How to Add Skills to Claude

Quick Answer: To add a skill to Claude, drop a SKILL.md file (with optional supporting files) into ~/.claude/skills/SKILL_NAME/. Claude Code, Claude Desktop, and the Claude API all read from this directory. The fastest source: download a ready-made skill ZIP from agensi.io, unzip it, and restart Claude. Verify with /skills.

Adding skills is the single highest-leverage thing you can do with Claude. A well-written SKILL.md turns a one-paragraph prompt into a permanent capability. This guide covers all three Claude surfaces — Code, Desktop, and API — and the four real ways to source skills.

Where Claude looks for skills

All Claude products read from the same location:

~/.claude/skills/
├── code-reviewer/
│   └── SKILL.md
├── git-commit-writer/
│   └── SKILL.md
└── README.md   (optional)

For project-scoped skills committed to a repo, use .claude/skills/ instead.

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Browse all Claude skills

Method 1: Download from Agensi

Go to agensi.io/skills, pick a skill, click Download, then:

unzip code-reviewer.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

Every Agensi skill goes through an 8-point automated security scan before listing.

Method 2: Clone from GitHub

git clone https://github.com/author/skill-name.git ~/.claude/skills/skill-name

GitHub skills are not vetted — read the SKILL.md and any scripts before installing.

Method 3: One-liner curl install

Skip the manual unzip step. From any agensi.io skill page, grab the slug and run:

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && curl -sL https://www.agensi.io/api/install/<slug> | tar xz -C ~/.claude/skills/

The command creates the skills directory if needed, downloads the archive, and unpacks it in one step. Free skills install directly; paid skills require purchase first.

On Windows PowerShell:

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path "$HOME\.claude\skills" | Out-Null
irm https://www.agensi.io/api/install/<slug> -OutFile skill.tar.gz; tar -xzf skill.tar.gz -C "$HOME\.claude\skills"; del skill.tar.gz

Method 4: Write your own

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/my-skill
cat > ~/.claude/skills/my-skill/SKILL.md <<'EOF'
---
name: my-skill
description: One-sentence description of what this does and when to use it.
---

# My Skill

Instructions for Claude here.
EOF

Comparison: where each method shines

Verify the install

Inside Claude Code, run /skills. The list shows every loaded skill with name and description. Press t to sort by token cost.

Common mistakes

• Putting SKILL.md directly in ~/.claude/skills/ instead of inside a named folder
• Tabs in the YAML frontmatter (must be spaces)
• Forgetting to restart Claude Code after dropping in a new skill folder
• Identical description fields across two skills — Claude can't tell them apart

What's next

• How to install skills in Claude Code — full installation methods
• SKILL.md format reference — every frontmatter field
• Where are Claude skills stored? — paths across OS and surfaces