AI Tutorials

Guides for working with AI tools, APIs, and development workflows.

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How to Implement a Skill into Claude

A skill is a reusable slash command for Claude Code, shared as a Markdown file. This tutorial shows you how to take a skill someone else created and make it available in your own Claude Code environment.

What You Need

• Claude Code installed and authenticated
• The skill's .md file (shared by a colleague, found in a repo, or downloaded)

Step 1: Locate the Right Directory

Claude Code looks for skills in two places:

• Project-level — .claude/commands/ inside your project folder. The skill is only available when working in that project.
• User-level — ~/.claude/commands/ in your home directory. The skill is available in every project on your machine.

Choose project-level if the skill is specific to one codebase. Choose user-level if you want it everywhere.

Step 2: Create the Directory if It Doesn't Exist

For a project-level skill:

mkdir -p .claude/commands

For a user-level skill:

mkdir -p ~/.claude/commands

Step 3: Copy the Skill File

Place the .md file you received into the correct directory. The filename determines the slash command name — review.md becomes /review, explain.md becomes /explain, and so on.

Example — copying a shared skill called security-review.md:

cp ~/Downloads/security-review.md .claude/commands/

If the skill came from a Git repository, you can copy it directly:

cp path/to/other-repo/.claude/commands/security-review.md .claude/commands/

Step 4: Verify the Skill is Available

Open a Claude Code session in your project and start typing the slash command name. Claude Code will show tab-completion suggestions for all available skills. If you see the skill listed, it is ready to use.

Type the command to invoke it:

/security-review

If the skill file uses $ARGUMENTS, pass them after the command name:

/explain the retry logic in src/client.js

Step 5: Keep Skills Up to Date

If the skill was shared from a team repository, the easiest way to stay current is to commit the .claude/commands/ folder to your own project and pull updates as the original author revises them.

If you received the file directly, just replace it with the newer version when the author sends an update:

cp ~/Downloads/security-review-v2.md .claude/commands/security-review.md

Troubleshooting

• Skill not appearing in tab-completion — make sure the file has a .md extension and is in the correct commands/ directory. Restart the Claude Code session if needed.
• Command runs but ignores part of the prompt — some skills use $ARGUMENTS. If you typed the command without arguments and the skill expects them, try adding text after the command name.
• Conflicting skill names — if a project-level and user-level skill share the same filename, the project-level one takes priority.

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