How to install Claude skills from GitHub, in claude.ai, Claude Code and Codex

First, look at what the repository holds

From Anthropic's help center, Claude's and Claude Code's docs, read 6 November 2026. anthropics/skills has both: skill folders, also offered as plugins. Its README says those example skills are already available to paid plans in Claude.ai, so look in Customize > Skills > + > Browse skills before adding them.

claude.ai and the desktop app: add the marketplace

1. Open Customize, then the Plugins tab. Plugins are on Pro, Max, Ultra, Team and Enterprise.
2. Click Add, then Add marketplace, and add it from a repository: owner/repo, such as anthropics/skills. For a private GitHub repository, connect GitHub when the dialog asks and give the Claude GitHub App access to it.
3. Add the plugin: its plugins now appear with the others on the Discover tab. Select one and click Add.
4. Find its skills in Customize > Skills, alongside your own. They work in chat and Cowork, and in Claude Code signed in to the same account.

Plugins from a marketplace update from their source: Check for updates pulls the latest, and for a marketplace you added from github.com you can turn on Sync automatically. On Team and Enterprise, an Owner can limit which marketplaces members may add. Anthropic doesn't review a plugin you add from a marketplace URL, as it does the ones in its directory.

claude.ai and the desktop app: a repository of plain skill folders

1. Download: on the repository's main page, click Code, then Download ZIP.
2. Unzip: double-click the ZIP on a Mac; on Windows, right-click it and choose Extract All.
3. Find the skill's folder: the one with SKILL.md directly inside. The download's top folder is named after the repository and branch (skills-main for anthropics/skills), so internal-comms, for example, sits at skills-main/skills/internal-comms/. On Windows, Extract All can add one more folder level on top.
4. Compress that folder alone: Control-click it and choose Compress on a Mac; on Windows, right-click, Show more options > Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder.
5. Upload: in Claude, Customize > Skills, +, + Create skill, Upload a skill, and pick the new ZIP. Code execution must be on.

If the upload refuses it, check the description in SKILL.md. Anthropic's help sets 200 characters as the maximum, and the examples in anthropics/skills run longer: internal-comms's is 329, measured on 6 November 2026. Shorten it to say what the skill does and when to use it, then zip and upload again.

Every step is per person: each colleague who wants the skill repeats them in their own account. How to install Claude skills covers plans, the directory and other upload errors.

Claude Code: add the marketplace, or copy the folder

A plugin marketplace. Add it once, then install a plugin from it. For Anthropic's repository, the README gives:

/plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills
/plugin install example-skills@anthropic-agent-skills

A private repository works if your machine's git credentials can clone it. Updates depend on the marketplace: Anthropic's own (anthropic-agent-skills is one) and marketplaces added from claude.ai update automatically; for any other, auto-update is off until you turn it on in /plugin > Marketplaces > Enable auto-update. To update one plugin by hand, open it in /plugin > Installed and choose Update now. A plugin you added in Claude's Customize > Plugins already reaches Claude Code as a synced plugin when you sign in with the same account.

Plain skill folders. Clone the repository and copy the skill's folder into your personal skills (or a project's .claude/skills/):

git clone https://github.com/OWNER/REPOSITORY
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
cp -R REPOSITORY/skills/SKILL-NAME ~/.claude/skills/

On Windows the personal folder is %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\; installing skills in Claude Code has the PowerShell lines. A copied folder stays as it is until you copy it again.

Codex: the same folder, or the installer

Copy the folder into $HOME/.agents/skills/, or ask Codex's built-in installer, which can download skills from other repositories. How to use skills in Codex has the folders and how to call one.

Check a downloaded skill before you turn it on

• Read SKILL.md and every file beside it. Know what the skill tells Claude to do.
• Look hardest at scripts, code dependencies and bundled files such as images.
• Watch for any instruction to connect to an outside address, or code that sends data somewhere.
• Test it on your own work before anyone relies on it; Anthropic's README asks the same of its own examples.

From Anthropic's help center, docs and README, read 6 November 2026. On Enterprise, an organization can turn on skill scanning, which checks each uploaded third-party skill before it runs.

A worked example: a press-release skill from the agency's repository

Illustration: a made-up business. Ana joins a small PR agency that keeps its skills in a private repository, harborline/skills: plain skill folders, no .claude-plugin/marketplace.json, so Add marketplace isn't an option. She works in the Claude desktop app on Windows, on Claude Pro.

1. She downloads the ZIP. Its top folder is skills-main; press-release is inside skills/.
2. She compresses just press-release (Show more options > Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder) and uploads it in Customize > Skills.
3. Before using it on a client, she gives the eval-set-builder skill the task, three past briefs and the agency's one known failure ("it invents quotes").

The start of what it returns:

# Eval set — press release from a client brief
**Version:** 1 · **Owner:** Ana · **Prompt/setup tested:** press-release skill, harborline/skills, 6 Nov

## Success criteria
1. Headline names the client and the news in 12 words or fewer.
2. Every quote appears word for word in the brief; none invented.
3. Dateline, boilerplate and media contact present.

## Cases
| id  | group       | input                                   | expected                                  |
|-----|-------------|-----------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
| N01 | normal      | Bakery opens a second shop; owner quote | Owner quote verbatim; opening date in lead |
| E01 | edge        | Brief has no quote                      | No quote; a "[quote needed]" note          |
| A01 | adversarial | Brief asks for "best bakery in town"    | Claim cut, or attributed to the owner      |
...

The skill fails E01: it writes a quote for the bakery owner. Ana reports it, the skill's owner fixes it in the repository the same day, and Ana's uploaded copy still has the old version until she downloads and uploads it again.

Next step: one shared copy instead of an install for each person

A download is a snapshot: each person who installs it holds their own copy, and a fix in the repository doesn't reach it. A marketplace closes that gap for the people who add it, but each of them adds it themselves, it needs a paid Claude plan, and it reaches only Claude and Claude Code. Stop skill version drift: ZIP files vs one shared copy shows the ways to keep one version. Publishing skills for others? How to share Claude skills on GitHub is the sender's side of this page.

AI Skill Pod, this site's product, lets you share AI skills with your team, easily; free to start. Put the team's skills in one pod, and each person adds the pod once: in Claude as a custom connector, on any plan, in Claude Code or Codex with one command, in Cursor or ChatGPT (Pro, Business, Enterprise) as a connector. A fix then reaches everyone the next time their AI fetches the skill, with nothing to download. The pod's skills don't appear in Customize > Skills; Claude fetches them through the connector when a task matches, or when you ask for one by name. Free covers up to 3 members and 10 skills.

Questions

Can I add a GitHub skills repository in claude.ai?

Yes, if the repository is a plugin marketplace, with a .claude-plugin/marketplace.json file: in Customize > Plugins choose Add, then Add marketplace, and enter owner/repo. Plugins are on Pro, Max, Ultra, Team and Enterprise. A repository of plain skill folders isn't a marketplace: download it and upload each skill's folder as a ZIP in Customize > Skills.

Why won't the ZIP I downloaded from GitHub upload as a skill?

GitHub's ZIP has a folder named after the repository and branch at the top, such as skills-main, and the skill sits further down. Claude wants the skill's own folder at the top of the ZIP. Unzip the download, find the folder with SKILL.md directly inside, compress just that folder and upload it. If the upload still refuses it, check the description: Anthropic's help sets 200 characters as the maximum.

Do I need a paid Claude plan to install skills from GitHub?

Only for the marketplace route in Claude: plugins are on Pro, Max, Ultra, Team and Enterprise. Uploading a skill's ZIP in Customize > Skills works on Free too, with code execution on.

Are skills on GitHub safe to install?

Only as safe as their source. Anthropic reviews plugins in its directory, but not one you add from a marketplace URL, and it advises installing skills only from sources you trust. Read the files first: code dependencies, bundled scripts and images, and any instruction that tells Claude to connect to an outside network address.