How to Install Claude Skills

What is a Claude skill?

A Claude skill is a single Markdown file — SKILL.md — that gives Claude specialised instructions for a domain: security audits, SEO analysis, sales prospecting, content generation, code review, and so on. The file has YAML frontmatter (name, description, optional tools) followed by the prompt body.

Claude Code automatically discovers every SKILL.md in your skills directory at startup and exposes them as slash commands. Skills are plain text — not executable code — so installing one means dropping a Markdown file in the right folder.

Where Claude skills live on your computer

Claude Code looks for skills in a single root folder, with one sub-folder per skill:

The folder name (the slug) becomes the slash command. A skill at ~/.claude/skills/seo-audit/SKILL.md is invoked as /seo-audit.

Step 1 — Pick a skill

Browse claudskills.com or jump to a category:

• Security · Engineering · Growth · Sales
• Content · Science · Product · Tools

Or skim our curated top 100. When you've picked a skill, copy its slug from the URL — for example, seo-audit from claudskills.com/skills/seo-audit/.

Step 2 — Install — three methods

claude skills install <slug>

# macOS / Linux
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/<slug>
curl -L https://claudskills.com/skills/<slug>/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/<slug>/SKILL.md

git clone https://github.com/kinkyb/claudskills ~/claudskills-mirror
ln -s ~/claudskills-mirror/skills/<slug> ~/.claude/skills/<slug>

Step 3 — Verify the install

1. Fully quit Claude Code (don't just close the window — Claude Code scans skills only at startup).
2. Reopen Claude Code in the directory you want to use the skill in.
3. Type / — your new skill should appear in the slash-command auto-complete list as /{slug}.
4. Or run /help to list every available skill.

If the skill shows up, you're done. If it doesn't, jump to troubleshooting.

Troubleshooting

Skill doesn't appear in /help

• Wrong path: confirm the file is at ~/.claude/skills/{slug}/SKILL.md exactly. The folder name must be the slug; the file name must be capital-S SKILL.md.
• Stale process: fully quit Claude Code (cmd-Q on macOS) and relaunch. Closing the window isn't enough.
• Frontmatter: open the SKILL.md and check the YAML block at the top has at least name: and description: fields. Missing frontmatter makes Claude Code skip the file silently.

Permission denied on ~/.claude/skills/

chmod -R u+rw ~/.claude/skills/

If ~/.claude/ doesn't exist yet, Claude Code creates it on first launch. Run Claude Code at least once before installing skills manually.

Skill runs but produces unexpected output

Read the SKILL.md body — every skill in our catalog is open and human-readable. The "Trigger on" or "When to use" section at the top tells you the intended invocation pattern.

FAQ

Where do Claude Code skills live on my computer?

macOS / Linux: ~/.claude/skills/{slug}/SKILL.md. Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\{slug}\SKILL.md. One folder per skill, named after its slug.

Do I need to restart Claude Code after installing?

Yes — Claude Code scans the skills folder only at startup. Quit fully and relaunch.

Are ClaudSkills installs free?

Browsing and manual install are 100% free, forever. The Pro tier ($9/month or $79/year) and Lifetime ($149) unlock one-click install in the desktop app, curated theme packs, and a weekly digest of new skills.

Can I trust skills mined from random GitHub repos?

Every skill is AI-scored 0–100; only Tier A (≥70) is published. Always read the SKILL.md before running — skills are plain Markdown, not executable code, so the entire instruction set is auditable in seconds.

How do I uninstall a skill?

Delete the folder at ~/.claude/skills/{slug}/ and restart Claude Code. The desktop app has an uninstall button on every skill detail panel.

Do skills work in the Claude API or only Claude Code?

SKILL.md is a Claude Code convention. The same instructions can be loaded as system prompts via the Claude API or Agent SDK, but the auto-discovery and slash-command surface are Claude Code features.