Skill Best Practices

Overview

Create effective Claude Code skills that provide specialized knowledge and workflows. High-quality skills transform Claude from a general-purpose assistant into a domain expert equipped with procedural knowledge.

Core Principles

Progressive Disclosure

Use a three-level loading system to manage context efficiently:

1. Metadata (name + description) - Always in context (~100 words)
2. SKILL.md body - When skill triggers (<2,000 words)
3. Bundled resources - As needed (unlimited, loaded selectively)

Keep SKILL.md lean. Move detailed content to references/ files.

Strong Triggering