Questions about Claude skills, answered directly
Eight questions that come before the reference: what a skill is not, where the files go, why one never fires, and what it costs to leave installed. Each answer opens with the short version and then says why it is true.
Are Claude skills the same thing as MCP servers?
No. A skill is a folder of written instructions that an agent reads when a task matches its description. An MCP server is a running process that exposes new tools over a protocol. Skills change how the agent works with what it already has. MCP changes what it can reach.
Where do Claude skills live on disk?
A skill is a directory whose name matches the name in its frontmatter, containing SKILL.md and any optional scripts, references and assets. Where that directory sits decides its scope: alongside a project for one repository, in your user configuration for every session you run.
How do you install a Claude skill?
You put the skill directory where the agent looks for skills, and that is the whole installation. There is no package step and no registry to register with. What decides whether it then does anything is the description in its frontmatter, not the copy operation.
Why does my skill never trigger?
Almost always the description. Only the name and description are loaded at startup, so that one field is the entire basis on which the agent decides a task matches. A description that says what the skill is, without saying when to use it, gives the agent nothing to match against.
Should this go in a skill or in the project instructions?
Project instructions are read on every task in that project. A skill is read only when a task matches its description. Put the things that are always true in the project instructions, and the things that are true for one kind of work in a skill.
How much context does an installed skill use?
Around 100 tokens each while idle, because only the name and description are loaded at startup. The body of SKILL.md is loaded when the skill activates, and the recommendation is to keep that under 5,000 tokens. Files under scripts, references and assets are read only when a task needs them.
Can a Claude skill run code?
A skill can carry executable code under scripts/, and the agent may run it when the task calls for it. The skill does not run on its own and has no background process. It is the agent that executes, under whatever permissions your setup gives it.
How do you share skills across a team?
Keep them in the repository they apply to and let version control do the distribution. Everyone who clones gets the same skills at the same revision, changes arrive through review like any other change, and there is no separate copy to drift.