Claude Code: Skills

Claude Code supports AI skills. See that page for the common format, authoring example, skill collections, and workflow examples. This page covers Claude Code’s setup and invocation behavior; the official documentation is the reference.

Where skills load#

Personal skills are available across local projects. Project skills are stored in the repository and can be shared with the team. Plugins can also supply skills.

Using skills#

Claude can load a skill automatically when it is relevant. You can also invoke one directly with /skill-name, such as /math. Use /skills to inspect available skills.

Claude Code adds invocation controls to the shared format:

• disable-model-invocation: true: require direct user invocation.
• user-invocable: false: let Claude use the skill while hiding it from the user’s command menu.

Installing skills from a plugin marketplace#

Adding a marketplace registers its catalog. Installing a plugin is a separate step. For example, the Anthropic skills repository documents:

/plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills
/plugin install document-skills@anthropic-agent-skills

Use /plugin to browse and manage plugins. Enabled plugins can be configured in ~/.claude/settings.json or the project’s .claude/settings.json:

{
  "enabledPlugins": {
    "document-skills@anthropic-agent-skills": true,
    "example-skills@anthropic-agent-skills": true
  }
}

Claude Code collections, plugins, and configurations#

• anthropics/claude-for-legal—Anthropic’s plugin suite for legal workflows (commercial, corporate, privacy, employment, IP, litigation, regulatory, AI governance, law-student/clinic)
• yy/claude-scholar—academic research tools (arXiv, OpenAlex, LaTeX, math verification, pre-submission checks). See Claude Scholar.
• K-Dense-AI/claude-scientific-skills - Scientific skills for research
• travisvn/awesome-claude-skills
• ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills
• JuliusBrussee/caveman—skill that cuts ~65% of tokens by making Claude respond in compressed “caveman” speak
• affaan-m/everything-claude-code—full agent-harness config (skills, instincts, memory, security) spanning Claude Code, Codex, Opencode, and Cursor