Claude Code skills work in VS Code. They also work in JetBrains IDEs and in the terminal. The skill files are resolved from the file system, not from the interface you are using. A SKILL.md in .claude/skills/ loads identically whether you are running Claude Code through VS Code's extension, the JetBrains plugin, or a standalone terminal session.

TL;DR: Claude Code skills work in VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, and the CLI. All three read from the same .claude/skills/ directory. There are no skill-specific differences between interfaces. Install the Claude Code extension for your IDE and the skills load automatically.

Skills don't have an IDE preference. They care about the content of SKILL.md, not the terminal you typed in. AEM skills, including those from the AEM skill-as-a-service catalogue, load and trigger identically across all three interfaces.

How Do I Use Claude Code Skills in VS Code?

Install the Claude Code extension from the VS Code Marketplace. Once installed, Claude Code runs inside VS Code with full access to your workspace files, terminal, and the .claude/skills/ directory. Skills in .claude/skills/ load at session start, available immediately with no extra setup. VS Code is the primary development environment for 73.6% of professional developers (Stack Overflow Developer Survey, 2024, n=65,437). AEM builds and tests commissioned skills against the extension first.

Skills load at session start, exactly as they do in the terminal version. The extension reads the same directory hierarchy: it looks for .claude/skills/ relative to your workspace root, then falls back to user-level skills at ~/.claude/skills/.

When you install a skill by dropping it in .claude/skills/skill-name/SKILL.md, the VS Code extension picks it up when you start the next Claude Code session. No additional configuration required.

For guidance on where to put your skill files, see Where Do I Put Skill Files in My Project?.

Are There Any Differences Between the VS Code Extension and the Terminal?

The skills themselves behave identically. Claude Code reads the same SKILL.md content regardless of interface, resolves the same directory structure, and applies the same trigger logic. Presentation differences exist at the surface level, in how commands appear and how output is rendered, but none of them alter what the skill does. The differences are minor:

  • Slash commands: In VS Code, /skill-name invocations appear in an autocomplete dropdown. In the terminal, they are typed directly. Both work the same way.
  • Output rendering: VS Code renders markdown output with formatting. The terminal shows raw markdown. This does not affect the skill's instructions or output.
  • Tool access: Most tools (Read, Write, Edit, Bash) behave identically in both environments. Some computer-use tools are environment-specific and are documented separately in the Claude Code extension guides.

"When you give a model an explicit output format with examples, consistency goes from ~60% to over 95% in our benchmarks." — Addy Osmani, Engineering Director, Google Chrome (2024)

This holds across interfaces. A skill with a clearly defined output format in its SKILL.md body produces consistent output in VS Code and the terminal alike. No interface-specific instructions needed. The Claude Code VS Code extension has accumulated over 12.4 million installs (Visual Studio Marketplace, Anthropic, 2026), confirming that the IDE extension is the primary delivery surface for most developers.

Do Claude Code Skills Work in JetBrains IDEs?

Yes. Anthropic provides a Claude Code plugin for JetBrains IDEs including IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, and GoLand. The plugin resolves the same .claude/skills/ directory as the CLI and VS Code extension. Skills installed at the project level load automatically at session start, with no additional configuration required beyond installing the plugin from the JetBrains Marketplace.

Claude Code as of 2026 supports at least 14 platforms and IDE environments across the official extension ecosystem (Anthropic documentation, 2026). IntelliJ IDEA alone is in regular use by 26.8% of professional developers, and PyCharm by a further 15.1% (Stack Overflow Developer Survey, 2024). A skill built and tested in the terminal deploys to the VS Code extension or JetBrains plugin without modification. One SKILL.md file. Every interface.

We have tested commissioned skills across all three interfaces. Trigger behavior, output format, and reference file loading are consistent. A skill that routes correctly in the terminal routes correctly in VS Code.

Can I Use the Same Skill Across All Three Interfaces?

Yes. One SKILL.md file works in the terminal, VS Code, and JetBrains. Write the skill once. The interface does not affect skill behavior: trigger logic, output format, and reference file loading all execute identically across all three. AEM commissioned skills are tested against this guarantee before delivery.

This is intentional. Claude Code's architecture treats the skill layer as interface-agnostic. The SKILL.md format is the same specification regardless of where it runs. This also means skill libraries are portable: you can move between IDE preferences without rewriting any skill content.

The one practical exception: if your skill instructs Claude to use a computer-use tool or an OS-specific feature, that instruction may not execute correctly in all environments. For skills that involve writing, code generation, file operations, and git, there is no interface difference.

For more on how skills fit alongside Claude Code's other components, see What Is Claude Code and How Does It Work?.

What About Claude Code in the Web Interface?

Claude Code is available at claude.ai/code as a browser-based interface in addition to the CLI and IDE extensions. Skills work here too, with one practical limitation: the web interface does not have direct access to your local file system. Skills that rely on reading local files via the Read tool require the CLI or IDE extension for full functionality.

For skills that are purely instructional (no file reads, no local tool calls), the web interface behaves identically to the CLI.

How Do I Check That My IDE Extension Is Finding My Skills?

Run /skills in a Claude Code session inside your IDE. This command lists every skill Claude Code has loaded from the current skill discovery path. A skill present on disk but absent from this list always has a specific and resolvable cause. If a skill you installed is not in the list, the most common causes are:

  1. The file is not at the exact path .claude/skills/skill-name/SKILL.md relative to the workspace root
  2. The SKILL.md contains a frontmatter parsing error (often a multi-line description)
  3. The session was started before the file was created

For a systematic debugging approach, see What Is Claude Code and How Does It Work? and the related troubleshooting articles in Cluster 23.

FAQ

Do I need to install the Claude Code extension to use skills in VS Code?

Yes. Without the Claude Code extension, VS Code is a standard editor with no Claude functionality. The extension connects the Claude Code runtime, which reads and executes skill files.

Can I have different skills for VS Code and the terminal?

You can, but it requires manual management. Skills at the project level load in whichever interface you use in that project. Interface-specific skill configurations add complexity with no practical benefit for most use cases.

My skill works in the terminal but not in VS Code — what's wrong?

The most common cause is a workspace root mismatch. Check that the VS Code workspace root matches the project directory where .claude/skills/ is located. Claude Code resolves the skills directory relative to the active workspace root, not the terminal's working directory.

Is there a performance difference between VS Code and the terminal for skill execution?

No. Skill execution happens in the same Claude backend regardless of interface. The VS Code extension adds some IDE integration overhead, but this does not affect skill loading or execution in any measurable way.

Do skills work in GitHub Codespaces or other cloud development environments?

Yes. Claude Code skills work in any environment where the Claude Code CLI or a supported IDE extension is installed. Cloud development environments that support VS Code extensions run Claude Code skills without additional configuration.

Last updated: 2026-05-03