TutorialClaude Code6 min readJun 18, 2026

How to Install Skills in Claude Code

A step-by-step guide to discovering, installing, and managing agent skills with the MDSkill CLI — from first install to team-wide sharing.

By MDSkill Team·June 18, 2026

Claude Code gets dramatically more powerful when you extend it with skills. A skill is a SKILL.md file that teaches your agent a specific workflow — code review, documentation, security auditing, and more. This guide walks you through installing your first skill and managing them across projects.

Prerequisites

  • Node.js 20+ — check with node --version
  • Claude Code installed and configured
  • An MDSkill account (free at mdskill.dev)

Step 1: Sign in

npx mdskill login

This opens a browser window. Sign in with GitHub or email. Your session is stored locally — you only need to do this once per machine.

Step 2: Search for a skill

Search the directory from the terminal:

npx mdskill search "code review"

This queries the full skill catalog and returns matching results with names, descriptions, and security scores. You can also browse by category at mdskill.dev — each skill's detail page shows the exact install command to copy.

Step 3: Install a skill

Copy the install command from any skill's detail page, or run it directly:

npx mdskill add owner/repo/skill-name

For example, to install the build-mcp-server skill from the official Anthropic repo:

npx mdskill add anthropics/claude-plugins-official/build-mcp-server

The CLI will:

  1. Fetch the SKILL.md from GitHub
  2. Run it through the security auditor and show you the score
  3. Place it in .claude/skills/ in your current project

Step 4: Verify the install

ls .claude/skills/

You should see a directory named after the skill. Claude Code picks it up automatically on the next invocation — no restart needed.

Installing for a specific agent

If you use Cursor, Cline, or another agent, pass the -a flag:

# For Cursor
npx mdskill add owner/repo/skill-name -a cursor

# For Cline
npx mdskill add owner/repo/skill-name -a cline

See the Agents directory for all supported agents and their install flags.

Sharing skills across a team

Commit the .claude/skills/ directory to your repo. Every team member who clones the repo gets the same skills automatically. Use .gitignore if you have private or sensitive skills you don't want to share.

What's next?

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