Intermediate 4 min read

Agent Skills

Reusable bundles for specialized capabilities

Prerequisites

  • Basic Claude Code usage
  • Familiarity with slash commands

What You'll Learn

  • Understand skill structure and triggers
  • Use built-in skills effectively
  • Create custom skills for your team
  • Compose skills into workflows
⚡commit.md---name: committrigger: /commit---# Instructions1. Run git status2. Run git diff3. Analyze changes4. Write commit msg5. Create commitMetadataName, triggers, configInstructionsStep-by-step promptSkills are markdown files with structured instructions
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Anatomy of a Skill

# .claude/skills/deploy.md

# Deploy to Production

When deploying to production, follow these steps:

1. Run `npm test` and ensure all tests pass
2. Build the project with `npm run build`
3. Check for type errors with `npm run typecheck`
4. Deploy using `vercel --prod`
5. Verify the deployment at production URL
6. Report success with the deployed URL

## Error Handling

If tests fail, fix errors before deploying.
If deployment fails, check Vercel logs.
Clear Instructions

Numbered steps that Claude follows sequentially

Error Handling

Guidance for when things go wrong

How to Invoke Skills

Slash Command
/commit

Type the skill name as a slash command. Claude expands it into the full skill instructions.

Plugin Skills
/vercel:deploy

Plugin skills use namespace:skill format. The plugin provides specialized expertise.

Note: Skills are different from built-in commands like /help, /clear, or /compact. Those are CLI commands; skills are instruction bundles.

Popular Plugin Skills

▲
/vercel:deploy
Vercel plugin

Deploy projects to Vercel with production settings

👀
/code-review:code-review
Code Review plugin

Deep code review for pull requests

💳
/stripe:stripe-best-practices
Stripe plugin

Stripe integration patterns and security practices

🛠️
/feature-dev:feature-dev
Feature Dev plugin

Guided feature development with architecture focus

Where Skills Come From

📁
Plugins
Plugin

Installed plugins provide skills. View with /plugins. Example: Vercel, Stripe, Code Review plugins.

📁
.claude/skills/
Project

Custom markdown files for project-specific workflows. Commit to git to share with your team.

📁
~/.claude/skills/
User

Personal skills available across all your projects.

Creating Your Own Skills

Create a markdown file in .claude/skills/ with clear instructions:

Good Skill Practices

  • ✓Clear, numbered steps
  • ✓Specific commands to run
  • ✓Error handling guidance
  • ✓Success criteria

Avoid

  • ✗Vague instructions
  • ✗Overly long prompts (adds to context)
  • ✗Secrets or credentials
  • ✗Duplicate plugin functionality

💡 Pro Tips

  • 1.Install plugins for specialized skills—the Vercel plugin gives you /vercel:deploy, Stripe gives best practices.
  • 2.Skills expand into Claude's prompt, so keep them focused. Long skills use more context tokens.
  • 3.Your skill instructions can reference other skills: "After testing passes, run the deploy workflow."
  • 4.Commit project skills to git in .claude/skills/—share workflow knowledge with your whole team.
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