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Skills

Build Your Own Skills

Ship your own slash commands as plain markdown files.

Ship your own slash commands as plain markdown files.

What it is

A skill in Claude Code is a plain markdown file that Claude runs as a slash command. Write it once, reuse it forever. Perfect for turning repetitive prompts into one-keystroke commands instead of retyping everything each time.

Install / Setup

Skills live here:

  • Global (available everywhere): ~/.claude/commands/my-skill.md โ†’ /my-skill
  • Project-specific: .claude/commands/skill.md inside the project folder
  • Namespaces: ~/.claude/commands/git/commit.md โ†’ /git:commit

Option 1 โ€” Terminal (manual):

mkdir -p ~/.claude/commands
nano ~/.claude/commands/my-skill.md

Option 2 โ€” Prompt Claude Code:

Build me a skill called "my-skill" that [DESCRIPTION]. Write the markdown file directly to ~/.claude/commands/my-skill.md, follow Claude Code skill conventions, and show me how to invoke it at the end.

Claude already knows the skill format and writes the file correctly โ€” you just describe what it should do.

Anatomy of a skill file

Markdown with clear instructions:

# My Skill

You're an expert on [topic].

Liking this?

Inside the community I show you how I run all of this day-to-day โ€” live sessions, direct feedback on your setup, and my full configs.

What you do

  • Step 1
  • Step 2

Rules

  • Answer in English
  • No fluff, straight to the point
  • Ask when something's unclear

## Use cases

- **Git commit** โ€” Parse `git diff`, generate a conventional commit message.
- **Project setup** โ€” Folder structure, dependencies, CLAUDE.md, first git commit for a new API service.
- **Bug-report triage** โ€” Paste a user report in, Claude breaks it into repro steps, expected behavior, severity.
- **Content repurposing** โ€” Blog post in, Twitter thread + LinkedIn post + newsletter out.
- **Code review** โ€” Fixed review prompt with every check you care about (bugs, security, performance, readability).

## Pro tip

Changes to skill files load instantly โ€” no restart needed. Work iteratively: write the skill, run the command, see the output, tighten the rules. Two or three passes and it's reliable. If it keeps making the same mistake โ†’ add explicit "do NOT do this" rules.

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> ๐Ÿš€ **Installing skills is step one. Knowing which ones to use when is what separates operators from tourists.**
Inside the community I show you my full skill stack and how I use it every day.
[**โ†’ Join the Claude Code Mastery Community**](https://www.skool.com/claude-code-crash-course-5725?utm_source=notion&utm_medium=library&utm_campaign=skills-cta)

Updated regularly โ€” follow @vine.codes for more.

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