Extend Claude with skills changedskills
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Upstream edited this page at 14 Oct 2026 16:35 UTC, give or take a minute or two: the time comes from Anthropic’s own sitemap rather than from a commit. This site recorded the change at 14 Oct 2026 16:37 UTC.
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165165* **Symlinked folders**: a `<skill-name>` entry in the enterprise, personal, or project location can be a symlink to a directory elsewhere on disk. Claude Code reads `SKILL.md` from the target and loads the skill once even if several locations point at the same target. Plugin skills [handle symlinks differently](/docs/en/plugins/host-marketplace#share-files-within-a-marketplace-with-symlinks).
166166* **Reserved name `synced`**: don't name a skill folder `synced`, in any capitalization. Claude Code uses `~/.claude/skills/synced/` for [skills downloaded from claude.ai](#where-synced-skills-load) and skips a skill you author at that name in the enterprise, personal, and project locations.
167167* **Reserved name `anthropic-skills`**: outside a plugin, a skill folder or command file whose name is `anthropic-skills` or starts with `anthropic-skills:` doesn't load. See [Names reserved for synced skills](#names-reserved-for-synced-skills).
168* **Characters in the name**: outside a plugin, a skill folder doesn't load when its name has a character such as a zero-width space or `<`. See [Characters a skill name can't hold](#characters-a-skill-name-cant-hold).
168169* **Command files**: a Markdown file in `.claude/commands/` is the older format and still works. It supports the same [frontmatter](#frontmatter-reference) except `name` and `paths`. To find the name you type to invoke it, see [How a skill gets its command name](#how-a-skill-gets-its-command-name). Prefer a skill for new work, since skills also support [supporting files](#add-supporting-files).
169170* **Skill folder as a plugin**: add a `.claude-plugin/plugin.json` to a skill folder and it loads as a [plugin](/docs/en/plugins/loading#plugins-shared-through-a-repository) named `<name>@skills-dir`, so it can bundle agents, hooks, and MCP servers. In a project's `.claude/skills/`, this requires accepting the workspace trust dialog first.
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455456
456457For a plugin-root `SKILL.md`, there is no skill directory to take the name from, so `name` supplies the whole final segment. Without a `name` field, Claude Code falls back to the plugin's directory name.
457458
459<h4 id="characters-a-skill-name-cant-hold">
460 Characters a skill name can't hold
461</h4>
462
463If a skill or custom command is missing from the `/` menu, or the menu doesn't show a skill's frontmatter `name`, check the name. Claude Code refuses a command name or a frontmatter `name` that contains characters such as these:
464
465* A zero-width space or a control character
466* A private-use or unassigned character, such as a glyph from an icon font
467* A character that changes the direction of the text around it
468* A blank other than one plain space between words, such as a no-break space, two spaces in a row, or a space at the start or end
469* `<` or `>`
470
471A custom command or skill doesn't load when Claude Code refuses its directory or file name. Rename that folder or file to remove the characters. A skill still loads when these characters are only in a plugin skill folder's name or in its frontmatter `name`:
472
473* **Folder in a plugin's `skills/` directory or its manifest's [`skills` paths](/docs/en/plugins/components#skills)**: you don't need to rename the folder. These characters become hyphens in the skill's command name, so type the command with the hyphens.
474* **Frontmatter `name`**: the `/` menu doesn't show the `name` value and typing it doesn't invoke the skill. Edit the `name:` line to remove the characters.
475
476To find out which name Claude Code refused, start it with [`claude --debug`](/docs/en/cli-reference#cli-flags) from your shell and search the [debug log](/docs/en/debug-your-config) for `[names]`. In an interactive session, a [startup notice](/docs/en/errors#skill-or-command-name-refused) also tells you that names were refused. After a rename or a `name:` edit, restart the session, unless the file is in a directory Claude Code [watches for changes](#live-change-detection).
477
458478#### Available string substitutions
459479
460480Skills support string substitution for dynamic values in the skill content:
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116111812. Verify the skill appears in `What skills are available?`
116211823. Try rephrasing your request to match the description more closely
116311834. Invoke it directly with `/skill-name` if the skill is user-invocable
11845. If `/skill-name` isn't recognized either, check whether Claude Code [refused the skill's name](#characters-a-skill-name-cant-hold)
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11651186If the frontmatter YAML is malformed, Claude Code loads the skill body with empty metadata, so `/skill-name` still works but Claude can't match against your `description`. Run with `--debug` to see the parse error.
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