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Claude Code skill — the fine print

The detail behind the Claude Code skill option page: how updates actually propagate, why a skill isn't locked to Claude Code, namespacing, and the by-hand path.

Last verified: 2026-06-07.

Updates only auto-reach people on the one-command path

A skill someone copied as a plain folder is a snapshot — your later changes don't follow it. They re-copy the folder to get the new version. [confirmed]

The one-command install (a "marketplace" — really just a repo with a marketplace.json index) is different: when you publish a change, the people who installed it pull your latest on a refresh. [confirmed] (Plugin marketplaces)

So if "fix it once for everyone" matters, set up the one-command path, not a folder to copy.

A skill isn't locked to Claude Code

A skill follows the open Agent Skills standard, so the same SKILL.md folder also works in Cursor, Codex, and other agents that adopt it. Your share isn't tied to one tool. [confirmed] (skills docs)

Plugin skills are namespaced

A skill review inside a plugin my-tools is invoked as /my-tools:review, not /review — so two people's installs can't collide. [confirmed] (Create plugins)

Prefer to do it by hand?

You don't need an agent to make a skill. Write ~/.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md yourself — a short description (so Claude knows when to use it) plus your steps — and put the folder in any repo. The recipient drops it into their own ~/.claude/skills/. [confirmed]

Full both-paths walkthrough: Create and share a skill.

Sources