Explain This

Q: What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Explain This 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. Explain This 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

Explain whatever the user is pointing at right now in plain language: a pending question, a piece of code, an error, a command output, or an artifact like a plan or findings report. Use when the user asks to \"explain this\", \"what am I being asked\", \"what's happening right now\", \"help me understand this\", \"what does this mean\", \"what does this error mean\", \"what is this code doing\", or \"what do these options mean\".

Security AStatic scan found no risk patternsHow grading works ›

From the source SKILL.md

Take whatever the user is pointing at and translate it into plain language. "This" is usually the most recent assistant output or something pasted as an argument: a multi-option prompt, a free-form question, a code block, an error, a command output, or an artifact like a plan, findings report, or diff.

What this skill does

Explain This 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/explain-this/ and loads when your prompt matches the skill's trigger.

When to invoke it: Use when the user asks to \"explain this\", \"what am I being asked\", \"what's happening right now\", \"help me understand this\", \"what does this mean\", \"what does this error mean\", \"what is this code doing\", or \"what do these options mean\".

Who uses this skill

The Explain This 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 146,000+ 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/explain-this
curl -L https://claudskills.com/skills/explain-this/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/explain-this/SKILL.md

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

Skills live at ~/.claude/skills/explain-this/SKILL.md on macOS/Linux, or %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\explain-this\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 Explain This Claude Code skill?

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

What does the Explain This 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 Explain This skill?

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

What is a Claude Code skill and how does the Explain This 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. Explain This 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/tobihagemann/turbo/blob/HEAD/claude/skills/explain-this/SKILL.md
License: MIT
Author: tobihagemann

Cite this skill

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

APA

tobihagemann. (2026). Explain This [Claude Code skill]. ClaudSkills. https://claudskills.com/skills/explain-this/

BibTeX

@misc{explain-this-2026,
  author    = {tobihagemann},
  title     = {Explain This [Claude Code skill]},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {ClaudSkills},
  url       = {https://claudskills.com/skills/explain-this/}
}

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

Security scan

Grade A · scanned 2026-07-06 — 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/explain-this/#security)

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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

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