Using Skills

How to invoke skills via slash commands, auto-activation, and preset assignment.

Invoking Skills

Slash Commands

Type a / followed by the skill name in any chat:

/code-review
/git-workflow
/web-research BullMQ job retry patterns
/debug-helper

Arguments after the skill name are passed as the initial message to that skill’s context.

Natural Language

Skills with trigger patterns auto-activate when the AI detects matching intent. You do not need to use a slash command:

You say	Activates
”review this code”	code-review
”commit my changes”	git-workflow
”search for…”	web-research
”help me debug this”	debug-helper
”create a ticket for…”	profclaw-tickets

From the CLI

# Start a session with a specific skill
profclaw chat --skill code-review

# Run a one-shot skill command
profclaw run --skill git-workflow "commit all staged changes with message: fix queue null check"

Managing Skills

List Installed Skills

profclaw skills list

Shows all loaded skills with their source (built-in, managed, workspace), version, and category.

Install from ClawHub

profclaw skills install trello
profclaw skills install github-issues
profclaw skills install @community/weather

Update Skills

profclaw skills update           # Update all managed skills
profclaw skills update trello    # Update specific skill

Disable a Skill

profclaw skills disable code-review

Or in settings.yml:

skills:
  disabled:
    - code-review
    - web-research

Skill Configuration

Some skills accept configuration in settings.yml:

skills:
  config:
    git-workflow:
      defaultBranch: main
      requireTicketId: true
    web-research:
      maxResults: 5
      preferredProvider: brave

Skill Precedence

When multiple sources define a skill with the same name, the higher-priority source wins:

workspace/skills/ > ~/.profclaw/skills/ > built-in > extra dirs

To override a built-in skill, create a file at skills/code-review/SKILL.md in your project root.

Checking Active Skills

In a chat conversation, you can ask:

“What skills are currently active?”

Or check from the CLI:

profclaw skills status

Preset-Based Skill Loading

Assign a bundle of skills to a persona (preset):

# settings.yml
presets:
  backend-dev:
    name: "Backend Developer"
    model: claude-sonnet-4-6
    skills:
      - code-review
      - git-workflow
      - debug-helper
      - api-tester
      - docker-ops

  content-creator:
    name: "Content Creator"
    model: claude-sonnet-4-6
    skills:
      - web-research
      - summarize
      - blogwatcher

Switch presets with /preset backend-dev.

Skill Metadata

View detailed skill metadata:

profclaw skills info code-review

Output:

code-review v1.0.0
  Category: development
  Source:   built-in
  Triggers: "review this", "review my code", "check this code"
  Command:  /code-review

Related Docs

Built-in Skills

Browse all 50 pre-installed skills.

Creating Skills

Write your own skills.