How to Install Claude Code Skills (4 Methods, 2026)

You found a skill on GitHub. The README says “just run this one command.” You run it, open Claude Code, ask for a keyword brief, and the skill does nothing. Was it installed? Is it in the wrong folder? Is Claude ignoring it?

This guide answers all of that. It covers the four install methods that work today, how to check a skill actually loaded, how to update and remove skills, what to do when one won’t trigger, and a short security check to run before you install anything. Every command below was checked against the official Claude Code docs and each tool’s own README on 1 November 2026.

If you’re new to the idea, start with what Claude Code skills are. If you’re ready, read on.

The short answer: how to install a Claude Code skill

A Claude Code skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file in it. To install one, you put that folder where Claude Code looks: ~/.claude/skills/ for you on every project, or .claude/skills/ inside one project. You can copy it there by hand, run npx skills add owner/repo, or install a plugin with /plugin install name@marketplace.

That’s the whole idea. The rest of this guide is detail about which route to pick and how to avoid the common traps.

Here are the four methods side by side:

Method	Command	Best for	Updates
Skills CLI	`npx skills add owner/repo`	Grabbing one or a few skills from any GitHub repo	`npx skills update`
Plugin marketplace	`/plugin marketplace add owner/repo` then `/plugin install name@marketplace`	Bundles from Anthropic or authors who ship plugins	Auto-update on official marketplaces, manual elsewhere
Manual copy	`git clone` then copy the folder into `~/.claude/skills/`	Full control, reading every file first	Re-pull and re-copy yourself
Write your own	Create `SKILL.md` by hand	Your own workflows	You edit it

The fourth route gets its own guide: how to build a Claude Code skill.

Takeaway: pick the CLI for loose skills, /plugin for packaged bundles, and manual copy when you want to read everything before it runs.

Personal vs project skills: pick the right folder first

Personal skills live in ~/.claude/skills/ and load in every project on your machine. Project skills live in .claude/skills/ inside a repository and load only there. You can commit project skills to git so your whole team gets them. Decide this before you install, because it changes the command you run.

The official skills documentation lists these locations:

Scope	Path	Who gets it
Personal	`~/.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md`	You, in every project on this machine
Project	`.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md`	Anyone working in that repo
Nested	`<subdir>/.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md`	Sessions working in that subfolder
Plugin	`<plugin>/skills/<name>/SKILL.md`	Wherever the plugin is enabled, called as `/plugin-name:skill-name`
Enterprise	Managed settings directory	Everyone your organisation deploys it to

When to use a personal skill

Use personal scope for skills that follow you, not the project. A copywriting voice skill, a headline checker, or a general SEO audit skill belongs here. If you write for five clients from five folders, you want those skills everywhere.

When to use a project skill

Use project scope when a skill only makes sense for one site or one client. A brand voice skill for a single client, a skill that knows one site’s URL structure, or a publishing checklist tied to one CMS all belong in that project’s .claude/skills/ folder. Commit it, and the next writer who opens the repo gets the same rules.

The docs set a clear order: enterprise beats personal, and personal beats project. So if you have a personal seo-audit skill and the project also has one, yours runs. Plugin skills don’t clash because they’re namespaced, so /marketing:seo-audit and your own /seo-audit can both exist.

Takeaway: personal for your habits, project for a client’s rules. If a skill behaves oddly, check that a same-named personal skill isn’t overriding it.

Method 1: install skills with `npx skills add`

The skills CLI from Vercel Labs (github.com/vercel-labs/skills) installs skills from any GitHub repo with one command: npx skills add owner/repo. Add -a claude-code to target Claude Code and -g to install globally (personal scope) instead of into the current project.

You need Node.js installed, since npx ships with it. Then run the command from your project folder (for project scope) or anywhere with -g (for personal scope).

The commands you will use

# See what's in a repo before installing anything
npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills --list

# Install everything from the repo into this project, for Claude Code
npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills -a claude-code

# Install only the skills you want
npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills --skill cro copywriting

# Install globally (personal scope, every project)
npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills -g -a claude-code

The --list, --skill and -a claude-code forms above come straight from the marketingskills README. The -g flag is documented in the vercel-labs/skills README.

The other subcommands

Command	What it does
`npx skills find [query]`	Search for skills
`npx skills list`	Show installed skills
`npx skills check`	Check for available updates
`npx skills update [skills...]`	Update installed skills
`npx skills remove [skills...]`	Remove installed skills
`npx skills init [name]`	Create a skill template

One thing to know: the CLI collects anonymous telemetry and runs security-audit requests. Its README says you can turn both off with DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 or DO_NOT_TRACK=1.

Why start with `--list`

Big repos ship dozens of skills. Installing all of them puts every name and description into Claude’s skill listing, and the docs say that listing has a character budget (more on that in troubleshooting). Installing three skills you’ll use beats installing forty you won’t.

Takeaway: --list first, --skill second, -g only for skills you want everywhere.

Method 2: install skills from a plugin marketplace with `/plugin`

A plugin is a package that can hold skills, agents, hooks and MCP servers. Inside Claude Code, run /plugin marketplace add owner/repo to register a catalog, then /plugin install plugin-name@marketplace-name to open the plugin’s details, review what it adds, and choose a scope.

Anthropic’s official marketplace, claude-plugins-official, is added for you the first time you start an interactive terminal session. Anything else needs the marketplace step first.

Step by step

Start Claude Code in your project with claude.
Add the marketplace, for example: /plugin marketplace add AgriciDaniel/claude-seo
Run the install: /plugin install claude-seo@agricidaniel-claude-seo
Read the details pane. It shows what the plugin will install: commands, agents, skills, hooks, MCP and LSP servers.
Pick a scope: user (every project), project (everyone in the repo, written to .claude/settings.json), or local (you, this repo only, written to .claude/settings.local.json).
Read the last line of the install summary. “Plugin is now active” means you’re done. “Run /reload-plugins to apply” means run that command.

Running /plugin with no arguments opens the panel on the Discover tab so you can browse and search instead.

From your shell instead

You can do the same thing without opening a session, which is handy in setup scripts:

claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins
claude plugin install marketing@knowledge-work-plugins
claude plugin list

Shell installs default to user scope. Pass --scope project or --scope local to change that.

One project-scope catch

If you install a plugin at project scope and commit .claude/settings.json, the docs note that this turns the plugin on for collaborators but doesn’t download it. Each person still runs claude plugin install <name>@<marketplace> --scope project once.

Takeaway: plugins are the cleanest route for bundles, because the details pane shows you everything before you say yes.

Method 3: install a skill manually by copying the folder

To install a skill by hand, download or clone the repo, find the folder that contains SKILL.md, and copy that whole folder into ~/.claude/skills/ (personal) or .claude/skills/ in your project. Claude Code watches those folders, so the skill shows up in the current session without a restart.

This is the slowest method and the safest one, because you read every file before it lands on your machine.

# 1. Clone the repo somewhere temporary
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills.git /tmp/marketingskills

# 2. Look inside before copying
ls /tmp/marketingskills/skills

# 3. Copy one skill folder to personal scope
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -r /tmp/marketingskills/skills/copywriting ~/.claude/skills/

# Or to project scope
mkdir -p .claude/skills
cp -r /tmp/marketingskills/skills/copywriting .claude/skills/

Folder names inside each repo vary, so check the repo layout in step 2 rather than trusting the paths above blindly.

Rules for a manual install

Copy the folder, not just SKILL.md. Skills often reference scripts or templates next to the file.
The final path must be skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md. One level too deep (skills/repo-name/skills/copywriting/SKILL.md) and it won’t load.
If ~/.claude/skills/ didn’t exist when your session started, run /reload-skills. The docs say live reload only watches folders that existed at startup.

Some repos, such as claude-seo and claude-blog, also ship an install.sh script. Their own READMEs tell you to read the script before running it. Do that.

Takeaway: manual copy is for when you want to see every line. Get the folder depth right and it just works.

Where to get Claude Code skills: free and paid sources

The best free sources are Anthropic’s own repos and marketplaces, plus a handful of large MIT-licensed GitHub repos. Directories like skills.sh help you search. Paid packs exist, mostly sold as one-time downloads of Markdown files, and you should vet them the same way you vet free ones.

Star counts below were pulled from the GitHub API on 1 November 2026. Stars measure attention, not quality, so treat them as a rough signal.

Free: Anthropic’s official sources

Source	Link	Price	Install
Official plugin marketplace	github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-official (45.7k stars)	Free	Pre-added. `/plugin install <name>@claude-plugins-official`
Knowledge-work plugins (includes marketing, sales, design, product-management and more)	github.com/anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins (34.3k stars)	Free	`claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins` then `claude plugin install marketing@knowledge-work-plugins`
Anthropic skills repo	github.com/anthropics/skills (186.2k stars)	Free	`/plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills` then `/plugin install document-skills@anthropic-agent-skills`
Plugin browser	claude.com/plugins	Free	Each listing copies a `claude plugin install` command

Note: the docs say auto-update is on by default for claude-plugins-official but off for knowledge-work-plugins, so update that one yourself.

Free: community GitHub repos for marketers and SEO

Repo	Stars	License	What it is	Install
coreyhaines31/marketingskills	57.8k	MIT	Marketing skills: CRO, copywriting, SEO, analytics, growth	`npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills` or `/plugin marketplace add coreyhaines31/marketingskills` then `/plugin install marketing-skills`
AgriciDaniel/claude-seo	25.4k	MIT	SEO plugin with sub-skills and specialist agents	`/plugin marketplace add AgriciDaniel/claude-seo` then `/plugin install claude-seo@agricidaniel-claude-seo`
AgriciDaniel/claude-blog	2.6k	MIT	Blog writing and optimisation skills	`/plugin marketplace add AgriciDaniel/claude-blog` then `/plugin install claude-blog@agricidaniel-blog`
TheCraigHewitt/seomachine	7.6k	MIT	SEO content workspace you clone and work inside	`git clone https://github.com/TheCraigHewitt/seomachine.git`
alirezarezvani/claude-skills	29.1k	MIT	Large multi-domain library (engineering, marketing and more)	`/plugin marketplace add alirezarezvani/claude-skills` then install a bundle, e.g. `/plugin install engineering-skills@claude-code-skills`
ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills	78.5k	Apache-2.0	Curated list linking to other skills	Browse, then install each skill from its own repo
travisvn/awesome-claude-skills	15.7k	n/a (list)	Curated list	Browse, then install from source
vercel-labs/agent-skills	33.3k	Open source	Vercel’s own skills	`npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills`

For picks by job, see the best Claude Code skills for marketers, Claude Code skills for SEO and skills for copywriters.

Free: directories

Directory	Link	Price	Notes
skills.sh	skills.sh	Pricing not public (browsing is open)	Made by Vercel. Leaderboard ranked by installs and a security audits section. Installs via `npx skills add`
Claude Marketplaces	claudemarketplaces.com	Pricing not public (browsing is open)	Third-party index of skills from public repos

Paid packs

Pack	Link	Price (as listed 1 Nov 2026)	Install
The Ultimate Claude SEO & AEO Skills Pack (Samuel Uebersax)	contra.com/products/fE9zVnna-the-ultimate-claude-seo-and-aeo-skills-pack	$39 (shown down from $79)	Download the `.md` files, then Method 3: copy each skill folder into `~/.claude/skills/`

Claude Skills 360 was left out because its pricing section uses fake urgency.

One honest warning on paid packs: sale prices and “launch” pricing change, so check the page before you buy. A huge skill count is also not a selling point by itself, since every installed skill competes for space in Claude’s skill listing.

Takeaway: start with Anthropic’s marketing plugin and one community repo. Pay only when a pack does something the free ones don’t, and you’ve read a sample.

How to verify a skill is installed

Run /skills inside Claude Code to list the skills it can see. You can also type / to see skills in the command menu, or ask Claude “What skills are available?” For plugins, check the Installed tab in /plugin or run claude plugin list in your shell.

A full check takes under a minute:

Run /skills. Your skill should be in the list. Skills synced from claude.ai appear under their own heading.
Type / and start typing the name. Plugin skills show as /plugin-name:skill-name.
Invoke it directly, for example /copywriting, if it’s user-invocable.
Run /context to see what’s loaded into context.
Run /skill-doctor to see each skill’s context cost and usage.

If the skill appears in /skills but Claude never uses it on its own, it’s installed fine. That’s a triggering problem, covered below.

Takeaway: /skills answers “is it installed?” Invoking it by name answers “does it work?”

How to update Claude Code skills

How you update depends on how you installed. CLI installs update with npx skills update. Plugins from official marketplaces auto-update; others update from the Installed tab in /plugin or with claude plugin update name@marketplace. Manual installs need a fresh pull and copy.

Installed with	Check for updates	Update
`npx skills add`	`npx skills check`	`npx skills update` (or name specific skills)
`/plugin` (official marketplace)	Automatic at session start	Run `/reload-plugins` when prompted, or start a new session
`/plugin` (third-party marketplace)	Off by default	`/plugin` → Installed → Update now, or `claude plugin update <plugin>@<marketplace>`
Whole marketplace	n/a	`/plugin` → Marketplaces → select it → Update marketplace
Manual copy	`git pull` in your clone	Copy the folder over again

You can turn auto-update on for a third-party marketplace: /plugin, Marketplaces tab, select it, Enable auto-update. Think about this before you do. Auto-update means new code from that author runs without you reading it. For a big, active repo you trust, that may be fine. For a small one-person repo, updating by hand gives you a chance to read the diff.

Note that claude plugin marketplace update with no name only refreshes listings. It doesn’t update the plugins you’ve installed.

Takeaway: update on purpose. Read what changed in any skill that runs scripts.

How to uninstall Claude Code skills

Remove CLI installs with npx skills remove skill-name. Remove plugins with /plugin uninstall or claude plugin uninstall name@marketplace. Remove manual installs by deleting the skill’s folder from ~/.claude/skills/ or .claude/skills/.

# Skills CLI
npx skills remove copywriting

# Plugin, from your shell
claude plugin uninstall claude-seo@agricidaniel-claude-seo

# Or just switch it off without removing it
claude plugin disable claude-seo@agricidaniel-claude-seo

# Manual install
rm -rf ~/.claude/skills/copywriting

A few things the docs flag:

Removing a marketplace removes its plugins. /plugin marketplace remove <name> uninstalls every plugin you installed from it.
Project-enabled plugins ask first. If the repo’s .claude/settings.json enables a plugin, uninstall asks whether to disable it just for you (press y) or remove it for everyone (press u).
Dependencies stay behind. Plugins installed as dependencies remain until you run claude plugin prune.
Lost personal skills? Look in ~/.claude/skills/.trash/. The docs say trash entries are cleared after 30 days by default.

Takeaway: disable when you might want it back, uninstall when you’re sure.

Troubleshooting: skills that don’t show up or don’t trigger

If a skill doesn’t appear in /skills, it’s a location or file problem. If it appears but Claude never uses it, it’s a description problem. Fix the first by checking the folder path and the YAML frontmatter. Fix the second by rewriting the description with the words you’d actually type.

It doesn’t appear at all

Symptom	Likely cause	Fix
Not in `/skills` after a manual copy	Folder one level too deep	Path must be `skills/<name>/SKILL.md`
New skills folder ignored	Folder didn’t exist at startup	Run `/reload-skills`
Plugin installed, skills missing	Needs reload, or load failed	Run `/reload-plugins`; check the Errors tab in `/plugin`
Plugin installed but off	Author set it to start disabled	`claude plugin enable <name>`
`/skill-name` not recognised	Name has characters Claude Code refuses	Rename the folder or the `name` field

It appears, but Claude ignores it

This is the problem people raise most on Reddit: the skill is installed, and Claude still does the task its own way.

Claude decides whether to load a skill by reading its description. The official troubleshooting steps are:

Check the description includes keywords you’d naturally say.
Confirm it shows up when you ask “What skills are available?”
Rephrase your request to match the description more closely.
Invoke it directly with /skill-name.

Three less obvious causes:

Broken YAML. If the frontmatter doesn’t parse, the docs say the skill loads with empty metadata. /skill-name still works, but Claude can’t match it automatically. Run claude plugin validate ~/.claude/skills to find bad files.
Too many skills. The skill listing has a budget of about 1% of the model’s context window. When it overflows, descriptions for your least-used skills get dropped. Run /doctor or /skill-doctor, and remove skills you don’t use.
disable-model-invocation: true. That setting means only you can call it. Check the frontmatter.

If you write your own descriptions, put the main use case first. Each skill’s combined description and when_to_use text is cut at 1,536 characters.

Takeaway: “not listed” means path; “listed but ignored” means description.

Security checks before you install a skill

A skill is instructions plus, often, scripts that run on your machine. Before installing, read SKILL.md, look at every script it calls, check its allowed-tools line, check the repo’s activity and license, and prefer plugins whose details pane you can review. Never pipe an install script straight into your shell.

The plugin docs say it plainly: a plugin can run hooks and MCP servers, so read the details pane before installing. Here’s a checklist that works for any source.

The 6-point pre-install checklist

Read SKILL.md in full. It’s plain English. If it tells Claude to send files somewhere, fetch remote instructions, or “ignore previous rules,” don’t install it.
Open every script. Look in scripts/ and anything referenced with ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}. Watch for curl, wget, network calls, and anything touching ~/.ssh, .env or credentials.
Check allowed-tools. This frontmatter field lets the skill use tools without asking you. Bash(python3 *) for a script it ships is reasonable. A blanket Bash grant on a writing skill isn’t.
Check for hooks and MCP servers in plugins. The /plugin details pane lists them under “Will install.”
Check the repo. Recent commits, a license, real issues and a named maintainer are good signs. Stars alone are not.
Read install scripts before running them. The claude-seo README shows the right pattern: download install.sh, run cat install.sh, then run it. The claude-blog README also warns that its uninstall.sh deletes folders recursively.

Two more habits help. Install new skills at project scope in a test folder first, so a bad one can’t touch your other work. And keep auto-update off for small third-party marketplaces, so new code doesn’t arrive unread.

Takeaway: five minutes of reading beats an afternoon of cleanup.

Your install plan, in order

Pick a scope, install one or two skills you’ll use this week, verify with /skills, test by asking for the task in plain words, then add more only when you hit a gap.

Decide: personal (-g / user scope) or project.
Run the security checklist above on the skill.
Install with the method that matches the source: npx skills add for loose skills, /plugin for packaged bundles, manual copy for paid downloads.
Run /skills to confirm it loaded.
Ask for the task the way you normally would. If Claude doesn’t use the skill, invoke it with /name and then tune your wording or its description.
Set a monthly reminder to run npx skills check and review the /plugin Installed tab.

If you’re not a developer and the terminal still feels unfamiliar, Claude Code skills for non-developers walks through the basics. For job-specific picks, see skills for content writers, keyword research skills and SEO audit skills.

FAQ

How do I install Claude Code skills?

Put the skill’s folder (the one containing SKILL.md) in ~/.claude/skills/ for every project or .claude/skills/ for one project. You can do that by hand, with npx skills add owner/repo, or by installing a plugin with /plugin install name@marketplace.

Where are Claude Code skills stored?

Personal skills are in ~/.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md. Project skills are in .claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md in the repo. Plugin skills sit inside the plugin’s own skills/ folder.

What’s the difference between a skill and a plugin?

A skill is one folder with a SKILL.md file. A plugin is a package that can contain several skills plus agents, hooks and MCP servers. Plugin skills are called as /plugin-name:skill-name.

Do I need to restart Claude Code after installing a skill?

Usually not. Claude Code watches the skills folders and picks up changes live. If the skills folder didn’t exist when you started, run /reload-skills. For plugins, run /reload-plugins if the install summary asks.

How do I see which skills are installed?

Run /skills in a session. You can also type / to see the command menu, ask “What skills are available?”, or run npx skills list for CLI installs and claude plugin list for plugins.

Why isn’t my Claude Code skill triggering?

Usually the description doesn’t match how you phrase the request, the YAML frontmatter is broken, or you have so many skills that its description got dropped from the listing. Invoke it with /name to confirm it works, then fix the description.

My skill files are in the folder but don’t show in the skills list. Why?

Check the depth. The path must be skills/<name>/SKILL.md, not nested one level deeper. Then run /reload-skills and claude plugin validate ~/.claude/skills to catch frontmatter errors.

Why does Claude sometimes skip a skill even when it’s installed?

Claude chooses skills by matching your request to the description. Clear trigger phrases in the description help. For rules that must run every time, the docs recommend a hook instead of relying on the skill.

What does `npx skills add` do?

It runs the open-source skills CLI from Vercel Labs, which downloads skills from a GitHub repo and places them in the right folder for your agent. Add -a claude-code to target Claude Code and -g for a global install.

Do I need Node.js to install skills?

Only for the npx skills route. Plugin installs run inside Claude Code, and manual installs just need you to copy a folder.

How do I install skills globally?

Use npx skills add owner/repo -g -a claude-code, install a plugin at user scope, or copy the folder into ~/.claude/skills/.

How do I update Claude Code skills?

Run npx skills update for CLI installs. Official marketplace plugins auto-update; others update with claude plugin update name@marketplace or Update now in /plugin. Manual installs need a re-copy.

How do I uninstall a skill?

npx skills remove name for CLI installs, claude plugin uninstall name@marketplace for plugins, or delete the folder for manual installs.

Yes. Commit .claude/skills/ to your repo, or install a plugin at project scope and commit .claude/settings.json. Each teammate still runs the plugin install once.

Are Claude Code skills safe to install?

They can be, but they can also run scripts and use tools on your machine. Read SKILL.md, every script, and the allowed-tools line before installing anything from a source you don’t know.

Is there an official Anthropic marketing plugin?

Yes. Anthropic’s knowledge-work-plugins repo includes a marketing plugin. Install it with claude plugin marketplace add anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins and then claude plugin install marketing@knowledge-work-plugins.

Are paid Claude Code skill packs worth it?

Sometimes. Several free MIT-licensed repos already cover marketing and SEO well. Buy a pack only if it covers something those don’t, you can see a sample, and the refund terms are clear.

Sources and methodology

Every command was checked against these pages on 1 November 2026. Star counts come from the GitHub API on the same day.

Claude Code docs, Skills: code.claude.com/docs/en/skills
Claude Code docs, Install and manage plugins: code.claude.com/docs/en/discover-plugins
vercel-labs/skills README: github.com/vercel-labs/skills
READMEs for coreyhaines31/marketingskills, anthropics/skills, anthropics/knowledge-work-plugins, AgriciDaniel/claude-seo, AgriciDaniel/claude-blog, TheCraigHewitt/seomachine, alirezarezvani/claude-skills, ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills
Vendor pages: contra.com (SEO & AEO Skills Pack), skills.sh

Claude Code changes often. If a command here stops working, the official docs win.

Conclusion

Installing a Claude Code skill comes down to getting a folder into the right place. npx skills add is quickest for loose skills, /plugin is cleanest for bundles, and a manual copy gives you the most control. Verify with /skills, update on purpose, and read before you install. Then start small: one marketing skill, one SEO skill, used for a week, before you add more.

Next step: pick your first skill from our list of Claude Code skills for marketers, run the checklist, and install it.

How to Install Claude Code Skills: 4 Methods, Plus Where to Get Them (2026)