GuidesClaude Code

Five Claude Code skills worth installing

By Stephen Thorn · 2 minute read ·

Skill vs MCP

An MCP connects Claude to a tool or your data: your calendar, a database, a browser. A skill is a set of instructions that teaches Claude how to do a job the right way. You can use both.

1. Superpowers

Makes Claude plan the work, write the tests, and check every step before it says it's done. From Anthropic's official plugin marketplace. In Claude Code:

/plugin install superpowers@claude-plugins-official

2. Find Skills

Tell it what you're working on, and it finds a skill built for that job. From Vercel.

https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills

3. Web Design Guidelines

Checks your buttons, forms, mobile layout and accessibility, then tells Claude what to fix. From Vercel.

https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills/tree/main/skills/web-design-guidelines

4. Impeccable

Stops your site looking like every other AI-built site.

https://github.com/pbakaus/impeccable

5. Playwright

Opens your site in a real browser, clicks through it and takes screenshots, so Claude can see what it built. From Microsoft.

https://github.com/microsoft/playwright-cli

Before you install any skill

A skill runs with whatever access you've given Claude. Read the SKILL.md in a plain text editor, scan it with SkillSpector (free, from NVIDIA), and prefer official sources or people with a track record.

Before you install another one: run /skill-doctor

Every skill you install takes up room on every message, whether Claude uses it or not. So the more you add, the more each message costs you. /skill-doctor shows you which ones earn their place.

  1. In a Claude Code session in your terminal, type /skill-doctor.

  2. The report opens in the /plugin manager's Stats tab. It shows what each of your skills costs in context, and how often it gets used.

  3. It flags the skills that have never been used, and tells you where to turn each one off.

  4. Start with the never-used skills that cost the most. Turn those off first, then check the rest.

It also lists plugins you haven't used lately.

Limits:

  • It doesn't cover built-in or enterprise skills.

  • It needs feature-flag fetching, so it's off if you've set DISABLE_TELEMETRY, DO_NOT_TRACK or CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_NONESSENTIAL_TRAFFIC.

  • Run it in the terminal. It doesn't work over Remote Control.

  • If /skill-doctor isn't there, run claude update.

The mistake to avoid: installing every skill that looks useful and never checking again. A skill you never use still costs you on every message. Keep the 5 above, run /skill-doctor every so often, and cut what never gets used.