What are skills?

A skill teaches Claude how to do something once. Then, Claude then applies that knowledge automatically whenever it's relevant. Browse all courses and learn more: claude.com/resources/courses

Feb 26, 20262mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Skills teach Claude once, automating repeated preferences and standards tasks

Skills are reusable markdown-based instructions that prevent you from repeatedly re-explaining standards like PR review structure or commit message formats.
Claude Code selects skills automatically by matching your request against each skill’s name and description, then loading only the relevant ones.
Skills can be stored as personal defaults in `~/.claude/skills` or shared as project/team standards in a repo’s `.claude/skills` directory.
Skills differ from `Claude.md` (always-loaded global guidance) and slash commands (manual invocation) by being task-specific and auto-activated while conserving context.
Skills are best suited for specialized, recurring workflows such as code review checklists, documentation styles, and organizational brand guidelines.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Turn repeated explanations into a skill.

If you keep reminding Claude about formats or standards (e.g., PR review structure), capture it once in a skill so it’s applied automatically when relevant.

Write strong skill descriptions to improve activation.

Claude decides whether to use a skill based on its description, so clear, task-oriented wording increases the chance it triggers for the right requests.

Use personal skills for your preferences; project skills for shared norms.

Put individual defaults like explanation style in `~/.claude/skills`, and team-wide standards in the repo’s `.claude/skills` so they travel with the codebase.

Reserve `Claude.md` for always-on rules and principles.

Global constraints (e.g., “always use TypeScript strict mode”) belong in `Claude.md` because it loads every conversation, unlike skills which load only when needed.

Prefer skills over slash commands for automatic workflows.

Slash commands require manual typing each time, while skills activate implicitly when Claude recognizes the situation, reducing friction for recurring tasks.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

Every time you explain your team's coding standards to Claude, you're repeating yourself.

— Unknown

A skill is a markdown file that teaches Claude how to do something once, and Claude applies that knowledge automatically whenever it's relevant.

— Unknown

Skills are unique because they're automatic and task specific.

— Unknown

Skills, on the other hand, load on demand when they match your request.

— Unknown

If you find yourself explaining the same thing to Claude repeatedly, well, that's a skill waiting to be written.

— Unknown

Definition of skills (markdown instruction files)Automatic skill activation via description matchingPersonal vs project skill storage locationsContext-window efficiency (on-demand loading)Comparison: Skills vs `Claude.md` vs slash commandsTeam standards and reusable workflowsExamples: PR reviews, commits, docs, brand guidelines

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