Chapter 2 and Chapter 7 in full. The complete handbook is 11 chapters, $9.9, delivered with the Pro pack.
A skill is a folder with an instruction file. The SKILL.md has two parts:
· Frontmatter (machine-read): name + description. Claude never loads the body — it reads every skill's description to decide "do I need this one right now?"
· Body (read when working): the workflow, output format, anti-patterns.
Which leads to the key fact: the description is a trigger surface, not documentation. A vague one ("helps improve code quality") sleeps forever. A precise one ("MUST USE when the user asks to review a PR / review these changes / is this safe to ship") hits every time.
Why the three old approaches lose:
| Old way | Problem | How skills fix it |
|---|---|---|
| Type the instructions every time | Repetition, version drift | Write once, fires forever |
| Put it in CLAUDE.md | Always in context, eats tokens, rules interfere | Loaded on demand |
| MCP tools | Gives capability (new hands) | Skills give method (a new brain) |
One sentence: skills turn "the senior habits you keep re-explaining" into an asset.
| Your situation | Say this | Skill that fires |
|---|---|---|
| Starting a new feature | "Spec first, then code" | feature-spec |
| Code done, afraid to commit | "Review these changes" | pr-reviewer |
| Production is on fire | "Reproduce and find the root cause" | bug-hunter |
| About to commit | "Split into logical commits, scan for secrets" | commit-craft |
| Test coverage feels thin | "Write tests that catch real bugs" | test-forge |
| First day on a new codebase | "Onboard me to this project, build an index" | codebase-onboarding |
| Inherited unreadable legacy code | "Trace the data flow and explain it, cite file:line" | legacy-explainer |
| Changing the database | "Big-table schema change, expand-contract" | db-migration-safe |
| Cutting a release | "Version by contract changes, write the notes" | changelog-release |
| Performance is bad | "Profile and find the hotspots first" | perf-profiler |
| Upgrading a framework | "Follow the official upgrade guide, check deprecated APIs" | dep-guardian |
| The AI wrote a big pile | "Check this AI code against the eight defect classes" | ai-code-reviewer |
| Designing a new API | "Design an API that won't break consumers" | api-designer |
| Need to refactor | "Characterization tests first, then small steps" | refactor-surgeon |
| Nervous before shipping | "Real attack-surface security audit" | security-audit |
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