The ranked list
Fifteen skills worth knowing
Every entry says what it does in plain English, when to reach for it, and the verified star count that earned its spot.
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Rank1
Superpowers
SteadyNumber one, full stop. A complete plan, spec, then test-driven workflow with subagent orchestration built in. Like hiring a senior developer who refuses to skip steps.
Heads up. This overlaps the Matt Pocock workflow on the other tab. Pick one lane, not both. -
Rank2
Karpathy Guidelines
RisingRising fast. Four behavioral guardrails drawn from Andrej Karpathy's January 2026 post: think first, keep it simple, make surgical changes, and stay goal-driven.
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Rank3
Frontend Design
SteadyOfficial Anthropic skill. Pushes Claude past generic AI-looking pages toward bold, production-grade design choices.
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Rank4
ui-ux-pro-max
RisingA design intelligence engine: 50+ styles, 161 color palettes, 57 font pairings, 99 UX rules, plus a design system generator.
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Rank5
Caveman
RisingYou already run thisStrips filler from Claude's replies to cut output tokens by about 65%, while keeping all the code and facts intact.
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Rank6
Claude Mem
RisingCompresses what Claude learned in a session into persistent memory that future chats can load.
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Rank7
Context7
SteadyPulls current, version-correct library docs on demand, so Claude stops making up APIs that changed two releases ago.
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Rank8
Agent Browser
RisingNewly hot. Browser automation built for agents from the ground up. It uses about 93% less context than raw Playwright.
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Rank9
Corey Haines Marketing Skills
RisingA full marketing stack in skill form: copywriting, CRO, SEO, ads, analytics, and retention. A natural fit for paid ads and client marketing work.
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Rank10
Vercel React Best Practices + Web Design Guidelines
SteadyTwo skills in one repo: React and Next.js performance rules, plus 100+ accessibility and UX audit rules.
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Rank11
Supermemory
RisingA memory engine that tracks facts over time, resolves contradictions, and forgets expired info. On benchmarks it beats Claude Mem, so test both.
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Rank12
Planning with Files
SteadyWrites the plan to a markdown file as Claude works. A crash or context reset never loses the plan.
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Rank13
Skill Seekers
SteadyTurns any docs site, repo, or PDF into a custom skill. The highest-leverage pick here if you work in a niche stack.
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Rank14
webapp-testing + mcp-builder + Skill Creator
Steady staplesThe official trio in one monorepo: browser-test what Claude built, scaffold MCP servers the right way, and build your own skills.
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Rank15
Trail of Bits Security
RisingNiche but serious. Professional CodeQL and Semgrep style vulnerability hunting from a trusted security firm.
Honorable mentions
18.7k stars
Context Mode
Shell noise filter plus state restore after context resets. Repo: mksglu/context-mode.
10.9k stars
claude-seo
SEO audits split into 13 sub-skills. Repo: AgriciDaniel/claude-seo.
4k stars
Excalidraw Diagram
Hand-drawn style diagrams straight from Claude. Repo: coleam00.
Already installed
You already have these
Do not reinstall what is already running. These cover a big slice of the ranked list above.
This site's other tab
Matt Pocock workflow family
Grill, spec, tickets, implement. The full pipeline is installed globally and documented on The Workflow tab.
Running globally
Caveman token-saver family
Compressed communication, commits, reviews, and memory files. Also holds rank 5 in the main list above, so it earns its spot on merit too.
Anthropic plugins
Skill Creator + document skills
Skill Creator plus the pdf, docx, xlsx, and pptx skills are already in place through Anthropic plugins.
Built into Claude Code
Code review + security review
Both ship as built-ins now. No community wrapper needed.
Faded or skip
Popular once, skip now
These show up in roundups but no longer earn a spot on your machine.
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"Everything" mega-packs
Some bundle 86+ skills in one install. Big download counts, but they flood your context loading skills you never use. Pick 3 to 5 targeted skills instead.
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Standalone Playwright skills
Superseded by the official webapp-testing skill and Agent Browser, which uses far less context.
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Awesome-list directories ranked as skills
Some blogs rank aggregator lists at number one. They are catalogs to browse, not skills to install.
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Third-party document skills (PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX)
Already bundled through the official Anthropic plugins. Installing separate copies is redundant.
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Marketed toolkits with no verifiable repo
This is where most fake install numbers come from. No real GitHub repo, no install.
Sources
Where this ranking comes from
- designrevision.com: "Best Claude Code Skills (2026): 15 Tested & Ranked" (updated July 2026)
- firecrawl.dev blog: "Best Claude Code Skills to Try in 2026"
- claudeskills.info/best: quarterly ranking
- composio.dev: "Top 10 best Claude Code Skills 2026"
- skillsplayground.com: "25 Best Claude Code Skills"
- agent-skills.cc/claude-skills/hot: live popularity feed
- claudemarketplaces.com/skills: marketplace rankings
- skills.sh and awesome-claude-skills: ongoing discovery hubs
Every star count on this page was checked live against the GitHub API on July 9, 2026. Rankings in this space move fast. Recheck the sources monthly and expect the order to shift.