[BUG] Skill with paths frontmatter is completely undiscoverable

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?

Adding a paths field to a skill's SKILL.md frontmatter causes the skill to be entirely excluded from discovery. It does not appear in the / autocomplete menu, is not listed as an available skill, and invoking it directly returns "Unknown skill: <name>".

Other skills in the same directory (~/.claude/skills/) without the paths field load correctly. Removing only the paths line, with no other changes, immediately restores discovery.

What Should Happen?

The paths field should limit when the skill auto-activates based on file patterns, not prevent the skill from being discovered. The skill should remain invokable via /name regardless of paths.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create a skill at ~/.claude/skills/test-skill/SKILL.md:

```yaml
---
name: test-skill
description: A test skill to reproduce the paths discovery bug
paths: "*.rs,Cargo.toml,Cargo.lock"
---

# Test Skill

If you can read this, the skill loaded successfully.
```

1. Restart Claude Code
2. Type /test-skill → returns "Unknown skill: test-skill"
3. Remove the paths: line from frontmatter
4. Restart Claude Code
5. Type /test-skill → works correctly

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Claude Code Version

2.1.92 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

• The paths field was introduced for skills in v2.1.84 (changelog: "Rules and skills paths: frontmatter now accepts a YAML list of globs")
• Tested with comma-separated string format (paths: "*.rs,Cargo.toml,Cargo.lock"); did not test YAML list format
• Skills were symlinked (~/.claude/skills/test-skill → another directory), but symlinks resolve correctly and other symlinked skills without paths load fine
• Related: #45587 (paths with multiple patterns only matches first, for rules not skills), #39105 (paths missing from skill frontmatter docs)