If you haven't set up TherapistTasksAI 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.