If you have seen "Claude Skills" mentioned and are not sure what they actually are, this is the plain-language version. No prior Claude Code experience assumed.
Three words worth knowing
A skill teaches Claude how to do one job properly — review a contract, write a discharge summary, draft ad copy. It is a plain Markdown file called SKILL.md that contains a short header saying when to use it, followed by the actual instructions: what steps to follow and what the finished output should look like. Claude reads it and follows it.
A plugin is a bundle of related skills, so you install a whole set — say, eight skills for lawyers — in one step instead of eight.
A marketplace is a catalog of plugins. Adding one lets you browse what is available; you then install only the plugins you actually want.
That is the entire mental model. Everything below is detail on top of those three ideas.
Claude Skills vs. ChatGPT prompts — the actual difference
If you have used ChatGPT prompt templates before, skills will feel familiar but work differently in one important way.
A prompt is something you paste into the chat window every time you want that specific result. You keep a document of your best prompts, and copying the right one in is on you.
A skill is saved once and then applies itself. Claude reads the skill's description ahead of time, and when your request matches what the skill is for, Claude follows its instructions automatically — you do not paste anything. Ask a lawyer-skills user to "review this NDA" and Claude reaches for the Reviewing Contracts skill on its own, the same way a assistant who has worked with you for years does not need to be handed a manual every time.
This is why skills matter for repeated work — anything you do the same way more than a few times — and prompts remain better for one-off, exploratory requests.
How to install a Claude Skill
There are three real paths, and which one applies depends entirely on what you use day to day.
If you use Claude Code (the CLI)
The fastest route is a plugin marketplace — a catalog you add once, then install individual plugins from:
/plugin marketplace add <owner>/<repo>
/plugin install <plugin-name>@<marketplace-name>
/reload-plugins
Adding a marketplace registers the catalog and installs nothing by itself — it is like adding an app store, not downloading an app. The install step after it opens a details pane and asks where to install: User (all your projects), Project (shared with collaborators on this repo), or Local (just this repo, just you). If you are not sure, User is the safe default.
One thing that trips people up: /reload-plugins often reports "0 skills" even when the install succeeded. That count only covers a plugin's commands/ folder, and most skill plugins ship their skills in a skills/ folder instead, which isn't counted in that summary line. Seeing 0 skills here does not mean anything went wrong — see Using a skill below to check properly.
No marketplace handy? You can also drop a skill straight into a folder — copy a SKILL.md into .claude/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md in your project root (or ~/.claude/skills/ to make it available everywhere), and Claude Code picks it up the next time it starts.
If you use claude.ai or Cowork
These do not read a local .claude/ folder at all — you upload skills directly to your account:
- Go to Customize → Skills
- Click Add
- Upload a zip file containing the skill — the skill's folder must be at the zip's root (
skill-name/SKILL.md, not nested inside anything else) - Repeat for each skill you want
Cowork specifically has no local skills directory. It loads whatever is enabled on your claude.ai account, synced at the start of each session — copying files onto your own machine does nothing for a Cowork session. The upload above is the only route in.
If you use Claude Desktop
Desktop behaves like Claude Code for skills stored locally — drop the skill into .claude/skills/ in your project, or ~/.claude/skills/ globally. Desktop scheduled tasks specifically run locally too and read from the same locations as any other local session.
Which plugin should I install?
If you are trying to decide what is actually worth installing rather than browsing everything, the fastest filter is your profession. Browse Claude Skills by profession — software engineer, lawyer, doctor, marketing manager, and product manager libraries are all free, with real example use cases for every skill so you can see exactly what each one does before installing it.
Using a skill once installed
You do not call a skill by name to use it. Claude reads every installed skill's description and picks the right one based on what you actually ask — so you just describe the task normally:
"Review this SaaS contract for standard IP and liability issues"
If a matching skill is installed, Claude applies it automatically.
You can also invoke one explicitly. Plugin skills are namespaced to avoid collisions between plugins, so a skill named reviewing-contracts inside a plugin named lawyer-skills is called as:
/lawyer-skills:reviewing-contracts
To see everything currently installed:
/plugin list
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Fix |
|---|---|
/plugin is not recognised | Update Claude Code, then restart your terminal |
Marketplace not found | The marketplace must be added before you can install from it — re-run /plugin marketplace add |
| Plugin not found in the marketplace | Your local catalog is outdated — run /plugin marketplace update <name>, then retry |
/reload-plugins says 0 skills | Expected for skill-only plugins — see the note above, not a failure |
| Skills genuinely not appearing | rm -rf ~/.claude/plugins/cache, restart Claude Code, reinstall |
Related Resources
- Browse Claude Skills by profession — free skill libraries with real examples for every skill
- Claude Skills Marketplace — how to add and install — a full worked example using a real, live marketplace
- How to Create a Claude Skill — write your own from scratch
- Claude Skills Examples by Profession — every skill across all five professions, with real use cases
- Claude Skills for Lawyers: 8 AI Workflows — a deep dive into one profession's workflows