Getting Started with Claude Code Skills

Claude Code skills are reusable prompts and workflows that extend Claude’s capabilities for specific tasks. This guide will teach you everything you need to know to get started.

What Are Skills?

Skills are markdown files with a specific structure that Claude Code can read and execute. They live in your ~/.claude/skills/ directory.

~/.claude/
├── skills/
│   ├── my-skill/
│   │   ├── SKILL.md          # Main skill file
│   │   └── references/       # Optional supporting files
│   └── another-skill/
│       └── SKILL.md

Skill Architecture

Here’s how skills work in the Claude Code ecosystem:

flowchart TD
    A[User Request] --> B{Skill Match?}
    B -->|Yes| C[Load SKILL.md]
    B -->|No| D[Direct Response]
    C --> E[Parse Frontmatter]
    E --> F[Execute Skill Logic]
    F --> G[Return Result]
    D --> G

Creating Your First Skill

Let’s create a simple skill that helps format code reviews.

Step 1: Create the Directory

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/code-reviewer

Step 2: Create SKILL.md

---
name: code-reviewer
description: Reviews code for best practices and suggests improvements
triggers:
  - review this code
  - code review
  - check my code
---

# Code Reviewer Skill

When reviewing code, I will:

1. Check for security vulnerabilities
2. Identify performance issues
3. Suggest readability improvements
4. Verify error handling

## Review Format

For each issue found, I'll provide:
- **Location**: File and line number
- **Severity**: Low/Medium/High
- **Issue**: Description of the problem
- **Fix**: Suggested solution

Step 3: Test Your Skill

Open Claude Code and try:

/code-reviewer

Please review this function:

function processUser(data) {
  const query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = " + data.id;
  return database.execute(query);
}

The skill will identify the SQL injection vulnerability and suggest using parameterized queries instead.

Best Practices

Keep Skills Focused

Each skill should do one thing well. Instead of a monolithic “do-everything” skill, create focused skills:

❌ Don’t	✅ Do
all-in-one-helper	code-reviewer
	test-generator
	doc-writer

Use Progressive Disclosure

Load complex resources only when needed:

## Quick Reference
[Basic usage info here - always loaded]

## Advanced Usage
For advanced patterns, see: `references/advanced.md`

Include Examples

Always provide example invocations:

## Examples

**Example 1: Basic review**
> /code-reviewer check my Python function

**Example 2: Specific focus**
> /code-reviewer focus on security for this API endpoint

Installing Skills from SkillzWave

Browse our marketplace to find skills created by the community. To install:

1. Find a skill you like
2. Click “Install”
3. Follow the installation instructions
4. The skill will be available in your Claude Code sessions

Next Steps

• Explore our Skills Marketplace with 41,000+ skills
• Read about Advanced Skill Patterns
• Submit your own skill to share with the community

Happy skill building!