Intermediate8 min
Path-Triggered Skills and Auto-Invocation
The paths field in SKILL.md restricts a skill to activating only when the working directory matches specific glob patterns. This makes skills context-aware — a component-patterns skill fires in src/components/, not globally — without any manual invocation.
Quick Reference
- →paths: accepts a list of glob patterns — skill activates when CWD matches
- →When paths matches, the skill appears at the top of the / menu automatically
- →Combine paths with disable-model-invocation: true for manual-only path-scoped skills
- →Without disable-model-invocation, Claude may auto-invoke path-triggered skills
- →Path-triggered skills execute code unlike .claude/rules/ which load passively
- →Use case: load component standards when in src/components/, not globally
- →Multiple skills can have overlapping paths — all matching skills are surfaced
- →Plugin-namespaced skills use /plugin-name:skill-name to avoid conflicts
What the paths Field Does
The paths field accepts a list of glob patterns. When Claude Code's working directory matches any of the listed patterns, the skill is surfaced in the / menu and becomes a candidate for auto-invocation. When the CWD doesn't match, the skill is hidden.
This skill only appears when CWD is under src/components/ or src/ui/
When you navigate into src/components/ and open the / menu, component-patterns appears at the top. Navigate to src/api/ and it disappears. The skill adapts to where you're working without any configuration per session.