[BUG] Skills visible in Customize UI but not invocable as slash commands when located in project directory

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Skills that exist as folders with SKILL.md in the current working directory appear in the Customize panel under "My skills" with a toggle, giving the impression they are installed and ready to use. However, attempting to invoke them with /skill-name returns Unknown skill: skill-name.

The runtime only resolves skills from ~/.claude/skills/, but the Customize UI also displays skills found in the project/working directory without distinguishing between "detected" and "registered."

What Should Happen?

Either:
Skills shown in Customize should be invocable (register them automatically), OR
The UI should clearly indicate that project-directory skills are "detected but not installed" and offer an action to install them to ~/.claude/skills/

Error Messages/Logs

The Customize UI shows the skill as if it's fully installed (with toggle on), but invoking it fails silently with "Unknown skill."

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to reproduce

1. Place a valid skill folder (containing SKILL.md) in your working directory (e.g., ~/Downloads/my-skill/SKILL.md)
2. Open Claude Code with that working directory
3. Go to Customize > Skills — the skill appears listed and toggled on
4. Try to invoke /my-skill — returns "Unknown skill"

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

No, this never worked

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

latest (March 2026)

Platform

Other

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

VS Code integrated terminal

Additional Information

_No response_