Where skill files are located

The video explains where Claude skills are stored on your machine and how they are loaded. Claude uses a directory-based discovery system for skills. Skills can be located at two levels: global (user) and project-specific. Global skills reside in the hidden .claude directory in the user's home directory. Project-specific skills are found in the .claude directory within the current project. Monorepo subdirectories are also auto-discovered when looking for skills.

Each skill is a directory containing a skill.md file with YAML frontmatter. The frontmatter and description are loaded initially, with the full skill loaded only when triggered by the user (using /skillname) or when Claude determines the skill matches the request.

The video also touches on invocation control, allowing users to prevent Claude from automatically loading certain skills or preventing users from loading certain skills.

The presenter demonstrates how to access these directories using the open command within the Claude environment (accessed by typing "!open"). He shows examples of skills, including a Vercel React best practices skill and a dark mode skill, explaining their structure and contents. The Vercel skill is short because it defers to other Markdown documents. The dark mode skill contains guidance and examples to avoid using pure black and white in dark mode interfaces.

Project-level skills can be shared with a team via Git. The management of skills is still somewhat unorganized. Finally, the presenter mentions Vercel's npx skills command as a well-supported solution for skill management and suggests focusing on writing custom skills.