How to Install Skills in Claude Code: 3 Methods

Claude Code becomes a lot more useful once you start adding skills to it. Skills are packaged instructions that teach Claude how to handle specific tasks, from writing commit messages to reviewing code to generating documentation. The good news is that installing them takes less than a minute.

There are three ways to add skills to Claude Code. This guide walks through each method with step-by-step instructions so you can pick whichever fits your workflow.

Before you start

Make sure Claude Code is installed and working. Open your terminal and run:

claude --version

If you get a version number back, you're good. If not, install Claude Code first by following the instructions at claude.ai/install.

Skills are stored in two places:

• Personal skills go in ~/.claude/skills/ and are available across all your projects
• Project skills go in .claude/skills/ inside a specific repo and are shared with anyone who clones it

Most of the time, you'll install to the personal directory unless you're setting up skills for a team.

Method 1: The plugin marketplace

Claude Code has a built-in plugin system that lets you browse, install, and manage skills without leaving your terminal. This is the fastest method if the skill you want is available as a plugin.

Step 1. Start a Claude Code session in any project:

claude

Step 2. Type /plugin and press Enter. This opens the plugin browser.

Step 3. Navigate to the Discover tab. You'll see a list of available plugins from the default Anthropic marketplace.

Step 4. Find the plugin you want and press Enter to install it. Claude will ask you to choose a scope:

• User installs it for all your projects (~/.claude/skills/)
• Project installs it for the current repo only (.claude/skills/)

Step 5. That's it. The skill is now active. You can invoke it with /skill-name or let Claude load it automatically when it's relevant.

Adding community marketplaces

The default marketplace only has Anthropic's official plugins. To access community skills, add a third-party marketplace:

/plugin marketplace add author/repository

For example, to add a popular community skills collection:

/plugin marketplace add alirezarezvani/claude-skills

After adding a marketplace, its plugins show up in the Discover tab alongside the official ones.

Method 2: Manual file install

If a skill isn't available as a plugin, or if you prefer to manage files yourself, you can install skills by copying them into the right directory. This works for skills downloaded as zip files, cloned from GitHub, or created by hand.

Installing from a zip file

Step 1. Download the skill zip file. On Agensi, click the download button on any skill page.

Step 2. Unzip it into your skills directory:

# Personal install (all projects)
unzip code-reviewer.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

# Project install (current repo only)
unzip code-reviewer.zip -d .claude/skills/

Step 3. Verify the folder structure looks right:

ls ~/.claude/skills/code-reviewer/

You should see at least a SKILL.md file. Some skills also include scripts/, references/, or assets/ folders.

Step 4. Start a new Claude Code session. Claude will automatically detect the new skill.

Installing from GitHub

Step 1. Clone the repository:

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

Step 2. Copy the skill folder (not the whole repo) to your skills directory:

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

If the repo contains multiple skills in subdirectories, copy just the one you want:

cp -r repo-name/skills/code-reviewer ~/.claude/skills/code-reviewer

Step 3. Start a new session and the skill will be available.

Verifying an install

After installing any skill, you can check that Claude recognizes it. Start a session and type:

/skill-name

If the skill loads, you'll see Claude acknowledge it and follow the skill's instructions. If nothing happens, double check that the SKILL.md file is in the right location and that the folder is directly inside ~/.claude/skills/ (not nested an extra level deep).

Method 3: Download from Agensi

Agensi is a marketplace for curated, security-reviewed SKILL.md skills. Every skill goes through an automated 8-point security scan before it goes live, so you know what you're installing has been inspected.

Step 1. Browse skills at agensi.io/skills. Filter by category, price, or popularity.

Step 2. Click on a skill to see its detail page. Check the description, tags, and security scan results.

Step 3. Click Download (for free skills) or Buy (for paid skills). You'll get a zip file.

Step 4. Unzip into your Claude Code skills directory:

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

Step 5. Start a new Claude Code session. Done.

Agensi skills work with Claude Code out of the box, but most are also compatible with Codex CLI, Cursor, Gemini CLI, and other agents that support the SKILL.md format. Check the compatibility info on each skill's page.

Managing your installed skills

Over time you'll accumulate skills. Here are a few useful things to know:

List all installed skills:

ls ~/.claude/skills/

Remove a skill: Just delete its folder.

rm -rf ~/.claude/skills/skill-name

Update a skill: Replace the folder with the new version. If you bought it on Agensi, download the latest version from your dashboard. For GitHub skills, pull the latest changes.

Disable a skill temporarily: Rename the folder to something Claude won't recognize, like adding an underscore prefix:

mv ~/.claude/skills/code-reviewer ~/.claude/skills/_code-reviewer

Rename it back to re-enable.

Which skills to install first

If you're just getting started, here are a few skills that most developers find useful right away:

• git-commit-writer writes conventional commit messages by analyzing your staged changes
• code-reviewer reviews your code for bugs, security issues, and best practices
• pr-description-writer generates clear pull request descriptions from your branch diff
• env-doctor diagnoses why your project won't start

Browse more on the Agensi marketplace or check out the complete guide to SKILL.md if you want to understand how skills work under the hood.