Building Skills for Claude — Complete Guide

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Course content

3.1 The Anatomy of a Skill Folder

The Anatomy of a Skill Folder

Structure that Claude understands and uses

Every Skill lives in its own folder. The structure is simple but important — it determines how Claude discovers and uses your Skill.

Folder Structure

Skill Folder Layout

your-skill-name/
  |-- SKILL.md                   # Required - main file
  |-- scripts/                   # Optional - executable code
  |   |-- process_data.py
  |   |-- validate.sh
  |-- references/                # Optional - documentation
  |   |-- api-guide.md
  |   |-- examples/
  |-- assets/                    # Optional - templates etc.
      |-- report-template.md

Only One Required File

The only required file is SKILL.md (case-sensitive). Everything else is optional and Claude loads it on demand when it is mentioned in the instructions.

What Goes Where

SKILL.md

Your main instruction file. YAML frontmatter at top, followed by markdown instructions, examples, and guardrails.

scripts/

Executable scripts that Claude can run during the workflow. Python, Bash, Node — any language.

references/

API documentation, style guides, domain knowledge files that Claude reads on demand.

assets/

Output templates, sample files, images, brand guidelines used for generating output.

Naming Convention

Use kebab-case for your folder name: weekly-report, code-review, data-analysis. Avoid spaces, underscores, or camelCase.

Key Rule

Keep the structure flat and simple. Claude navigates folders well, but deeply nested structures add unnecessary complexity. One level of subfolders is usually enough.