Claude Code Skills Cheatsheet — types, installation methods, and where to find community skills

claude-code-skills-cheatsheet.md

Claude Code Skills Cheatsheet

A quick reference for Claude Code skills — types, installation, and where to find them.

What Are Skills?

Skills are instruction files (.md) that teach Claude Code how to perform specific tasks. They live in your project's .claude/skills/ directory and are automatically loaded when relevant.

Skill Types

Type	Purpose	Example
Document	Generate/edit file formats	pdf, docx, xlsx, pptx
Design	Create visual assets	canvas-design, algorithmic-art
Development	Code patterns & frameworks	frontend-design, mcp-builder
Testing	QA & validation	webapp-testing (Playwright)
DevOps	CI/CD & infrastructure	Custom deploy skills
Communication	Writing & messaging	brand-guidelines, internal-comms

Installation Methods

Method 1: Official Skills (Anthropic)

# Skills are built into Claude Code — just use them
# Example: "Use the pdf skill to merge these files"

Method 2: From GitHub

# Clone a skill into your project
git clone https://github.com/user/my-skill .claude/skills/my-skill

# Or copy a single file
curl -o .claude/skills/my-skill.md https://raw.githubusercontent.com/user/repo/main/skill.md

Method 3: From TokRepo Registry

Browse and search community skills at tokrepo.com:

# Search for skills
# Visit https://tokrepo.com/search?q=frontend

# Each skill page has a one-click copy button for the install command

Method 4: Create Your Own

mkdir -p .claude/skills
cat > .claude/skills/my-skill.md << 'EOF'
---
name: My Custom Skill
description: What this skill does
type: workflow
---

# My Custom Skill

## Instructions
1. Step one...
2. Step two...

## Rules
- Always do X
- Never do Y
EOF

Skill File Structure

.claude/
├── skills/
│   ├── my-skill.md          # Single-file skill
│   └── complex-skill/       # Multi-file skill
│       ├── README.md         # Skill instructions
│       ├── templates/        # Template files
│       └── examples/         # Usage examples
├── settings.json             # Project settings
└── CLAUDE.md                 # Project instructions

Frontmatter Fields

---
name: Skill Name              # Required
description: What it does      # Required  
type: workflow|reference|tool  # Skill type
triggers:                      # Auto-activation patterns
  - "when user asks about X"
---

Popular Community Skills

Skill	Stars	Description
superpowers	3k+	20+ battle-tested skills (TDD, debugging, collaboration)
Trail of Bits Security	-	CodeQL, Semgrep, vulnerability detection
Expo Skills	-	Official Expo mobile development
shadcn/ui	-	Component patterns for shadcn

Where to Find More Skills

• TokRepo — Searchable registry with token cost estimates and one-click install
• awesome-claude-skills — Curated list by travisvn
• awesome-claude-code — Broader Claude Code ecosystem
• awesome-claude-code-subagents — 130+ subagent collection

Tips

1. Keep skills focused — one skill per task domain
2. Use frontmatter — helps Claude decide when to load the skill
3. Include examples — Claude performs better with concrete examples
4. Version your skills — track changes in git alongside your code
5. Share on TokRepo — help the community discover your skills at tokrepo.com

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Created by William Wang — Founder of TokRepo and GEOScore AI