Live Skill Discovery - Claude Code

Claude Code watches your skills directory for changes. Edit a skill file and the session picks up the new version without a restart.

What it does

On file save, Claude Code notices the change and reloads the skill's frontmatter and body. New skills added to the directory show up immediately. Removed skills disappear. This makes skill authoring feel fast - edit, save, try it, edit again.

When to use it

• Iterating on a new skill during a live session.
• Testing description wording for auto-invocation.
• Updating a team-shared skill and seeing the effect without restarting.
• Pair-programming with a skill author alongside a Claude session.

Gotchas

• In-flight turns don't hot-reload. The change applies on the next invocation.
• Syntax errors in frontmatter silently disable the skill. Check the /mcp or skill menu to see what actually loaded.
• If you rename a skill mid-session, old references may fail until reload.

Official docs: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/skills.md#live-change-detection