Install and share skills

A skill becomes really valuable when the whole team uses the same version. This article covers installing a skill you received, sharing skills inside a Team or Enterprise organisation, sharing them through a code repository for Claude Code, and keeping everything up to date. To build a skill first, see Create a skill.

Before you install any skill

A skill is a set of instructions, and it can include scripts that Claude runs. Treat it like software.

1. Only install skills from people or sources you trust.
2. Open the zip and read SKILL.md before you upload it. It is plain text.
3. If the skill contains scripts, check what they do or ask someone technical to look.
4. Be extra careful with skills that tell Claude to send data somewhere or use connectors.

Warning: A skill from an unknown website can contain instructions you would never approve, such as copying data to an outside address. If you cannot read and understand it, do not install it.

Install a skill in the Claude apps

Skills need code execution and file creation to be switched on (under Settings, then Capabilities).

1. Open the Skills section of your settings (currently under Customize, then Skills).
2. Use the add or upload option and choose the .zip file.
3. Check that the skill shows in your list and is switched on.
4. Start a new chat and test it with a request that matches its description.

Anthropic’s own example skills are listed on the same page. You can switch them on or off like your own.

Share skills in a Team or Enterprise organisation

On Team and Enterprise plans, sharing is managed inside Claude.

For Owners

1. Open the organisation settings and check that both code execution and Skills are enabled for the organisation.
2. Upload the skills everyone should have. Owners can provision a skill for all members; it then appears in each member’s skill list, marked as a team skill.
3. Tell the team what the skill is for and what kind of request triggers it.

For members

• You can share a skill you created with specific colleagues from the skill’s menu. Shared skills are view-only for the people you share with.
• Depending on your organisation’s settings, you can also submit a skill to the organisation’s library so anyone can install it.

Note: The exact labels in the admin settings change from time to time. If you cannot find an option, look for “Skills” or “Capabilities” in the organisation settings, or check Anthropic’s help centre.

Share skills through a repository (Claude Code)

For Claude Code, the simplest way to share is to keep skills inside the project.

1. Put each skill folder in .claude/skills/ in the repository (see the layout below).
2. Commit and push the folder like any other file.
3. Everyone who opens the project in Claude Code now has the same skills, in the terminal, the desktop app and cloud sessions.

your-project/
└── .claude/
    └── skills/
        ├── house-style/
        │   └── SKILL.md
        └── astro-architecture/
            └── SKILL.md

Skills that should follow you across all projects go in your personal folder, ~/.claude/skills/. Those are not shared with anyone.

For many repositories or a larger team, skills can be bundled in a Claude Code plugin, which people install once and update centrally. That is mostly worth it once you maintain several skills.

Keep one source of truth

Teams get into trouble when five slightly different copies of the same skill are in use. A few habits prevent that:

• Store the master copy in one place, ideally a Git repository, even for skills used only in the Claude apps.
• Give each skill an owner who approves changes.
• Note changes at the bottom of SKILL.md or in a changelog file, with a date.
• Re-upload after every change in the Claude apps. Uploaded skills do not update themselves.
• Remove skills nobody uses. Fewer, better skills trigger more reliably.

Roll out a skill in four steps

1. Test the skill yourself on five real tasks.
2. Let two colleagues use it for a week and collect feedback.
3. Fix the description and instructions based on what went wrong.
4. Share it with everyone and explain in one paragraph when to use it.

If you would like help designing and rolling out a skill library for your team, book a strategic call: https://calendly.com/marrallisa/30min

Next steps

• Create a skill
• What a skill is and when to make one
• Write a CLAUDE.md