Where are Claude skills stored?
Quick answer. Claude Code reads agent skills from
~/.claude/skills/ (user scope) and .claude/skills/ in the project root (project scope). Each skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md. Drop the folder in, restart the session, and the skill is auto-discovered.Where does Claude Code store skills on macOS and Linux?
User-scoped skills live in ~/.claude/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md. Project-scoped skills live in .claude/skills/ at the repository root — those are shared with anyone who clones the repo.
Where are Claude skills stored on Windows?
Use %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\ for user scope, or .claude\skills\ in the project.
How do I check a skill is being loaded?
Start a session in the project and confirm the skill's name (from its SKILL.md frontmatter) appears in the available skills. If not, check the folder contains a SKILL.md with valid frontmatter and restart.
FAQ
Can I share a skill with my team?
Yes — put it in .claude/skills/ inside the repo; it's committed and shared with everyone who clones it.
What format is a skill?
A folder with a SKILL.md whose YAML frontmatter has a name and description. See tashan's tracked skills for real examples.