A skill is a folder with a SKILL.md inside that describes how to do something the way you want it done — your deploy steps, your brand voice, your spreadsheet format. Claude notices when a skill applies and follows it, without you having to paste the instructions each time — and this applies everywhere Claude works, including the everyday Claude Desktop chat. Using a skill is invisible; authoring one means writing a small file, so creating and sharing skills is a Power-Track / team-setup task. Save it, share it, and everyone's Claude does it your way.
A skill is a folder with a SKILL.md at its root. The top of that file carries a
short description — and that description is the whole trick. Claude reads it,
notices when your current task matches, and pulls the skill’s instructions in on
its own. You never have to say “use the deploy skill”; you just ask to deploy, and
the steps you wrote once are already in hand.
That’s the line between a skill and a slash command: a command runs when you call it, a skill applies when it’s relevant. Reach for a skill when there’s a right way to do something — your release checklist, your brand voice, the exact shape your reports take — and you want Claude to follow it every time without being reminded.
A SKILL.md can be as small as a few lines of instruction, or it can point at
example files, scripts, and templates that live beside it in the folder. Because
it’s just files, you commit it to the repo like anything else — and from then on
every teammate’s Claude does the thing your way, with nothing to copy and paste.
Generator
Scaffold a skill
Name it, say when Claude should reach for it, and copy out a SKILL.md to drop in .claude/skills/.
Toggle a few options to build your file.
why it helps Capture an expert's process once; everyone benefits from it forever.
examples- Write a skill for know-how Claude should apply automatically when relevant — not on command.
- Capture an expert's process once (your deploy steps, your tone) so the whole team inherits it.
- Commit skills to the repo and everyone's Claude does the thing your way, with no copy-paste.
Questions people ask
- What's the difference between a skill and a slash command?
- A slash command runs when you call it; a skill applies on its own when Claude notices the task matches. Use a command for an action you trigger, and a skill for a way of working you want followed every time without being reminded.
- Do I need to know how to code to write a skill?
- No code, but you do write a small file. A skill is a folder with a `SKILL.md` describing how you want something done in plain language — your brand voice, your report format, your deploy steps. Because it means creating and sharing files, authoring a skill is a Power-Track / team-setup task; *using* one is invisible and happens automatically, including in Claude Desktop.
- How does Claude know when to use a skill?
- It reads the short description at the top of each `SKILL.md` and matches it against your current task. When the task fits, Claude pulls the skill's instructions in automatically — you never have to name it, and it works the same in Claude Desktop as in the terminal.
- Can my whole team share a skill?
- Yes. Because a skill is just files, you commit it to the repo like anything else, and from then on every teammate's Claude follows the same playbook with nothing to copy and paste — whether they work in Claude Desktop or the terminal.