52 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
52 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
# Claude Code: Skills
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## Metadata
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| Field | Value |
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| Institute | Molodetz Institute — Research & Retrieval Division |
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| Subject | cap-protocol |
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| Document type | Source Dossier |
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| Tier | 1 |
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| Source title | Claude Code: Skills |
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| Source URL | https://code.claude.com/docs/en/skills |
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| Source publisher / author | Anthropic |
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| Source type | vendor docs |
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| Source date (published) | Unknown — not stated |
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| Date researched | 2026-10-25 |
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| Researched by | tai (agent), model: Claude Sonnet 5, on behalf of retoor |
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| Research method | direct page fetch |
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| Confidence | Medium |
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| Status | Active |
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## Summary
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Claude Code's skills documentation: loading, frontmatter, model pinning, forked subagent context and size guidance. Only the first 100000 of 118114 characters were read.
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## Key findings
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- Skill descriptions are loaded into context so the model knows what exists; the body loads only when invoked, so long reference material 'costs almost nothing until you need it'.
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- Frontmatter includes `description`, `when_to_use`, `disable-model-invocation`, `user-invocable`, `allowed-tools`, `model` (applies for the rest of the current turn), `effort`, `context: fork` (run in an isolated subagent), `agent`, `background`.
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- Combined `description` plus `when_to_use` is truncated at 1,536 characters in the listing; keep the body under 500 lines; after compaction re-attached skills share a 25,000-token budget and keep their first 5,000 tokens.
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- `context: fork` skills do not see the conversation history, so their instructions must stand on their own.
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- Create a skill 'when you keep pasting the same instructions, checklist, or multi-step procedure into chat'.
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- Custom commands have been merged into skills.
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## Pros / strengths
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Shows a skill can both carry guidance and pin the model or fork a subagent for its own run.
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## Cons / limitations / caveats
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Tail unread; some fields are product-specific and not part of the open Agent Skills format.
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## Relevance to tai
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Supports the split 'tool does the action, skill teaches when and how': a skill carries a recurring procedure at near-zero idle cost, but enforces nothing by itself.
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## Changelog
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| Date | Change |
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| 2026-10-25 | Initial dossier created. |
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