Bug: Paths in SKILL.md files should be resolved relative to the skill file location (Claude resolves them as absolute paths)

Environment

• Claude Code version: 2.1.5
• OS: macOS Tahoe 26.2
• Terminal: WarpTerminal

Description

When a SKILL.md file references a path (e.g., references/pull-requests.md), Claude attempts to resolve it as an absolute path or guesses a location rather than resolving it relative to the SKILL.md file's directory.

Expected Behavior

Paths written in SKILL.md files should be resolved relative to the SKILL.md file location, similar to how imports work in most programming languages.

For example, if a skill at ~/.claude/skills/create-pr/SKILL.md contains:

Follow the workflow in `references/pull-requests.md`

Claude should look for ~/.claude/skills/create-pr/references/pull-requests.md.

Actual Behavior

Claude guesses the path location (e.g., ~/.claude/references/pull-requests.md) rather than resolving relative to the skill file.

!Image

Reproduction Steps

1. Create a skill with a SKILL.md that references a relative path
2. Invoke the skill
3. Observe Claude attempting to read from an incorrect absolute path