# The Problem Skills Solve — Claude Code Skills & SKILL.md

Source: https://www.geekswithgeeks.com/en/claude-code-skills/b-problem

> See why repeating instructions in every chat does not scale.

## You keep explaining the same thing

Every time you ask an AI coding assistant to do a recurring job (write release notes in your team's format, review a pull request against your checklist, deploy to staging, verify a web page) you have to explain the steps again, paste the template again, and remind it of the gotchas it forgot last time. Putting everything into one giant instruction file does not scale either: it fills the context window on every request, even when the task has nothing to do with it. A **skill** solves this by packaging **procedural knowledge** (the steps, the conventions, the scripts and reference documents) in a folder that Claude **discovers by its description** and **loads only when the task calls for it**. You write it once, version it, share it with your team, and improve it over time. Details of skills continue to evolve, so check the current Claude Code documentation for exact behaviour.

## Know-how in a folder

A skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file that teaches Claude how to do one kind of task, loaded only when it is relevant.

![Four parts: description, body, files, scripts.](assets/figures/claude-code-skills/section-1-map.svg) — Figure 1.1 — Description, body, files and scripts.

## A recipe card in a drawer

You do not read every recipe before cooking. You see the titles, pull out the one you need, and follow it. Skills work the same way: Claude sees the titles and descriptions and opens the matching one.

## Start with a task you repeat

If you have explained the same procedure three times, it is a good candidate for a skill.

**Quiz:** What problem do skills mainly solve?

- [ ] Replacing version control
- [ ] Making the model larger
- [x] Repeating the same procedure in every conversation without bloating the context
- [ ] Hosting websites

*Answer:* Repeating the same procedure in every conversation without bloating the context. Skills package reusable procedures that load on demand.