Skills vs Other Options

Purpose: When to use Skills versus other Claude Code customizations

Comparison Table

Option	When It Runs	Best For
Skills	Claude chooses when relevant	Specialized knowledge (review standards, patterns)
Slash commands	You type `/command`	Reusable prompts (`/deploy staging`)
CLAUDE.md	Every conversation	Project-wide instructions
Subagents	Claude delegates or you invoke	Isolated context, different tools
Hooks	Specific tool events	Auto-format, logging, protection
MCP servers	Claude calls as needed	External tools and data sources

Key Distinctions

Skills vs Slash Commands

Skills: Claude decides when to use based on task
Commands: You explicitly type /command

Skills vs Subagents

Skills: Add knowledge to current conversation
Subagents: Separate context with own tools/permissions

Skills vs MCP

Skills: Tell Claude how to use tools
MCP: Provide the tools themselves

Skills vs CLAUDE.md

Skills: Loaded only when relevant
CLAUDE.md: Always loaded into every conversation

Decision Guide

Use Skills when:

Teaching domain-specific knowledge
Defining review/coding standards
Want Claude to decide when to apply

Use Subagents when:

Need tool isolation
Task produces verbose output
Want separate context window

Use CLAUDE.md when:

Rules apply to ALL interactions
Project-wide coding standards

Related

../concepts/agent-skills.md - Skills overview
../concepts/subagents-system.md - Subagents overview
../../standards/subagent-structure.md - Subagent patterns

Reference: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills