Getting Started with AI Skills for Claude Code

AI skills are reusable capabilities that extend what AI coding assistants like Claude Code can do. Think of them as plugins — they give your AI assistant specialized knowledge and abilities for specific tasks.

What Are AI Skills?

An AI skill is typically a GitHub repository containing a SKILL.md file that describes capabilities, instructions, and context that an AI assistant can use. When you add a skill to your assistant, it gains new abilities like:

• Code generation for specific frameworks or languages
• MCP server integration for connecting to external tools
• Specialized workflows like security auditing, deployment, or testing

How to Install a Skill

Most skills can be installed by cloning the repository into your project or workspace:

git clone https://github.com/owner/skill-repo

For Claude Code specifically, skills are loaded from SKILL.md files in your project directory. Simply having the file in your workspace makes the skill available.

Finding the Right Skills

Browse the SkillsLLM marketplace to discover skills by category:

• AI Agents — autonomous task execution
• Code Generation — language and framework-specific generators
• MCP Servers — connect to databases, APIs, and tools
• DevOps & CI/CD — deployment and infrastructure automation
• Security — vulnerability scanning and best practices

Best Practices

1. Check the security badge before installing any skill. SkillsLLM runs automated security scans on all listed skills.
2. Read the SKILL.md to understand what the skill does and any prerequisites.
3. Start with popular skills — high star counts usually indicate well-maintained, useful skills.
4. Contribute back — if you build a useful skill, submit it to the marketplace for others to discover.

What's Next?

Ready to create your own skill? Check out our guide on How to Create a SKILL.md File for step-by-step instructions.