Where are Claude Code skills stored?
A skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file and, optionally, scripts and reference files next to it. Claude Code looks for these folders in several places:
~/.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.mdYou, in every projectProject.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.mdEveryone who clones the repoSubfolder<subdir>/.claude/skills/Work inside that part of a monorepoPlugin<plugin>/skills/<name>/SKILL.mdWhile the plugin is enabledOrganizationadmin-managed directoryEveryone in the companyThe .agents/skills path that Codex, Cursor and Copilot read is not mentioned in the Claude Code docs. If several agents need the same skill, keep a copy in .claude/skills.
Method 1: copy the folder
The most transparent option, because you see every file you install.
git clone https://github.com/OWNER/REPO /tmp/REPO mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills cp -r /tmp/REPO/skills/skill-name ~/.claude/skills/
If the current session does not see it, start a new one. The folder name must match the name field in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Method 2: /plugin and a marketplace
Many skill repos are packaged as plugin marketplaces with a .claude-plugin/marketplace.json at the root. Inside Claude Code that is two commands:
/plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills /plugin install plugin-name@marketplace-name
The marketplace.json in anthropics/skills lists five plugin bundles. Plugin skills are namespaced, so two skills with the same name from different plugins do not collide. More in our Claude Code plugins guide.
Method 3: npx skills add
The vercel-labs/skills installer (36,354 stars on 24 October 2026) pulls skills from any GitHub repo and drops them into the right folder for your agent. It needs Node.js 22.20 or later.
npx skills add OWNER/REPO -a claude-code npx skills add OWNER/REPO --skill skill-name -a claude-code npx skills add OWNER/REPO -a claude-code -g
Without -g the skill goes to the project .claude/skills/; with -g it goes to ~/.claude/skills/. Use npx skills list, npx skills update and npx skills remove to manage what you installed.
Method 4: gh skill install
GitHub CLI 2.90.0 and later can install skills directly (public preview). It targets Copilot by default, so pass the agent flag for Claude Code:
gh skill install OWNER/REPO skill-name --agent claude-code --scope user
Handy if gh is already installed and logged in. You can pin a version with --pin.
Method 5: skills in claude.ai
In the Claude web app you upload a skill as a zip under Settings → Features. Skills do not sync between claude.ai, the API and Claude Code, so a skill uploaded in the browser will not appear in your terminal. claude.ai is also stricter: it accepts only the six fields of the open standard (name, description, license, compatibility, metadata, allowed-tools) and rejects anything else. See how to write a SKILL.md.
How Claude Code picks a skill, and why it sometimes does not
Only the skill list sits in context: name and description. The body of SKILL.md loads when you type /skill-name or when Claude decides the task matches the description. The list has a budget of 1 % of the context window, and description plus when_to_use is cut at 1,536 characters. If a skill never fires on its own, the description is almost always too vague.
Old slash commands in .claude/commands/*.md have been merged into skills: both create /name, and the old files keep working.
Read SKILL.md and any bundled scripts before installing someone else's skill. GitHub warns in its own docs that skills are not verified and may contain prompt injection. Check allowed-tools and anything that touches the network. Vetted options are in our Claude Code skills picks.
