Down Skilling

Q: What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Down Skilling 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. Down Skilling 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: 2026-06-13

Distill Opus-level reasoning into optimized instructions for Haiku 4.5 (and Sonnet). Generates explicit, procedural prompts with n-shot examples that maximize smaller model performance on a given task. Use when user says "down-skill", "distill for Haiku", "optimize for Haiku", "make this work on Haiku", "generate Haiku instructions", or needs to delegate a task to a smaller model with high reliability.

From the source SKILL.md

Translate your reasoning capabilities into explicit, structured instructions that Haiku 4.5 can execute reliably. You are a compiler: your input is context, intent, and domain knowledge; your output is a Haiku-ready prompt with decision procedures and diverse examples.

What this skill does

Down Skilling 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/down-skilling/ and loads when your prompt matches the skill's trigger.

When to invoke it: Use when user says "down-skill", "distill for Haiku", "optimize for Haiku", "make this work on Haiku", "generate Haiku instructions", or needs to delegate a task to a smaller model with high reliability.

Who uses this skill

The Down Skilling 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 119,000+ 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/down-skilling
curl -L https://claudskills.com/skills/down-skilling/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/down-skilling/SKILL.md

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

Skills live at ~/.claude/skills/down-skilling/SKILL.md on macOS/Linux, or %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\down-skilling\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 Down Skilling Claude Code skill?

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

What does the Down Skilling 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 Down Skilling skill?

Use Down Skilling 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 Down Skilling" or describe the task and let Claude pick). Browse related skills at /category/general/.

What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Down Skilling 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. Down Skilling 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/oaustegard/claude-skills/blob/HEAD/down-skilling/SKILL.md
License: MIT
Author: oaustegard
Website: https://austegard.com/ai-tools/claude-skill-releases.html

Cite this skill

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

APA

oaustegard. (2026). Down Skilling [Claude Code skill]. ClaudSkills. https://claudskills.com/skills/down-skilling/

BibTeX

@misc{down-skilling-2026,
  author    = {oaustegard},
  title     = {Down Skilling [Claude Code skill]},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {ClaudSkills},
  url       = {https://claudskills.com/skills/down-skilling/}
}

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

More General skills

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

Browse all General skills → Top 100 skills

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

Part of Acreator Store — Adam Lankamer's AI tools: PerfectStudio · Ucaption · UTagger · AutoXPoster · TestYourSkills · AutomationFlows · Au Naturel · Telegram @acreatorstore