How to Edit and Update Skills
Three ways to update a skill: edit SKILL.md by hand, ask Claude in chat, or use the built-in “Edit with Claude” button in claude.ai.
Three ways to edit a skill
Once a skill is installed you will need to update it as your workflow evolves. All three methods edit the same SKILL.md file — choose whichever fits how you work.
| Option | Method | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Option 1 | Edit by hand — open SKILL.md in any text editor and save | Precise one-line tweaks, local terminal work, version-controlled skills |
| Option 2 | Ask Claude in chat — paste SKILL.md, describe changes, copy result back | Rewriting descriptions, iterating on instructions in the browser |
| Option 3 | Edit with Claude — click ••• on claude.ai/customize/skills and choose "Edit with Claude" | Complex rewrites, skills installed via claude.ai, automatic save-back |
Option 1: edit by hand
Open the SKILL.md file in any editor, make your changes, and save. Claude picks up the updated skill on the next invocation — no restart needed.
For example, here's a /commit skill being updated to also push to origin:
--- name: commit description: > Stage all changes, write a descriptive commit message, and push to origin. Triggers whenever a user says "commit", "push my changes", or similar. disable-model-invocation: false allowed-tools: Bash(git add *) Bash(git commit *) Bash(git push *) --- Stage all changes and write a commit message that follows this format: <type>(<scope>): <summary> Types: feat, fix, chore, docs, refactor, test Keep the summary under 72 characters. Write a short body if the change needs context. After committing, push to origin with: git push origin HEAD
/commit in Claude Code straight away — Claude loads the file fresh on each invocation, so no reload step is required.Option 2: ask Claude in chat
Open any Claude chat, paste the current SKILL.md content, and tell Claude what to change. Copy the updated content back into the file.
Here's my SKILL.md for /commit:
description: Stage and commit changes
allowed-tools: Bash(git add *) Bash(git commit *)
Can you update it to also push to origin, and make the description more specific so auto-detection works better?
Here's your updated SKILL.md:
name: commit
description: >
Stage all changes, write a commit message, and push
to origin. Use when asked to commit, push, or save
changes to the repository.
allowed-tools: Bash(git add *) Bash(git commit *) Bash(git push *)
---
Replace the contents of ~/.claude/skills/commit/SKILL.md with the above and you're done.
Option 3: “Edit with Claude” in claude.ai
On claude.ai/customize/skills, open any skill and click the ••• menu in the top-right corner. The dropdown gives you five options:
Reviews pull requests and code diffs for security vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and insecure patterns.
| Menu option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Try in chat | Opens a new chat with the skill already loaded — useful for quick testing before or after an edit. |
| Edit with Claude | Opens a guided Claude chat where you describe the change; Claude updates the SKILL.md content for you. |
| Replace | Upload a new SKILL.md file from your computer to overwrite the current version. |
| Download | Download the current SKILL.md (and any supporting files) as a zip — good for backups or version control. |
| Uninstall | Remove the skill from your account entirely. |
When to use each approach
| Approach | Use when |
|---|---|
| Edit by hand | Precise one-line tweaks; working locally in a terminal; skill is version-controlled in Git; you know exactly what to change. |
| Ask Claude in chat | You have the browser open anyway; want Claude to rewrite the description; iterating on instructions quickly; skill doesn't have many supporting files. |
| Edit with Claude | Updating a skill installed via claude.ai; complex instruction rewrite; want changes saved back automatically; quickest path when already in claude.ai. |
Before you continue
- All three edit methods change the same SKILL.md file — pick the one that fits your workflow.
- Hand-editing is fastest for small, precise changes; no reload needed in Claude Code.
- Edit with Claude in claude.ai saves changes back automatically — best for complex rewrites.
- After any edit, run
/skill-nameor click “Try in chat” to confirm the skill behaves as expected. - Next: three ready-made skills for developers —
/code-review,/commit, and/pr-description.
What's Next
Editing skills is straightforward. Next: three ready-made skills for developers — /code-review, /commit, and /pr-description — with downloadable SKILL.md files.