Claude Agent Skills: portable capability packages for Claude Code
Claude Agent Skills are portable folders of instructions, scripts, and reference docs that Claude Code loads on demand to gain one specific capability.
What it is
A Skill is a directory with a SKILL.md front matter file plus optional scripts and reference docs, versioned like any other code in a repo.
What it does
Claude Code reads each SKILL.md description to decide when a skill is relevant to the current task, then loads its scripts and references into context only at that point, instead of keeping every instruction resident in every prompt.
Why it matters
Teams can encode a repeatable procedure, such as a deploy checklist or a house style guide, once in a skill folder and have every Claude Code session apply it consistently, instead of relying on copy-pasted instructions that drift out of sync.
How to use it
Add a folder under .claude/skills/<name>/ with a SKILL.md front matter block describing when to use it, then either invoke it by name or let Claude Code pick it up automatically when a task matches the description.