GitHub repoteam sharingSkillHubSmitheryREADME + license

Share and Distribute Skills

A skill is just a SKILL.md file. That makes sharing simple: send the file, push it to GitHub, or publish to a skills marketplace. This lesson shows you how to do each.

Three ways to share a skill

01Quickest

Send the file directly

The fastest option for one person. Attach the .md file to a message, a Slack DM, or a PR comment. The recipient drops it in their ~/.claude/skills/ folder.

02Most common

Publish to GitHub

The most discoverable option. Push the skill to a public repo with a README and license. Others can clone it or copy-install the file. Works well for a collection of skills.

03Widest reach

Submit to a marketplace

The widest reach. Publish to SkillHub, SkillsMP, or Smithery. Skills get a rating, install count, and a page of their own. Best for polished, production-ready skills.

Step 1 — Prepare your skill for sharing

Before sharing, make sure your SKILL.md is easy for a stranger to understand and install. Add these five fields to the frontmatter and verify them against the checklist below.

code-review.md

---
name: code-review
version: 1.0.0
description: >
  Review staged code changes for issues before committing.
  Usage: /code-review [severity]
  Example: /code-review critical
  Outputs: Critical, Warning, and Suggestion findings grouped by severity.
author: your-github-username
license: MIT
allowed-tools:
  - Read
  - Bash
---

## Context
- Date: $CURRENT_DATE
- Branch: $(git branch --show-current)
- Staged diff: $(git diff --cached)

## Role
You are a senior code reviewer. Focus on correctness and security.

## Steps
1. Read the staged diff from context.
2. If a severity flag is given (critical / warning / all), filter to that level.
3. Report findings in three groups: Critical, Warnings, Suggestions.

## Output format
### Code Review — $(git branch --show-current)
🔴 Critical  (list)
🟡 Warning   (list)
🔵 Suggestion (list)
Summary: X critical, Y warnings, Z suggestions.

## Constraints
- Only review staged changes, not the full file.
- Skip style suggestions unless they affect correctness.

Pre-share checklist

☑name is lowercase, hyphenated, no spaces

☑version follows semver (1.0.0)

☑description includes Usage:, Example:, Outputs:

☑author field set to your GitHub username

☑license declared (MIT is the community default)

☑allowed-tools lists only what the skill actually uses

☑tested at least once on a real project

☐optional: version pinned to a git tag (v1.0.0)

Step 2 — Publish to GitHub

The recommended layout for a skills repository is one file per skill, a short README that shows how to install and use each one, and a license file.

github.com/you/claude-skills

you / claude-skills

⭐ Star🍴 Fork

main · 4 files

📄README.mdInstallation and usage guide

📄LICENSEMIT License

🤖code-review.mdReview staged changes before committing

🤖standup.mdWrite daily standup from git context

🤖translate.mdTranslate text between any two languages

Keep the README short. All a user needs to know is how to install and what commands each skill adds.

README.md

# code-review skill

A Claude Code skill that reviews your staged changes before you commit.

## Install

```bash
# Option 1 — copy the file
cp code-review.md ~/.claude/skills/code-review.md

# Option 2 — clone and symlink
git clone https://github.com/you/claude-skills
ln -s $(pwd)/claude-skills/code-review.md ~/.claude/skills/
```

## Usage

```
/code-review            # all findings
/code-review critical   # critical only
```

## Requirements
- Claude Code (claude.ai/code)
- Git repository with staged changes

## License
MIT

Tell users both install paths — copy a single file or clone the whole repo:

# Install one skill
$ curl -o ~/.claude/skills/code-review.md \
    https://raw.githubusercontent.com/you/claude-skills/main/code-review.md
# Install the whole collection
$ git clone https://github.com/you/claude-skills ~/claude-skills
$ ln -s ~/claude-skills/*.md ~/.claude/skills/
  ✔ Skills available as /code-review, /standup, /translate

Step 3 — Submit to a marketplace

Each marketplace has a slightly different submission process, but they all start from a public GitHub repo.

SkillHubskillhub.dev

Ensure your repo is public and has a README
Go to skillhub.dev/submit
Paste your GitHub repo URL
Add a category tag and short description
Submit — the team reviews and publishes within 48 h

SkillHub features a S/A/B/C rating system. A detailed description and a tested skill will score higher.

SkillsMPskillsmp.com

Fork the skillsmp/skills-registry repository
Add your skill file under /skills/your-skill-name/
Add a metadata.json file (name, description, author, tags)
Open a Pull Request to the registry repo
A maintainer merges and the skill appears in the directory

SkillsMP is fully community-run via GitHub PRs. No separate account needed beyond GitHub.

Smitherysmithery.ai

Smithery is primarily an MCP server directory
Claude skills can be listed if packaged as an MCP extension
Push your skill repo to GitHub with a smithery.yaml config file
Run: npx -y smithery publish
Your skill appears in the Smithery directory after validation

Smithery suits skills that expose tools or resources as MCP servers, not plain SKILL.md files.

Sharing within a team

If you want the whole team to use the same skills without everyone managing their own copies, store them in the project repository and symlink from there.

your-project/
├── src/
├── package.json
└── .claude/
    └── skills/
        ├── code-review.md   ← shared with the team via git
        ├── standup.md
        └── deploy-check.md

Claude Code automatically loads skills from a .claude/skills/ directory at the project root, in addition to the user-level ~/.claude/skills/ directory. No symlinks needed.

💡 Tip: Commit .claude/skills/ to your repository. Every developer who clones the project gets the team skills automatically — no manual install step required.

# Developer joins the project and clones the repo
$ git clone https://github.com/your-org/your-project
$ cd your-project
# Claude Code detects .claude/skills/ automatically
$ claude
  ◆ Loaded 3 project skills:
    /code-review   /standup   /deploy-check
  ✔ Ready

Versioning and updates

Use semantic versioning in the version field. Tag each release in Git so users can pin to a known-good version.

Change type	Version bump	Example
Fix a bug, improve wording	`Patch (1.0.0 → 1.0.1)`	Corrected output format typo
Add a new argument or step	`Minor (1.0.0 → 1.1.0)`	Added severity flag support
Rename, restructure, break compatibility	`Major (1.0.0 → 2.0.0)`	Renamed /review to /code-review

⚠️ Note: Skill names are how users invoke the skill (e.g. /code-review). Renaming a skill is a breaking change — always bump the major version and note the rename in your changelog or README.

Claude Skills — Section Complete

✓Introduced to Claude Skills

✓Set up skills in your account

✓Used ready-made skills

✓Created your own skills

✓Built skills from scratch

✓Used and edited skills

✓Found skills on marketplaces

✓Written clear instructions

✓Tested your skills

✓Passed arguments to skills

✓Added dynamic context

✓Built orchestrator skills with subagents

✓Shared and distributed skills

What's Next

You've mastered Claude Skills. The next module introduces Claude Plugins — bundles of Skills, Connectors, and Commands you can install and share as a unit.

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Skills with Subagents

Introduction to Claude Plugin