Code-tab Customize -> Skills is missing skills that are present in ~/.claude/skills (non-deterministic; / menu and engine load them all)

Open 💬 2 comments Opened Jun 1, 2026 by privacyguy123

Preflight Checklist

  • [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
  • [x] This is a single bug report
  • [x] I am using a recent build (Claude Desktop 1.9659.2 / engine 2.1.156)

Summary

In the Code tab, Customize → Skills → Personal skills shows only a small, non-deterministic subset of the skills that are actually present in ~/.claude/skills/. Most skills in that folder are missing from the panel, even though the Claude Code engine loads them all — they appear and work in the / slash menu. Which skills the panel shows even changes between opens.

Environment

  • Claude Desktop (Windows): 1.9659.2 (x64 / MSIX)
  • Bundled Claude Code engine: 2.1.156
  • OS: Windows 10 Pro 19045

Repro

  1. Have several skills in ~/.claude/skills/ (each a folder containing SKILL.md).
  2. Open the Code tab → CustomizeSkills.
  3. Observe that Personal skills lists only ~2 entries, while the folder contains many more.
  4. Open the / slash menu in a session — all of the skills are present and usable.
  5. Re-open Customize → Skills — the ~2 shown may be a different pair.

Observed on my machine

  • ~/.claude/skills/ contains 19 skill folders.
  • The / slash menu and the engine load all 19 (plus plugin skills) correctly.
  • Customize → Personal skills shows only ~2, and which 2 is not stable across opens (e.g. find-skills+idapython on one open, idapython+skill-creator on another).
  • The omission is independent of whether the skill folder is a real directory or a symlink. Of my 19 folders, 17 are symlinks (installed via npx skills, pointing into ~/.agents/skills/) and 2 are real directories (playwright-cli, screenshot). Both real-directory skills are missing from the panel, while some symlinked skills are shown — so symlinking is not the determinant.

Expected

Customize → Skills should deterministically list every skill the engine loads from ~/.claude/skills/, matching what appears in the / slash menu.

Notes

  • Not frontmatter-shape related: skills with only name/description and skills with extra keys (allowed-tools, license, metadata, …) are both affected, and the desktop's skill schema strips unknown keys rather than rejecting them.
  • The / slash menu and the engine are the source of truth and are unaffected — this is specific to the Customize panel's skill enumeration/rendering.
  • Context (not the cause): many of these skills were installed via npx skills, which symlinks ~/.claude/skills/<name>~/.agents/skills/<name>. The symlink detail is incidental given that real-directory skills are dropped too.

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