Share Claude Code Skills Across Repositories with Symlinks

Copying the same skill into several repositories creates versions that drift. A symbolic link keeps one real folder and exposes it wherever Claude Code expects to discover the skill.

When to use

Maintain personal skills in one versioned repository.
Test one skill across several codebases without copying updates.
Expose a shared skill personally or only inside selected projects.

Example

Keep code-reviewer in ~/dev/skills, then link it into two client repositories. Editing the source updates both immediately.

TL;DR

Keep skills in one folder; link them where you need them.

bash

ln -s ~/dev/skills/code-reviewer .claude/skills/code-reviewer

Steps

1
Make a single source folder (ideally its own git repo)
Create one home for the canonical skill files. A dedicated Git repository also gives you history and sharing.
bash
```
mkdir -p ~/dev/skills && cd ~/dev/skills && git init
```
2
Use them everywhere: link into your personal skills
Link the source folder into your personal Claude skills directory when it should be available in every project.
bash
```
mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
ln -s ~/dev/skills/code-reviewer ~/.claude/skills/code-reviewer
```
3
Or only in one repo
Create a project-level link instead when the skill is relevant only to the current repository.
bash
```
mkdir -p .claude/skills
ln -s ~/dev/skills/code-reviewer .claude/skills/code-reviewer
```
4
Windows (PowerShell, Developer Mode or admin)
On Windows, create the equivalent directory link from PowerShell; symbolic-link permission may require Developer Mode or an elevated shell.
PowerShell
```
New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path .claude\skills\code-reviewer -Target $HOME\dev\skills\code-reviewer
```
5
Check the link
Confirm the destination appears as a link and points at the expected source before opening a new Claude Code session.
bash
```
ls -la .claude/skills
```

Gotchas

A committed symlink to your home folder breaks for teammates; add it to .gitignore or commit a real copy.
Use absolute targets so links survive moving the repo.
Restart the Claude Code session if a new skill does not appear.
Skill names must be unique across personal and project folders.

Cheat sheet

ln -s <target> <link>	Create symlink (macOS/Linux)
New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink	Create symlink (Windows)
readlink <link>	Show link target
rm <link>	Remove link, keep source

Sources

Claude Code docs: Skills

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