How to Import Skills into Claude: Complete Guide

Importing skills into Claude Code means placing SKILL.md files in the right directory. Claude discovers them automatically. Here's every way to do it.

Quick Answer: To import skills into Claude Code, you can download them from a marketplace like Agensi, clone repositories from GitHub, use the built-in plugin browser, create them manually, or copy existing skills from other compatible agents like OpenClaw or Codex CLI. The skills are typically located in ~/.claude/skills/.

From a marketplace (recommended)

Agensi offers security-scanned SKILL.md skills:

1. Browse skills at agensi.io/skills
2. Click Download or Buy
3. Unzip to your skills directory:

unzip skill-name.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

4. Start a new Claude Code session

From GitHub

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

Always read the SKILL.md before installing from GitHub.

From the plugin browser

Type /plugin in any Claude Code session to browse the built-in marketplace. Click a skill to install it.

Manual creation

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/my-skill

Create ~/.claude/skills/my-skill/SKILL.md with:

---
name: my-skill
description: What it does and when to use it.
---

# My Skill

Instructions here.

From another agent

If you have skills installed for OpenClaw or Codex CLI, copy them:

cp -r ~/.openclaw/skills/skill-name ~/.claude/skills/

The SKILL.md format is the same across all compatible agents.

Verifying the import

ls ~/.claude/skills/skill-name/SKILL.md

If the file exists at this path, Claude will find it on the next session.

---

Import security-scanned skills from Agensi.