Solo Stack Kits Directory
Claude Code workflows & skills for solo consultants and freelancers

← Blog · 2026-10-16

Install Claude Code Skills Without GitHub (curl a SKILL.md URL)

Shortcut: we host three free skills as raw SKILL.md files you can curl. Start at the free skills hub, or jump to client follow-up, invoice chase, or meeting to tasks.

Most Claude Code skill write-ups assume you clone a repo or copy a folder from someone else's .claude/skills/. That works. It is also more than you need when the skill is a single markdown file.

A skill is just a directory with a SKILL.md inside. Claude Code looks for those under personal and project locations. The official skills docs put personal skills here:

~/.claude/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

Personal skills load in all your projects on that machine. Project skills live at .claude/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md in the repo and are shared when you commit them. Same file format either way.

So if someone hosts a public SKILL.md at an HTTPS URL, you can install it with mkdir and curl. No GitHub account, no clone, no zip.

The pattern (personal install)

Pick a skill name that matches the folder you want (usually the name in the frontmatter, or the slug you prefer). Then:

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/my-skill-name
curl -fsSL https://example.com/path/to/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/my-skill-name/SKILL.md

What those flags mean, briefly:

Start Claude Code (claude) in any project. Ask "What skills are available?" or type /my-skill-name. Claude can also load the skill automatically when your request matches the skill's description.

For a project install (shared with the team via git), use the same curl into .claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md inside the repo instead of ~/.claude/skills/.

Worked examples: three free consultant skills

We publish the free Solo Stack Kits sample skills as raw markdown on this site. Each landing page has a one-line install command.

1. Client follow-up

Drafts the right follow-up after a call, a quiet proposal, delivery, or a dormant past client. Never sends email.

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/client-follow-up && \
curl -fsSL https://solostackkits.netlify.app/skills/client-follow-up/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/client-follow-up/SKILL.md

Landing page: client follow-up. Raw file: /skills/client-follow-up/SKILL.md.

2. Invoice chase

Drafts polite-but-firm reminders for unpaid invoices by how overdue they are, and keeps a receivables log.

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/invoice-chase && \
curl -fsSL https://solostackkits.netlify.app/skills/invoice-chase/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/invoice-chase/SKILL.md

Landing page: invoice chase.

3. Meeting to tasks

Turns a transcript or rough notes into decisions, owned action items, open questions, and a recap draft—with no task without a source quote.

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/meeting-to-tasks && \
curl -fsSL https://solostackkits.netlify.app/skills/meeting-to-tasks/SKILL.md \
  -o ~/.claude/skills/meeting-to-tasks/SKILL.md

Landing page: meeting to tasks.

Install all three at once

for s in client-follow-up invoice-chase meeting-to-tasks; do
  mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/$s
  curl -fsSL https://solostackkits.netlify.app/skills/$s/SKILL.md \
    -o ~/.claude/skills/$s/SKILL.md
done

Hub: /skills/.

After install: make sure it triggers

A file on disk is not the same as Claude choosing it in conversation. Two quick checks:

  1. Does it load? Ask "What skills are available?" If your skill is missing, the path or name is wrong, or Claude Code refused the name (reserved names like synced, invisible characters, and so on—see the docs troubleshooting section).
  2. Does it match how you talk? Claude only sees each skill's name and description until it decides to load one. If the description says "stakeholder communications" and you say "nudge Acme," there is nothing to match.

Paste the description into our free skill description tester with a few sample requests. Lint the whole file with the SKILL.md validator. Both run in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

More detail: How to write a SKILL.md description Claude actually triggers on and Claude Code skill not triggering? A 10-point checklist.

What this does not replace

For a one-file workflow skill—follow-ups, invoice reminders, meeting extraction—a public SKILL.md URL is enough.

Safety notes (worth thirty seconds)

Checklist

If you run a solo consulting or freelance practice: the free 3-skill sample is the same three skills as a zip with setup notes. The full Solo Consultant Kit is $29.