Active Listening

Q: What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Active Listening skill fit in?

A Claude Code skill is a SKILL.md file that lives under ~/.claude/skills/<name>/ and tells the Claude Code CLI agent how to perform a specific task (instructions, prompts, allowed tools). Skills are auto-discovered at session start. Active Listening is one of 67,000+ skills indexed in the open ClaudSkills catalog, classified under the General category. Learn more at https://claudskills.com/learn/what-is-skill-md/.

Category: General · Sub-category: general-misc · Last updated: 2026-05-21

Active listening techniques for effective communication. Covers attending behaviors, paraphrasing, reflective listening, clarifying questions, empathic response, barriers to listening, listening in conflict, and cross-cultural listening. Use when building listening skills, improving understanding in conversation, mediating disputes, or analyzing communication breakdowns.

Security AStatic scan found no risk patternsHow grading works ›

About this skill (catalog notes)

Active Listening is published as a SKILL.md file in this catalog. The SKILL.md runs to about 1,394 words, in the catalog's typical mid-range.

License: NOASSERTION
Original author: Tibsfox
Indexed lastmod: 2026-05-21
Catalog position: General · general-misc
Indexed related skills: 10

How Active Listening fits the catalog

Active Listening sits in the General category under the general-misc sub-topic in the ClaudSkills catalog. There are 10 related skills indexed alongside it; comparing a few before installing usually reveals which fits your workflow best.

These notes are auto-generated from features detected in the SKILL.md file and from this catalog's structure — they aren't part of the source repository.

From the source SKILL.md

Active listening is the disciplined practice of fully attending to a speaker, processing their message, and responding in ways that demonstrate understanding. It is not passive reception -- it requires deliberate cognitive effort. Carl Rogers introduced the concept in client-centered therapy (1951), and Thomas Gordon operationalized it for everyday communication (1970). The skill is foundational because most communication failures are listening failures: the message was sent, but never received.

What this skill does

Active Listening is a community-contributed Claude Code skill in the general-misc sub-category. It ships as a SKILL.md file that Claude Code auto-discovers under ~/.claude/skills/active-listening/ and loads when your prompt matches the skill's trigger.

When to invoke it: Use when building listening skills, improving understanding in conversation, mediating disputes, or analyzing communication breakdowns.

Who uses this skill

The Active Listening Claude Code skill is built for Claude Code users and developers across all disciplines looking for general-purpose AI assistance. It's part of ClaudSkills (also referred to as Claude Skills or Claude Code Skills) — the open community-curated registry of 115,000+ SKILL.md files for Anthropic's Claude Code agent and the wider Claude ecosystem (Claude API, Claude Agent SDK).

How to install

Free

Manual install (2 steps)

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/active-listening
curl -L https://claudskills.com/skills/active-listening/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/active-listening/SKILL.md

Or just download SKILL.md directly and drop it into ~/.claude/skills/active-listening/. Claude Code auto-discovers it on next session.

Skills live at ~/.claude/skills/active-listening/SKILL.md on macOS/Linux, or %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\active-listening\SKILL.md on Windows. See the full install guide for step-by-step instructions.

📱 Install from your phone or desktop Telegram

Open @claudskills_bot on Telegram, tap Open Desktop App, and the desktop app installs this skill for you. Or share the bot link with a colleague — they get the same one-tap install. Learn more →

Pro

One-click install via the desktop app

The ClaudSkills desktop app installs any skill directly into ~/.claude/skills/ with one click — no terminal required. Pro starts at $9/mo or $149 lifetime.

Pro

For the full experience including quality scoring and one-click install features for each skill — upgrade to Pro.

See pricing → Download desktop app

Frequently asked questions

How do I install the Active Listening Claude Code skill?

Install via the ClaudSkills desktop app (one click) or copy SKILL.md from the source repository to ~/.claude/skills/active-listening/SKILL.md and restart Claude Code. Both flows are detailed at claudskills.com/install/.

What does the Active Listening skill do?

Is this skill free to install?

Yes. ClaudSkills is an open registry — every skill keeps its source repository's license, and manual install via copy is free. ClaudSkills Pro ($9/mo, $79/yr, or $149 one-time) adds one-click install via the desktop app and a multi-signal Quality Score.

When should I use the Active Listening skill?

Use Active Listening when your Claude Code task falls under the General category — specifically in the general misc area. Claude Code auto-discovers installed skills and invokes the right one based on the task description, so you can also ask Claude directly (e.g. "use Active Listening" or describe the task and let Claude pick). Browse related skills at /category/general/.

What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Active Listening skill fit in?

A Claude Code skill is a SKILL.md file that lives under ~/.claude/skills/<name>/ and tells the Claude Code CLI agent how to perform a specific task (instructions, prompts, allowed tools). Skills are auto-discovered at session start. Active Listening is one of 67,000+ skills indexed in the open ClaudSkills catalog, classified under the General category. Learn more at /learn/what-is-a-claude-skill/.

Attribution & license

Source: https://github.com/Tibsfox/gsd-skill-creator/blob/d0b32b22048d2c43bb03cb3909a01f253c0bcc76/examples/skills/communication/active-listening/SKILL.md
License: NOASSERTION
Author: Tibsfox

Cite this skill

If you reference this skill in a blog post, paper, or documentation, you can cite it as:

APA

Tibsfox. (2026). Active Listening [Claude Code skill]. ClaudSkills. https://claudskills.com/skills/active-listening/

BibTeX

@misc{active-listening-2026,
  author    = {Tibsfox},
  title     = {Active Listening [Claude Code skill]},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {ClaudSkills},
  url       = {https://claudskills.com/skills/active-listening/}
}

Embed this skill

Promote, attribute, or link this skill from your own README, blog post, or documentation. All three snippets are free to use — no sign-up, no API key. More distribution surfaces →

Badge

[![ClaudSkills](https://claudskills.com/badge/active-listening.svg)](https://claudskills.com/skills/active-listening/?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=skill_badge)

Security scan

Grade A · scanned 2026-06-13 — free static scan against the OWASP Agentic Skills Top 10.

No risk patterns were found in any of the ten OWASP-aligned categories. How grading works ›

✓ Prompt injection
✓ Data exfiltration
✓ Supply chain
✓ Reverse shell
✓ Credentials
✓ Execution
✓ Filesystem
✓ Persistence
✓ Obfuscation
✓ Network

Show this grade on your repo (click to copy):

[![Security: A](https://img.shields.io/badge/Security-A-2e7d32)](https://claudskills.com/skills/active-listening/#security)

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Part of ClaudSkills — the open registry for Claude Skills & Claude Code Skills. · What's New · Install guide · About · llms.txt

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