Skip to content
alyn

Best Claude skills for coding

Coding skills change how your agent works, not only what it writes: brainstorm before building, write a plan, test first, review its own diff, and finish branches cleanly. Packs like Superpowers, Matt Pocock's skills, Addy Osmani's agent skills and Garry Tan's gstack are the most starred skills on GitHub.

484 coding skills · ranked live · November 2026

The top 10. Ranked by the Alyn Score.

  1. #1
    Matt Pocock

    Diagnosing Bugs

    Diagnosis loop for hard bugs and performance regressions. Use when the user says "diagnose"/"debug this", or reports something broken/throwing/failing/slow.

    321k33MScore 97
    Details
  2. #2
    Matt Pocock

    Ask Matt

    Ask which skill or flow fits your situation. A router over the skills in this repo.

    321k33MScore 95
    Details
  3. #3
    Matt Pocock

    Code Review

    Review the changes since a fixed point (commit, branch, tag, or merge-base) along two axes: Standards (does the code follow this repo's documented coding standards?) and Spec (does the code…

    321k33MScore 95
    Details
  4. Jesse Vincent

    Superpowers

    #4
    Jesse Vincent

    Writing Skills

    Use when creating new skills, editing existing skills, or verifying skills work before deployment

    316k3.9MScore 94
    Details
  5. Jesse Vincent

    Superpowers

    #5
    Jesse Vincent

    Brainstorming

    You MUST use this before any creative work - creating features, building components, adding functionality, modifying behavior, or planning anything new, in software or out of it (a talk, a…

    316k3.9MScore 92
    Details
  6. Jesse Vincent

    Superpowers

    #6
    Jesse Vincent

    Diagnosing Superpowers

    Use when a superpowers session went wrong and your human partner wants to know why — repeated work, ignored plans, stumbles, poor results, a skill that didn't fire, "it took too long", "why…

    316k3.9MScore 92
    Details
  7. #7
    JuliusBrussee

    Caveman Learn

    Act on a Caveman learn report - review the ranked token sinks, apply cost-lowering fixes with per-edit consent, and report what those fixes returned. Use when asked to lower an agent's…

    119k4.8MScore 90
    Details
  8. #8
    affaan-m

    Agent Architecture Audit

    Full-stack diagnostic for agent and LLM applications. Audits the 12-layer agent stack for wrapper regression, memory pollution, tool discipline failures, hidden repair loops, and rendering…

    301k1.7MScore 89
    Details
  9. #9
    affaan-m

    Agent Sort

    Build an evidence-backed ECC install plan for a specific repo by sorting skills, commands, rules, hooks, and extras into DAILY vs LIBRARY buckets using parallel repo-aware review passes…

    301k1.7MScore 89
    Details
  10. #10
    affaan-m

    Android Clean Architecture

    Clean Architecture patterns for Android and Kotlin Multiplatform projects — module structure, dependency rules, UseCases, Repositories, and data layer patterns. Use when structuring…

    301k1.7MScore 89
    Details

What makes a great coding skill.

  • A workflow (plan, implement, verify) rather than a list of tips.

  • Explicit stop conditions so the agent asks instead of guessing.

  • Skills that compose: planning, testing and review that hand off to each other.

All 484 coding skills.

85
Addy Osmani

frontend-ui-engineering

Builds production-quality, accessible, responsive user-facing UIs. Use when building or modifying interfaces and pages, creating components, implementing layouts, meeting WCAG accessibility…

115k1.8MCoding
85
Addy Osmani

git-workflow-and-versioning

Structures git workflow practices. Use when making any code change. Use when committing, branching, resolving conflicts, splitting uncommitted work in a messy working tree into clean atomic…

115k1.8MCoding
85
Addy Osmani

incremental-implementation

Delivers changes incrementally in thin, verifiable slices. Use when implementing any feature or change that touches more than one file, or when picking up the next task from a plan. Use…

115k1.8MCoding
85
Addy Osmani

interview-me

Extracts what the user actually wants instead of what they think they should want. Achieves this through one-question-at-a-time interview until ~95% confidence about the underlying intent…

115k1.8MCareer
85
Addy Osmani

observability-and-instrumentation

Instruments code so production behavior is visible and diagnosable. Use when adding logging, metrics, tracing, or alerting. Use when shipping any feature that runs in production and you…

115k1.8MDevOps
85
Addy Osmani

planning-and-task-breakdown

Breaks work into ordered tasks. Use when you have a spec or clear requirements and need to break work into implementable tasks. Use when a task feels too large to start, when you need to…

115k1.8MProductivity
85
Addy Osmani

shipping-and-launch

Prepares production launches. Use when preparing to deploy to production, or when asking what needs to be in place before shipping. Use when you need a pre-launch checklist, when setting up…

115k1.8MMarketing
85
Addy Osmani

source-driven-development

Grounds every implementation decision in official documentation. Use when you want to verify an approach against the official docs before implementing it, or when you want authoritative…

115k1.8MResearch
85
Addy Osmani

spec-driven-development

Creates specs before coding. Use when starting a new project, feature, or significant change and no specification exists yet. Use when drafting a PRD or requirements document with…

115k1.8MCoding

wshobson

Agents

85
wshobson

team-composition-patterns

Design optimal agent team compositions with sizing heuristics, preset configurations, and agent type selection. Use this skill when deciding how many agents to spawn for a task, when…

42k2.6MCoding
85
Addy Osmani

test-driven-development

Drives development with tests using the red-green-refactor loop. Use when implementing any logic, fixing any bug, or changing any behavior. Use when you need to prove that code works, when…

115k1.8MCoding
85
Addy Osmani

using-agent-skills

Discovers and invokes agent skills. Use when starting a session, or when you need to decide which skill or workflow applies to the piece of work at hand. This is the meta-skill that governs…

115k1.8MCoding
84
affaan-m

ai-first-engineering

Engineering operating model for teams where AI agents generate a large share of implementation output. Use when setting team process, review gates, or ownership rules for a codebase largely…

301k1.7MCoding

wshobson

Agents

84
wshobson

api-design-principles

Master REST and GraphQL API design principles to build intuitive, scalable, and maintainable APIs that delight developers. Use when designing new APIs, reviewing API specifications, or…

42k2.6MCoding
84
JuliusBrussee

caveman-commit

Write a Conventional Commits message compressed to intent only. Use for "write a commit", "commit message", /commit or /caveman-commit.

119k4.8MCoding
84
JuliusBrussee

caveman-help

Quick-reference card for the three caveman skills and their commands. Trigger: /caveman-help or "caveman help".

119k4.8MCoding
84
JuliusBrussee

caveman-review

Compressed code review - one line per finding with location, problem and fix. Use for /caveman-review, "review this PR", or "review the diff".

119k4.8MCoding
84
JuliusBrussee

megacave

Caveman in Classical Chinese: 文言文 register, far fewer characters, technical terms verbatim. Invoke only with /megacave or /caveman wenyan. Stays on until "stop caveman" or "normal mode".

119k4.8MCoding

wshobson

Agents

84
wshobson

multi-cloud-architecture

Design multi-cloud architectures using a decision framework to select and integrate services across AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI. Use when building multi-cloud systems, avoiding vendor lock-in…

42k2.6MCoding
84
JuliusBrussee

ultracave

Caveman at maximum compression: fragments, one word when one word is enough, each fact once. Invoke only with /ultracave or /caveman ultra. Stays on until "stop caveman" or "normal mode".

119k4.8MCoding

GitHub

Awesome Copilot

83
GitHub

agent-supply-chain

Verify supply chain integrity for AI agent plugins, tools, and dependencies. Use this skill when: - Generating SHA-256 integrity manifests for agent plugins or tool packages - Verifying…

41k2.4MCoding

GitHub

Awesome Copilot

83
GitHub

ai-prompt-engineering-safety-review

Comprehensive AI prompt engineering safety review and improvement prompt. Analyzes prompts for safety, bias, security vulnerabilities, and effectiveness while providing detailed improvement…

41k2.4MAI engineering

GitHub

Awesome Copilot

83
GitHub

architecture-blueprint-generator

Comprehensive project architecture blueprint generator that analyzes codebases to create detailed architectural documentation. Automatically detects technology stacks and architectural…

41k2.4MCoding

GitHub

Awesome Copilot

83
GitHub

autoresearch

Autonomous iterative experimentation loop for any programming task. Guides the user through defining goals, measurable metrics, and scope constraints, then runs an autonomous loop of code…

41k2.4MScience

wshobson

Agents

83
wshobson

block-no-verify-hook

Configure a PreToolUse hook to prevent AI agents from skipping git pre-commit hooks with --no-verify and other bypass flags. Use when setting up Claude Code projects that enforce commit…

42k2.6MCoding
83
JuliusBrussee

caveman-stats

Show recorded output and cache-read token usage and mode attribution for the current Claude Code session, or locate the host's native usage report. Trigger: /caveman-stats.

119k4.8MCoding
83
JuliusBrussee

lean-build

Build feature work with high overbuilding risk. Use for new behavior, product slices, or integrations where repository reuse, strict scope, and an explicit stop condition matter.

119k4.8MCoding

wshobson

Agents

83
wshobson

parallel-debugging

Debug complex issues using competing hypotheses with parallel investigation, evidence collection, and root cause arbitration. Use this skill when debugging bugs with multiple potential…

42k2.6MCoding
83
morluto

rea-changelog-update

Prepare or rewrite REA release changelogs and GitHub release notes from pinned Git history, with verified contributor thanks and Release Please synchronization.

450k29kCoding
83
Shubhamsaboo

scope-creep-detector

Analyzes git diffs against a stated intent to detect scope creep, unrelated files, broad pull requests, changes that grew beyond a fix, dependency additions, public API renames, config or…

144k83kCoding
83
tt-a1i

test-value

Improve test value and feedback cost when auditing slow, flaky, redundant or brittle tests; choosing tests during implementation; or reviewing test changes before a commit or PR. Keep…

95k216kTesting

Garry Tan

Gstack

82
Garry Tan

captain

Run a crew of coding agents from one controller (also /crew): lanes send READY blocks and never merge; the controller merges through trains, keeps the digest, relays approvals, fixes flakes…

141k47kCoding

Garry Tan

Gstack

82
Garry Tan

gstack

Router for the gstack skill suite. (gstack)

141k47kStartups

Garry Tan

Gstack

82
Garry Tan

gstack-upgrade

Upgrade gstack to the latest version.

141k47kStartups
82
JuliusBrussee

investigate-first

Diagnose ambiguous failures before editing. Use for unknown causes, intermittent behavior, performance regressions, or investigations needing evidence-ranked hypotheses.

119k4.8MFinance

Garry Tan

Gstack

82
Garry Tan

make-pdf

Turn any markdown file into a publication-quality PDF. (gstack)

141k47kDocuments

Coding skills, explained.

Also searched as: claude code skills, best claude code skills, software engineering skills, superpowers.

What are the best Claude skills for coding?

Right now the top-ranked coding skills on Alyn are Diagnosing Bugs (Matt Pocock), Ask Matt (Matt Pocock), Code Review (Matt Pocock). Rankings combine GitHub stars, installs, freshness and depth, and update live.

What are the best Claude Code skills?

By stars and installs: Superpowers (obra), Matt Pocock's skills, Addy Osmani's agent-skills, gstack (Garry Tan) and Caveman. Alyn ranks them live.

How many skills should I install?

Start with one workflow pack and two or three task skills. Each skill only costs about 100 tokens until it is used, but overlapping skills can confuse which one runs.

How do I install a coding skill?

Run npx skills add owner/repo in your project, or copy the folder with SKILL.md into ~/.claude/skills. Every skill on this page has a ready-to-copy command.

Built a coding skill? Get it ranked.

Submit a skill