Ask Archivist

Q: What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Ask Archivist 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. Ask Archivist is one of 67,000+ skills indexed in the open ClaudSkills catalog, classified under the Engineering category. Learn more at https://claudskills.com/learn/what-is-skill-md/.

Category: Engineering · Sub-category: performance · Last updated: 2026-08-01

ai:claude

Consult a local mirror of Anthropic's official docs for authoritative answers about Claude Code (CLI flags, non-interactive mode, hooks, MCP, subagents, slash commands, skills, plugins, CLAUDE.md, sandboxing, worktrees, checkpointing, statusline, settings.json, agent teams), the Claude Agent SDK (agents, tools, state, streaming, managed agents), and the Claude API (messages, tool use, prompt caching, files, batch, citations, extended thinking, vision, pricing, rate limits, endpoints). Use whenever the user asks how anything in Claude's ecosystem works or behaves — features, flags, parameters, limits, configuration — including casual phrasing, French, typos, and questions that don't explicitly say "check docs". Also triggers on "does X support Y / can I do Z / what's the diff between A and B / how do I configure …" and on complaints about Claude Code behavior the user wants to change. Deterministic Grep + full-file Read over the local mirror — never training data. Cites paths and source URLs.

Security AStatic scan found no risk patternsHow grading works ›

About this skill (catalog notes)

Ask Archivist includes pricing or quota commentary; at least one code block. The SKILL.md runs to about 1,302 words, in the catalog's typical mid-range.

Source: coroboros.com
License: MIT
Original author: coroboros
Indexed lastmod: 2026-08-01
Catalog position: Engineering · performance
Indexed related skills: 10

How Ask Archivist fits the catalog

Ask Archivist sits in the Engineering category under the performance 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.

Is Ask Archivist safe to install?

A free static scan against the OWASP Agentic Skills Top 10 found no risk patterns in Ask Archivist’s SKILL.md — no data-exfiltration, prompt-injection, or unexpected-execution signatures. The full security scan is below.

Installing & verifying

Installing Ask Archivist writes its SKILL.md to ~/.claude/skills/ask-archivist/SKILL.md; Claude Code discovers it automatically on the next session — no restart flag needed. It declares no allowed-tools restriction, so it inherits your session’s existing tool access rather than narrowing it. To confirm it loaded, ask Claude to list its available skills — ask-archivist should appear by name.

What Ask Archivist needs to run

External services: The SKILL.md references pricing, quota, or rate limits — it likely calls a paid or rate-limited API. Check the source before wiring it into unattended automation.
Worked code: 3 copy-paste code blocks in the body.
Depth: ~1,302 words, typical mid-range depth.

When to reach for it

There are 10 related skills in Engineering — a two-minute scan of the alternatives usually confirms whether Ask Archivist is the right pick.

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

Answer questions about Claude Code, the Claude Agent SDK, and the Claude API using a local, auto-updated mirror of the official Anthropic documentation. Deterministic Grep + full-file Read, never RAG, never training data.

What this skill does

Ask Archivist is a community-contributed Claude Code skill in the performance sub-category. It ships as a SKILL.md file that Claude Code auto-discovers under ~/.claude/skills/ask-archivist/ and loads when your prompt matches the skill's trigger.

When to invoke it: Use whenever the user asks how anything in Claude's ecosystem works or behaves — features, flags, parameters, limits, configuration — including casual phrasing, French, typos, and questions that don't explicitly say "check docs". Also triggers on "does X support Y / can I do Z / what's the diff between A and B / how do I configure …" and on complaints about Claude Code behavior the user wants to change.

Who uses this skill

The Ask Archivist Claude Code skill is built for software engineers, backend developers, full-stack teams, and technical leads building and maintaining production systems. It's part of ClaudSkills (also referred to as Claude Skills or Claude Code Skills) — the open community-curated registry of 186,000+ 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/ask-archivist
curl -L https://claudskills.com/skills/ask-archivist/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/ask-archivist/SKILL.md

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

Skills live at ~/.claude/skills/ask-archivist/SKILL.md on macOS/Linux, or %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\ask-archivist\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 Ask Archivist Claude Code skill?

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

What does the Ask Archivist 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 Ask Archivist skill?

Use Ask Archivist when your Claude Code task falls under the Engineering category — specifically in the performance 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 Ask Archivist" or describe the task and let Claude pick). Browse related skills at /category/engineering/.

What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Ask Archivist 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. Ask Archivist is one of 67,000+ skills indexed in the open ClaudSkills catalog, classified under the Engineering category. Learn more at /learn/what-is-a-claude-skill/.

Attribution & license

Source: https://github.com/coroboros/archivist/blob/HEAD/claude/skills/ask-archivist/SKILL.md
License: MIT
Author: coroboros
Website: https://coroboros.com

Cite this skill

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

APA

coroboros. (2026). Ask Archivist [Claude Code skill]. ClaudSkills. https://claudskills.com/skills/ask-archivist/

BibTeX

@misc{ask-archivist-2026,
  author    = {coroboros},
  title     = {Ask Archivist [Claude Code skill]},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {ClaudSkills},
  url       = {https://claudskills.com/skills/ask-archivist/}
}

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/ask-archivist.svg)](https://claudskills.com/skills/ask-archivist/?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=readme&utm_campaign=skill_badge)

Security scan

Grade A · scanned 2026-08-15 — 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/ask-archivist/#security)

More Engineering skills

Browse all Engineering skills in the ClaudSkills registry, or explore these other picks from the same category:

Browse all Engineering skills → Top 100 skills

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

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