What are Claude skills?
Claude skills are reusable instruction sets — SKILL.md files — that teach Claude Code and other Claude-powered agents how to do a specific task, installed with one command so the agent picks up the capability automatically.
A skill is expertise written down in a form Claude can load on demand. Instead of re-explaining how you want code reviewed, tests written or a PR raised every time, you install the skill once and Claude follows those instructions whenever the matching task comes up. Each skill is a SKILL.md file — a short description of when to use it plus the steps to follow — sometimes bundled with helper scripts or templates.
Skills are narrow and composable on purpose: a repo often ships dozens of small, single-purpose skills rather than one giant prompt, and the agent pulls in only the ones relevant to what you're doing. Good skills are opinionated about the task, the output format, and the mistakes to avoid.
They install through the skills CLI in seconds and work across any skills-compatible agent, so the same skill improves Claude Code, Cursor and others alike. This directory ranks them by real install counts and GitHub activity so you can see which are actually being used.
Popular skills
All Skills →Type
- find-skillsHelps users discover and install agent skills when they ask questions like "how do I do X", "find a skill for X", "is there a skill that can...", or express…Jul 2026
- grill-meA relentless interview to sharpen a plan or design.Jul 2026
- agent-browserBrowser automation CLI for AI agents. Use when the user needs to interact with websites, including navigating pages, filling forms, clicking buttons, taking…Jul 2026
- react-best-practicesReact and Next.js performance optimization guidelines from Vercel Engineering.Jul 2026
- grill-with-docsA relentless interview to sharpen a plan or design, which also creates docs (ADR's and glossary) as we go.Jul 2026
- improve-codebase-architectureScan a codebase for deepening opportunities, present them as a visual HTML report, then grill through whichever one you pick.Jul 2026
FAQ
How do I use Claude skills?
Find a skill here, copy its install command, and run it. Claude loads the SKILL.md automatically and applies it whenever the task fits — no extra prompting.
Are Claude skills free?
The vast majority are open-source and free to install. Each listing shows the license and links to the source repo.
What's the difference between a skill and a plugin?
A skill teaches one task. A plugin bundles several skills, subagents, hooks and MCP servers into a single installable package.