cline/docs/features/skills.mdx

---
title: "Skills"
sidebarTitle: "Skills"
description: "Extend Cline with reusable, on-demand instruction sets for specialized tasks"
---

Skills are modular instruction sets that extend Cline's capabilities for specific tasks. Each skill packages detailed guidance, workflows, and optional resources that Cline loads only when relevant to your request.

Unlike rules (which are always active), skills load on-demand. You can install dozens of skills without affecting context or performance because Cline only sees the skill name and description until it's actually needed.

## Why Skills?

Consider how you'd onboard a new team member: you wouldn't dump every document on them at once. You'd give them a brief overview, then point them to detailed guides when they're working on specific tasks.

Skills work the same way:
- **At startup**: Cline sees only a brief description of each skill
- **When triggered**: Cline loads the full instructions for that specific skill
- **As needed**: Skills can bundle additional files that Cline reads only when referenced

This progressive loading means you can package extensive domain knowledge without burning context tokens on information that isn't relevant to the current task.

## Creating a Skill

Every skill is a directory containing a `SKILL.md` file with YAML frontmatter:

```
my-skill/
├── SKILL.md          # Required: main instructions
├── docs/             # Optional: additional documentation
│   └── advanced.md
└── scripts/          # Optional: utility scripts
    └── helper.sh
```

The `SKILL.md` file has two parts: metadata and instructions.

```yaml
---
name: my-skill
description: Brief description of what this skill does and when to use it.
---

# My Skill

Detailed instructions for Cline to follow when this skill is activated.

## Steps

1. First, do this
2. Then do that
3. For advanced usage, see [advanced.md](docs/advanced.md)
```

**Required fields:**
- `name`: Must exactly match the directory name
- `description`: Tells Cline when to use this skill (max 1024 characters)

The description is critical because it's how Cline decides whether to activate a skill. Be specific about what the skill does and when it should be used.

## Where Skills Live

Skills can be stored in two locations:

**Global Skills** apply to all your projects:
- **macOS/Linux:** `~/.cline/skills/`
- **Windows:** `C:\Users\USERNAME\.cline\skills\`

**Project Skills** apply only to the current workspace:
- `.cline/skills/` (recommended)
- `.clinerules/skills/`
- `.claude/skills/` (for Claude Code compatibility)

When a global skill and project skill have the same name, the global skill takes precedence. This lets you customize skills for your personal workflow while still using project defaults.

## Managing Skills

Click the scale icon below the chat input to open the rules and workflows panel. When skills are enabled, you'll see a Skills tab where you can:

- View all available skills (global and workspace)
- Toggle individual skills on or off
- Create new skills from a template
- Delete skills you no longer need

Skills are enabled by default when discovered. Toggle them off if you want them available but not active for the current project.

## How Cline Uses Skills

When you send a message, Cline sees a list of available skills with their descriptions. If your request matches a skill's description, Cline activates it using the `use_skill` tool, which loads the full instructions.

For example, if you have a skill for deploying to AWS:

```yaml
---
name: aws-deploy
description: Deploy applications to AWS using CDK. Use when deploying, updating infrastructure, or managing AWS resources.
---
```

Asking "deploy this to AWS" would trigger Cline to activate the skill, load its detailed instructions, and follow them to complete your request.

## Example: Data Analysis Skill

Here's a practical skill for data analysis tasks. Create a directory called `data-analysis/` with this `SKILL.md`:

```yaml
---
name: data-analysis
description: Analyze data files and generate insights. Use when working with CSV, Excel, or JSON data files that need exploration, cleaning, or visualization.
---
```

Then add the instructions in the body of the file:

````markdown
# Data Analysis

When analyzing data files, follow this workflow:

## 1. Understand the Data

- Read a sample of the file to understand its structure
- Identify column types and data quality issues
- Note any missing values or anomalies

## 2. Ask Clarifying Questions

Before diving in, ask the user:
- What specific insights are they looking for?
- Are there any known data quality issues?
- What format do they want for the output?

## 3. Perform Analysis

Use pandas for data manipulation:

```python
import pandas as pd

# Load and explore
df = pd.read_csv("data.csv")
print(df.head())
print(df.describe())
print(df.info())
```

For visualization, prefer matplotlib or seaborn depending on complexity.

## 4. Present Findings

- Start with a summary of key insights
- Support findings with specific numbers
- Include visualizations where they add clarity
- End with recommendations or next steps
````

## Bundling Supporting Files

Skills can include additional files that Cline accesses only when needed:

```
complex-skill/
├── SKILL.md
├── docs/
│   ├── setup.md
│   └── troubleshooting.md
├── templates/
│   └── config.yaml
└── scripts/
    └── validate.py
```

Reference these in your instructions:

````markdown
For initial setup, follow [setup.md](docs/setup.md).

Use the config template at `templates/config.yaml` as a starting point.

Run the validation script to check your configuration:
```bash
python scripts/validate.py
```
````

Cline reads these files using `read_file` when the instructions reference them. Scripts can be executed directly, with only the output entering the context (not the script code itself).

## Ideas for Skills

Skills shine when you have tasks that:
- Require detailed, multi-step workflows
- Need domain-specific knowledge or best practices
- Would otherwise require repeating the same instructions across conversations

Some possibilities:

- **Release management**: Version bumping, changelog generation, git tagging, and publishing
- **Code review**: Your team's specific review checklist and quality standards
- **Database migrations**: Safely evolving schemas with rollback procedures
- **API integration**: Connecting to specific third-party services with proper error handling
- **Documentation**: Your preferred structure, style guide, and tooling
- **Debugging workflows**: Systematic approaches to diagnosing specific types of issues
- **Infrastructure**: Terraform/CDK patterns for your cloud setup

The best skills encode institutional knowledge that would otherwise live only in experienced developers' heads.

## Skills vs Rules vs Workflows

| Feature | Purpose | When Active |
|---------|---------|-------------|
| **Rules** | Define how Cline should behave | Always (or contextually) |
| **Workflows** | Step-by-step task automation | Invoked with `/workflow.md` |
| **Skills** | Domain expertise loaded on-demand | Triggered by matching requests |

**Rules** set constraints and preferences (like "always use TypeScript" or "follow this style guide").

**Workflows** are explicit sequences you invoke for specific tasks (like `/release.md` for a release process).

**Skills** are expertise that Cline activates automatically when relevant (like data analysis knowledge when you're working with CSV files).

Use rules for ongoing constraints, workflows for explicit automation, and skills for domain knowledge that should be available but not always active.

## Related Features

- [Cline Rules](/features/cline-rules) for always-active project guidance
- [Workflows](/features/slash-commands/workflows/index) for explicit task automation
- [Hooks](/features/hooks/index) for injecting custom logic at key moments