How to install Agent Skills in Claude Code

Source: Extend Claude with skills, Claude Code docs. Read on 4 October 2026.

Where skills go

The Claude Code docs list these locations:

• Personal skills, for all your projects on this machine: ~/.claude/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md
• Project skills, for sessions in one repository: .claude/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md. The docs suggest committing it so your team gets it too.
• Nested skills in a sub-folder: <subdir>/.claude/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

The docs describe .claude/skills/ only. They do not mention .agents/skills/, so do not rely on that folder in Claude Code.

Install one skill by hand

Using our free repo as the example:

git clone https://github.com/proskillpacks/skills
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -r skills/skills/ecommerce/shopify-policy-checker ~/.claude/skills/

For one project only, copy it into .claude/skills/ inside that project instead.

Or use the npx command

npx skills add proskillpacks/skills -a claude-code

The skills tool's README documents the -a option for choosing a tool, -g for a machine-wide install and --skill <name> for a single skill. Run npx skills add proskillpacks/skills --list to see what is in the repo.

Use it

Ask for the job in plain words. The Claude Code docs say the skill's description helps Claude decide when to load it, and that the folder name becomes a command you can type. See the doc for how skills show up in your version.

Limits

• We read the docs and the folder layout today. We did not test Claude Code itself for this page.
• Start a new session after adding a skill if it does not appear.

Back to all install guides | Browse all skills in the catalog

Free skills and prompts for Claude Code: skills that work with Claude Code.