Where Are Claude Code Skills Stored on Windows? Complete Setup Guide

Setting up SKILL.md skills on Windows works differently than macOS or Linux. The paths, commands, and common issues are all Windows-specific. This guide covers everything from finding your skills folder to troubleshooting common Windows problems.

Quick Answer: On Windows, Claude Code stores skills in C:\Users\<your-username>\.claude\skills\. If you're using WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux), the path is ~/.claude/skills/ inside your WSL distribution. Drop your SKILL.md file into a subfolder inside the skills directory and Claude Code loads it automatically on the next session.

Where is the skills folder on Windows?

The default skills directory on Windows is inside your user profile folder. Open File Explorer and navigate to C:\Users\<your-username>\.claude\skills\. If the .claude folder doesn't exist yet, you haven't run Claude Code on this machine or it hasn't created the directory. Run Claude Code once and it will create the folder structure automatically.

If you prefer using the command line, open PowerShell or Command Prompt and run explorer %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills to open the folder directly.

Each skill lives in its own subfolder. A skill called "code-reviewer" would be at C:\Users\<your-username>\.claude\skills\code-reviewer\SKILL.md.

How do I install a skill on Windows?

Download the skill zip file from Agensi or GitHub. Right-click the zip and select "Extract All" or use a tool like 7-Zip. Move the extracted folder into C:\Users\<your-username>\.claude\skills\. Make sure the folder structure is correct: the SKILL.md file should be at the root of the skill folder, not nested inside an extra directory.

Correct structure:

.claude\skills\code-reviewer\SKILL.md
.claude\skills\code-reviewer\references\patterns.md

Wrong structure (double-nested):

.claude\skills\code-reviewer\code-reviewer\SKILL.md

If you downloaded from GitHub, the zip often creates a double-nested folder. Move the inner folder up one level so SKILL.md is directly inside .claude\skills\<skill-name>\.

What about WSL?

If you run Claude Code inside WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux), the skills folder is at ~/.claude/skills/ inside your WSL distribution, not in the Windows filesystem. These are two separate file systems.

To install a skill in WSL, open your WSL terminal and run:

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cd ~/.claude/skills
# unzip your skill here

If you downloaded the skill zip on the Windows side, you can access it from WSL at /mnt/c/Users/<your-username>/Downloads/. Copy it into the WSL skills folder:

cp /mnt/c/Users/<username>/Downloads/code-reviewer.zip ~/.claude/skills/
cd ~/.claude/skills && unzip code-reviewer.zip

Skills installed in WSL are only available when running Claude Code from WSL. Skills installed in the Windows path are only available when running Claude Code from PowerShell or Command Prompt.

Common Windows issues

The .claude folder is hidden. Windows hides folders that start with a dot by default. In File Explorer, click "View" in the top menu and check "Hidden items" to make it visible.

Path separators. Windows uses backslashes (\) in file paths but SKILL.md files should use forward slashes (/) when referencing internal files like references/patterns.md. Claude Code handles the translation automatically, but if you're writing a skill on Windows, use forward slashes in the SKILL.md content.

Line endings. Windows uses CRLF line endings while macOS and Linux use LF. Most of the time this doesn't matter, but if a skill includes bash scripts, those scripts need LF line endings to work correctly. Open the script in VS Code and check the bottom-right corner for "CRLF" — click it and switch to "LF" if needed.

Antivirus blocking. Some antivirus software flags the .claude folder or skill scripts as suspicious. If skills aren't loading, check your antivirus quarantine. You may need to add an exception for C:\Users\<your-username>\.claude\.

OneDrive syncing. If your user profile folder is synced to OneDrive, the .claude folder might also sync, which can cause file locking issues. Either exclude .claude from OneDrive sync or move the skills folder to a non-synced location.

How do I verify skills are loaded on Windows?

Start a new Claude Code session from PowerShell or Command Prompt. Ask Claude Code "what skills do you have available?" and it should list all installed skills by name. If a skill doesn't appear, check that the SKILL.md file is in the correct path and that the YAML frontmatter is valid.

You can also check the skill count by running dir /B %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills in Command Prompt. Each subdirectory is a skill.

Do skills from Agensi work on Windows?

Yes. Every skill on Agensi works on Windows, macOS, and Linux. The SKILL.md format is cross-platform because the instructions are plain English markdown that the agent reads and follows. The only platform-specific considerations are file paths (covered above) and any helper scripts included with the skill, which may need adjustments for Windows (most skill creators include notes about this).

Browse skills at agensi.io/skills. Every skill passes an 8-point security scan before publication.

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For the general (non-Windows) setup guide, see How to Install Skills in Claude Code.