Where Are Claude Code Skills Stored Locally? A Complete Guide

Claude Code stores locally-installed skills in two standard directories: ~/.claude/skills/ for global user access and .claude/skills/ at your project root for repository-specific capabilities.

Claude Code, available through the aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws repository, extends its functionality via custom skills that reside on your local filesystem. Knowing exactly where these skills live is critical for manual debugging, backing up configurations, or deciding between global versus project-scoped installation. According to the repository's official documentation, the agent follows a strict directory convention for skill discovery that splits functionality between user-global and project-local scopes.

Default Storage Locations for Claude Code Skills

Claude Code searches for skills during initialization by scanning exactly two filesystem paths. The agent merges capabilities from both locations, allowing you to mix global utilities with project-specific tooling.

Global Skills Directory

Global skills are stored in the hidden directory ~/.claude/skills/ (or %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\ on Windows systems). When you install a skill for system-wide availability—typically via global package managers or manual placement—Claude Code references this path to load capabilities across all repositories on your machine.

Project-Relative Skills Directory

For repository-specific functionality, Claude Code uses .claude/skills/ at the root of your project. This convention allows teams to commit skills directly to version control. When you execute commands like npx skills add within a project context, the skill is placed in this local directory, ensuring consistent tooling for all collaborators who clone the repository.

How to Locate Skills on Your System

You can verify installation and enumerate existing skills using standard shell commands targeting these specific paths.

To discover all project-local skills:

find . -type d -path "*/.claude/skills/*"

To list globally installed Claude Code skills:

find "$HOME/.claude/skills" -type d -maxdepth 1

Reading Skill Metadata Programmatically

Each skill package contains a manifest.json file that defines the skill's configuration and entry points. You can parse this metadata using Python by referencing the known local storage paths established in the aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws repository structure.

import json
from pathlib import Path

skill_path = Path('.claude/skills') / 'my-skill' / 'manifest.json'
if skill_path.is_file():
    manifest = json.loads(skill_path.read_text())
    print(f"Skill name: {manifest.get('name')}")
else:
    print("Skill not found.")

Key Configuration Files in the Repository

The aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws repository defines these storage conventions in specific documentation and configuration files that govern Claude Code behavior.

skills/README.md

Located at skills/README.md in the repository root, this file officially documents the dual-path storage strategy. It specifies that Claude Code checks both ~/.claude/skills/ and .claude/skills/ during the skill discovery phase, establishing the contract for where the agent expects to find executable skill definitions.

.claude-plugin/marketplace.json

The .claude-plugin/marketplace.json file lists the skills that the Claude Code plugin can load from either storage location. This file serves as a reference for validating which skills are available after installation to either the global or local paths.

Summary

• Claude Code skills are stored locally in exactly two locations: ~/.claude/skills/ (global) and .claude/skills/ (project-relative)
• Global skills apply across all repositories on your machine, while project-relative skills are version-controllable and travel with your codebase
• The skills/README.md file in the aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws repository defines the official directory structure for skill storage
• Each skill contains a manifest.json file that can be accessed programmatically using standard filesystem operations

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the default global path for Claude Code skills?

Claude Code stores globally installed skills in ~/.claude/skills/ on Unix-like systems and the equivalent user profile directory on Windows. This location makes skills available across all projects on your local machine without requiring per-repository installation.

Can I install skills per project?

Yes. Claude Code supports project-specific installation via the .claude/skills/ directory at your repository root. This path is typically populated when running installation commands like npx skills add within a project context, allowing teams to share skills by committing them to version control.

How does Claude Code discover installed skills?

Claude Code automatically scans both the global path (~/.claude/skills/) and the project-relative path (.claude/skills/) during the initialization phase. The agent loads any valid skills found in either location, merging capabilities from global and local sources into a unified execution environment.

Where is the skill storage location documented?

The storage conventions are officially documented in the skills/README.md file within the aws/agent-toolkit-for-aws repository. This file specifies the directory structure, discovery mechanism, and resolution order that Claude Code uses when loading skills from local storage.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}