Skills are folders of instructions, scripts, and resources that Claude loads dynamically to improve performance on specialized tasks. Skills teach Claude how to complete specific tasks in a repeatable way.
For more information, check out:
- What are skills?
- Using skills in Claude
- How to create custom skills
- Equipping agents for the real world with Agent Skills
This repository contains skills for a variety of curation and knowledge-based tasks. We currently have 3 skills included, but intend to grow this.
Each skill is self-contained in its own directory with a SKILL.md file containing the instructions and metadata that Claude uses. Browse through these examples to get inspiration for your own skills or to understand different patterns and approaches.
For broader context, see:
There are two approaches you can use to incorporate these skills into your workflows:
- Copy and paste into your repo
- Install via marketplace
Find the skill you need and copy the folder structure into the .claude/skills/ folder of your repo.
You can then adapt the skill according to your local practice
- PROs: simplest, adaptable; if checked in to your repo, everyone (+actions) can use it
- CONs: harder to keep in sync with upstream changes
You can register this repository as a Claude Code Plugin marketplace by running the following command in Claude Code:
/plugin marketplace add ai4curation/curation-skills
Then, to install a specific set of skills:
First, type /plugin
> /plugin
╭────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ Plugins │
│ │
│ ❯ 1. Browse and install plugins │
│ 2. Manage and uninstall plugins │
│ 3. Add marketplace │
│ 4. Manage marketplaces │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
Esc to exit
Then select Browse and install plugins:
╭────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ Select marketplace │
│ │
│ anthropic-agent-skills │
│ 2 plugins available · 2 already installed · anthropics/skills │
│ │
│ ❯ curation-skills │
│ 3 plugins available · 1 already installed · /Users/cjm/repos/curation-skills/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
Choose curation-skills
You should see a list of selections (more coming soon):
╭────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ curation-skills › Install plugins │
│ │
│ ❯ ◯ ontology-access-kit │
│ Skills for querying ontologies using the Ontology Access ... │
│ │
│ ◯ editing-obo-ontologies │
│ Skills and tools for editing OBO format ontologies │
│ │
│ ◯ dosdp-design-patterns │
│ Skills for understanding and applying DOSDP design patterns │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
After selecting one, you will get more information and the option to install:
╭────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ Plugin Details │
│ │
│ ontology-access-kit │
│ │
│ Skills for querying ontologies using the Ontology Access Kit (OAK) │
│ │
│ Will install: │
│ • Components will be discovered at installation │
│ │
│ > Install now │
│ Back to plugin list │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
Install the skills you need (use esc to go back to select more)
You should need to explicitly invoke skills. For example, asking a non-simple ontology question might invoke the OAK skill:
> GO biological process terms in the goslim_generic subset
⏺ I'll use the ontology-access-kit skill to help you query GO biological process terms in the goslim_generic subset.
╭────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ Use skill “ontology-access-kit”? │
│ Claude may use instructions, code, or files from this Skill. │
│ │
│ Skills for querying ontologies using the Ontology Access Kit (OAK). This should only be used for complex ontology operations, for basic external ontology searching use the OLS MCP │
│ (plugin:ontology-access-kit@curation-skills) │
│ │
│ Do you want to proceed? │
│ ❯ 1. Yes │
│ 2. Yes, and don't ask again for ontology-access-kit in /Users/cjm/repos/curation-skills │
│ 3. No, and tell Claude what to do differently (esc) │
(note for lookup or search tasks, Claude should simply use the OLS or Bioportal MCP instead)
Selecting 1 or 2 might result in:
╭────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ Bash command │
│ │
│ runoak -i sqlite:obo:go info .in goslim_generic .and .desc//p=i GO:0008150 │
│ Query GO biological process terms in goslim_generic │
│ │
│ Do you want to proceed? │
│ 1. Yes │
│ ❯ 2. Yes, and don't ask again for runoak commands in /Users/cjm/repos/curation-skills │
│ 3. No, and tell Claude what to do differently (esc) │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
Here Claude has used the skill to figure the right OAK command. Here is is using a moderately complex OAK feature, the ability to do boolean queries combining graphs and property (subset) lookups.
Agreeing to this might result in:
Perfect! I found 72 GO biological process terms in the goslim_generic subset. Here are the results:
Cell Cycle & Division:
- GO:0000278 - mitotic cell cycle
- GO:0000910 - cytokinesis
- GO:0007059 - chromosome segregation
- GO:0140013 - meiotic nuclear division
- GO:0140014 - mitotic nuclear division
Metabolism:
- GO:0005975 - carbohydrate metabolic process
- GO:0006091 - generation of precursor metabolites and energy
- GO:0006520 - amino acid metabolic process
- GO:0006629 - lipid metabolic process
- GO:0006766 - vitamin metabolic process
- GO:0006790 - sulfur compound metabolic process
- GO:0055086 - nucleobase-containing small molecule metabolic process
- GO:1901135 - carbohydrate derivative metabolic process
Gene Expression & RNA:
- GO:0006351 - DNA-templated transcription
- GO:0006355 - regulation of DNA-templated transcription
- GO:0016071 - mRNA metabolic process
- GO:0002181 - cytoplasmic translation
- GO:0006399 - tRNA metabolic process
- GO:0016073 - snRNA metabolic process
System Processes:
- GO:0002376 - immune system process
- GO:0003012 - muscle system process
- GO:0003013 - circulatory system process
- GO:0050877 - nervous system process
- GO:0050886 - endocrine process
Plus many more covering cellular organization, transport, development, and specialized processes like photosynthesis, autophagy, and wound healing.
Would you like me to export this to a file or filter it further in any way?
See:
We believe the simplest way to ensure the claude agent invoked by your github actions uses skills is to follow the "Copy and paste (simplest)" protocol above.
Clone this repo and:
/plugin marketplace add /path/to/this/repo/curation-skills/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json
Note: you may need to modify the sources to say:
"source": "./..",