What are Claude Code Skills?

Claude Code Skills are reusable prompt templates stored as markdown files in your project's .claude/skills/ directory. They let you codify best practices and common workflows into slash commands that Claude follows consistently.

How do I create a Claude Code Skill?

Create a markdown file in .claude/skills/ with instructions for Claude. The filename becomes the command name — for example, .claude/skills/code-review.md can be invoked with /code-review during a Claude Code session.

Can I share skills with my team?

Yes. Skills stored in .claude/skills/ can be committed to version control so every team member has access to the same standardized workflows. You can also organize skills into subdirectories by category.

What is the difference between project and global skills?

Project skills (.claude/skills/) are specific to the current project and are committed to git. Global skills (~/.claude/skills/) are personal skills available across all your projects.

explanatory-output-style

New

Official PluginLearningby Anthropic

Adds educational insights about implementation choices and codebase patterns (mimics the deprecated Explanatory output style)

Install & Usage

Create the skills directory

mkdir -p .claude/skills

Download the skill file

mkdir -p .claude/skills && curl -o .claude/skills/explanatory-output-style.md https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-public/main/plugins/explanatory-output-style/SKILL.md

Invoke in Claude Code

/explanatory-output-style

View source on GitHub

Frequently Asked Questions

What is explanatory-output-style?

Adds educational insights about implementation choices and codebase patterns (mimics the deprecated Explanatory output style)

How to install explanatory-output-style?

To install explanatory-output-style, create the .claude/skills directory in your project, then run the curl command to download the skill file. Once installed, invoke it in Claude Code with /explanatory-output-style.

What is explanatory-output-style best for?

explanatory-output-style is a plugin categorized under Learning. Created by Anthropic.