How to install any Claude Code skill in 60 seconds (2026 guide)

If you’re new to Claude Code skills, the friction is rarely the skill itself — it’s getting the skill into the right directory in the right format. Once a skill lands in ~/.claude/skills/<skill-name>/, Claude Code auto-discovers it, no further setup needed. So the install game is fundamentally about moving a folder to the right place.

There are three ways to do this. They differ in convenience, depending on whether the skill lives in its own repo or as a subdirectory of a larger collection.

1. npx degit — the cleanest path (recommended)

degit clones a Git repository without its .git history and supports subdirectories. This is the single most flexible install method.

# install a skill that lives at the root of its own repo
npx degit codesstar/next-slide ~/.claude/skills/next-slide

# install a skill that lives in a subdirectory of a collection repo
npx degit anthropics/skills/skills/canvas-design ~/.claude/skills/canvas-design
npx degit daymade/claude-code-skills/ppt-creator ~/.claude/skills/ppt-creator
npx degit xstongxue/best-skills/skills/wechat-article-writer ~/.claude/skills/wechat-article-writer

Use degit when:

• The skill is a subdirectory of a multi-skill repo (Anthropic’s official skills repo, daymade’s claude-code-skills collection, or xstongxue’s best-skills).
• You don’t need git history (you’re not contributing back).
• You want a clean install with no .git clutter.

2. git clone — when the author recommends it

Some skills live in their own dedicated repo and the author asks you to keep .git so you can git pull later for updates. Examples:

git clone https://github.com/op7418/guizang-ppt-skill ~/.claude/skills/guizang-ppt-skill
git clone https://github.com/op7418/NanoBanana-PPT-Skills ~/.claude/skills/NanoBanana-PPT-Skills
git clone https://github.com/op7418/Document-illustrator-skill ~/.claude/skills/Document-illustrator-skill
git clone https://github.com/codesstar/next-slide ~/.claude/skills/next-slide

Use git clone when:

• The skill author recommends it explicitly in the README.
• You want to easily git pull updates later.
• The skill ships with its own version-control hooks.

3. npx skills add — the community CLI

Some authors maintain a community CLI for one-line installs:

npx skills add https://github.com/op7418/guizang-ppt-skill --skill guizang-ppt-skill
npx skills add https://github.com/op7418/Document-illustrator-skill

This wraps git clone with a few extra checks (target dir, idempotency, auto-update). It’s optional but convenient if you’re installing many skills from different sources.

The full install command list (30 skills)

Every skill page on this site shows its install command in a copy-ready code block. But here’s the consolidated list, grouped by source:

Anthropic official (11 skills)

npx degit anthropics/skills/skills/canvas-design ~/.claude/skills/canvas-design
npx degit anthropics/skills/skills/pptx ~/.claude/skills/pptx
npx degit anthropics/skills/skills/pdf ~/.claude/skills/pdf
npx degit anthropics/skills/skills/docx ~/.claude/skills/docx
npx degit anthropics/skills/skills/xlsx ~/.claude/skills/xlsx
npx degit anthropics/skills/skills/theme-factory ~/.claude/skills/theme-factory
npx degit anthropics/skills/skills/web-artifacts-builder ~/.claude/skills/web-artifacts-builder
npx degit anthropics/skills/skills/brand-guidelines ~/.claude/skills/brand-guidelines
npx degit anthropics/skills/skills/slack-gif-creator ~/.claude/skills/slack-gif-creator
npx degit anthropics/skills/skills/frontend-design ~/.claude/skills/frontend-design
npx degit anthropics/skills/skills/algorithmic-art ~/.claude/skills/algorithmic-art

See: canvas-design · pptx · pdf · theme-factory · algorithmic-art · web-artifacts-builder · frontend-design · brand-guidelines · slack-gif-creator · docx · xlsx

op7418 / 歸藏 (5 skills)

git clone https://github.com/op7418/guizang-ppt-skill ~/.claude/skills/guizang-ppt-skill
git clone https://github.com/op7418/NanoBanana-PPT-Skills ~/.claude/skills/NanoBanana-PPT-Skills
git clone https://github.com/op7418/Document-illustrator-skill ~/.claude/skills/Document-illustrator-skill
git clone https://github.com/op7418/Humanizer-zh ~/.claude/skills/Humanizer-zh
git clone https://github.com/op7418/Youtube-clipper-skill ~/.claude/skills/Youtube-clipper-skill

See: guizang-ppt · nanobanana-ppt · document-illustrator · humanizer-zh · youtube-clipper

xstongxue / 小帅同学 (4 skills)

npx degit xstongxue/best-skills/skills/pptgen-drawio ~/.claude/skills/pptgen-drawio
npx degit xstongxue/best-skills/skills/wechat-article-writer ~/.claude/skills/wechat-article-writer
npx degit xstongxue/best-skills/skills/excalidraw-diagram ~/.claude/skills/excalidraw-diagram
npx degit xstongxue/best-skills/skills/drawio-diagram ~/.claude/skills/drawio-diagram

See: pptgen-drawio · wechat-article-writer · excalidraw-diagram · drawio-diagram

daymade (9 skills)

npx degit daymade/claude-code-skills/ppt-creator ~/.claude/skills/ppt-creator
npx degit daymade/claude-code-skills/mermaid-tools ~/.claude/skills/mermaid-tools
npx degit daymade/claude-code-skills/ui-designer ~/.claude/skills/ui-designer
npx degit daymade/claude-code-skills/pdf-creator ~/.claude/skills/pdf-creator
npx degit daymade/claude-code-skills/slides-creator ~/.claude/skills/slides-creator
npx degit daymade/claude-code-skills/llm-icon-finder ~/.claude/skills/llm-icon-finder
npx degit daymade/claude-code-skills/cli-demo-generator ~/.claude/skills/cli-demo-generator
npx degit daymade/claude-code-skills/capture-screen ~/.claude/skills/capture-screen
npx degit daymade/claude-code-skills/doc-to-markdown ~/.claude/skills/doc-to-markdown

See: ppt-creator · mermaid-tools · ui-designer · pdf-creator · slides-creator · llm-icon-finder · cli-demo-generator · capture-screen · doc-to-markdown

codesstar (1 skill)

git clone https://github.com/codesstar/next-slide ~/.claude/skills/next-slide

See: next-slide

Verifying the install

After installing, verify by listing the directory:

ls ~/.claude/skills/<skill-name>/
# Should show at least: SKILL.md (and possibly README.md, scripts/, etc.)

Open a fresh Claude Code session — Claude auto-discovers any skill that follows the ~/.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md convention. No registration or manifest editing required.

Troubleshooting: skill won’t trigger

If you’ve installed a skill and it doesn’t activate when you’d expect:

1. Restart Claude Code. The skill scanner runs at session start. New installs require a fresh session to register.

2. Check ~/.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md exists. This is the entry point. If you cloned a wrapper repo without it, the skill is invisible.

3. Match the trigger keywords. Each skill defines triggers in its SKILL.md (usually in the description block). For example, wechat-article-writer fires on “公众号” / “WeChat article” / “writer”, not on generic “write me a post”.

4. Rule out conflicts. If two installed skills target the same trigger (e.g. two PPT skills both responding to “make me slides”), Claude picks one by name precedence. Uninstall the one you don’t want, or invoke the desired skill explicitly: “use next-slide to make me slides”.

5. Some skills need API keys. nanobanana-ppt needs a Nano Banana Pro key + 可灵 key. Check the skill’s README for environment variables.

What we’re watching

Skill distribution is still in early days. Three things are likely to change:

1. An official Anthropic skills marketplace. The Anthropic plugin system already loads skills via claude-plugins-official. A formal marketplace would compress install to a single ”+ add skill” click.
2. Versioned skills. Today most skills track main. Versioning would help when a skill changes its trigger keywords or output format.
3. Cross-agent compatibility. Most modern skills target Claude Code + OpenClaw + Cursor simultaneously. The ~/.claude/skills/ convention is becoming the de facto standard, but expect more agents to support it natively.

For now, npx degit and git clone are your two main tools. Bookmark this page and the skill listing for the latest install commands.