CLAUDE.md vs Skills vs Slash Commands: Choosing the Right Claude Code Tool for Your Workflow

If you're working with Claude Code, you've likely encountered a confusing array of configuration options: CLAUDE.md files, Skills, Slash Commands, and Plugins. At first glance, they seem to overlap. In reality, each serves a distinct purpose in your development workflow. Understanding these differences-and when to use each-can dramatically improve your productivity.

The Core Problem: Context Efficiency

The fundamental challenge these tools solve is context efficiency. Claude has a large context window, but it's not infinite. You need mechanisms that load the right information at the right time-without cluttering the conversation with irrelevant data.

Think of it this way: you don't want every piece of documentation, every coding standard, and every project convention loaded into memory from the start of your conversation. That wastes valuable context space. Instead, you want intelligent, lazy loaded expertise that appears exactly when needed.

This is where CLAUDE.md, Skills, Slash Commands, and Plugins come in. They're different strategies for packaging and delivering information to Claude.

CLAUDE.md: The Default Briefing

CLAUDE.md is the simplest approach. It's a Markdown file that lives in your project root and automatically loads at the beginning of every conversation with Claude.

What Goes in CLAUDE.md?

CLAUDE.md is perfect for foundational project context that Claude should always know:

• How to run your tests (npm test, pytest, etc.)
• Code style guidelines and naming conventions
• Project structure and key directories
• Common gotchas or architectural decisions
• Local environment setup instructions
• Required dependencies or tools

The Trade-off

The beauty of CLAUDE.md is simplicity-you write it once, and it's automatically available. The downside? It's always loaded, consuming tokens whether Claude needs it or not.

When to use CLAUDE.md: For essential project context that applies to nearly every interaction.

Skills: Context Aware Expertise

Skills are like intelligent consultants. They're sophisticated instruction sets that Claude can automatically discover and load just-in-time, based on whether they're relevant to your current task.

How Skills Work

A Skill isn't a single file-it's a directory containing:

• SKILL.md (required): Instructions and examples
• Supporting resources (optional): Python scripts, templates, data files

Claude uses progressive disclosure to make this efficient:

1. Discovery phase: Claude loads only the name and description (30-50 tokens)
2. Loading phase: When a task matches the Skill's description, Claude loads the full content
3. Execution phase: If needed, Claude can execute associated Python scripts without loading them into context

Real World Example

You could create a "Secure API Design" Skill that teaches Claude security best practices for authentication, input validation, and error handling. You don't invoke this manually-Claude recognizes when you're building an API and automatically considers the Skill's guidance.

Another example: a ".NET Design System" Skill that knows your component patterns, styling conventions, and accessibility requirements. Rather than explaining these standards in every conversation, Claude automatically applies them.

The Advantage

Skills are more token efficient for domain knowledge because Claude only loads the relevant expertise when needed. They're also discoverable-Claude decides to use them based on context.

When to use Skills: For complex, conditional knowledge that Claude should apply automatically when relevant.

Slash Commands: Explicit Control

Slash Commands are keyboard shortcuts for frequent tasks. You explicitly invoke them by typing /command-name, and Claude executes the associated instructions immediately.

How Slash Commands Work

A Slash Command is a single Markdown file in the claude/commands/ directory (previously .claude/commands/) with optional frontmatter for permissions and model selection.

Note: Both claude/ and .claude/ directory formats are supported; the non-dot claude/ version is now the recommended default in Claude Code v1.2+.

Practical Examples

• /test → Runs your test suite and summarizes results
• /commit → Creates context aware git commits with intelligent messages
• /lint → Runs linters and suggests fixes
• /optimize → Analyzes code for performance issues
• /security-review → Performs security scanning

Key Differences from Skills

Unlike Skills (which are automatic and conditional), Slash Commands are:

• Explicit: You decide when to invoke them
• Predictable: You know exactly what will happen
• Atomic: Each command performs a specific, focused action

You can also define arguments for dynamic behavior:

/fix-issue 123
/review-pr 456 high alice

The Orchestration Layer

Here's where Slash Commands become powerful: Claude can execute Slash Commands programmatically through the SlashCommand tool. This means you can build high level orchestration that composes multiple commands.

For example, a deployment orchestrator might:

1. Run /run-tests
2. Check results
3. If tests pass, run /deploy-staging
4. Monitor deployment health

Note: Programmatic invocation of Slash Commands via the SlashCommand tool is currently available in Claude Code and claude.dev; it is not yet exposed in the standard claude.ai web chat.

This modular approach means you build atomic, reusable commands once and compose them into larger workflows.

When to use Slash Commands: For frequent, atomic actions where you want explicit control and predictability.

The Skills vs Slash Commands Decision

The confusion usually comes down to this: should I build it as a Skill or a Slash Command?

Aspect	Skills	Slash Commands
Invocation	Automatic (Claude decides)	Manual (you type /cmd)
Best for	Domain expertise & complex workflows	Quick actions & atomic tasks
Structure	Multi-file directory	Single .md file
Discovery	Contextual matching	Explicit by name
When to use	"Claude should apply this knowledge when relevant"	"I do this action frequently and want a shortcut"

Decision Framework

Use a Slash Command if:

• You're automating a frequent, repeatable action
• You want explicit, predictable invocation
• The logic fits in a single prompt template
• You might want to compose it with other commands

Use a Skill if:

• You're codifying deep domain knowledge
• Claude should apply it automatically
• You need to bundle multiple files or resources
• You want to share standardized expertise across your team

Plugins: Packaging Everything Together

Plugins are the highest level abstraction. A Plugin can bundle multiple Skills and Slash Commands (and in enterprise/private beta versions: agents, hooks, and MCP servers) into a single distributable package.

You don't need a Plugin unless you're sharing a complete ecosystem across your organization or publishing to the community. For most development teams, Skills and Slash Commands are sufficient.

Organizing Your Configuration: CLAUDE.toml

For larger projects and distributable Plugins, a CLAUDE.toml manifest file (introduced in September 2025) is now the recommended way to declare which commands and skills belong to your project, providing better structure than directory conventions alone.

Building Your Configuration Strategy

Here's a practical approach to implementing these tools:

Phase 1: Start with CLAUDE.md

Create a project level CLAUDE.md that documents:

• Test running procedures
• Code style guidelines
• Project structure
• How to run the application locally

This becomes your team's default briefing document.

Phase 2: Build Your Command Library

Identify your three most frequent manual actions:

• Running tests
• Creating commits
• Running linters

Create Slash Commands for each. Test them for a week. Iterate based on what you learn.

Phase 3: Extract Domain Knowledge as Skills

Once you have Slash Commands working smoothly, look for patterns where Claude repeatedly needs the same expertise:

• Security best practices for your stack
• Performance optimization patterns
• Company specific business logic
• Deployment procedures with approval gates

Extract this knowledge into Skills.

Phase 4: Orchestrate with Agents

For complex, multi-step workflows that need autonomy, consider building agents that:

• Use multiple Skills for expertise
• Invoke multiple Slash Commands for actions
• Make independent decisions based on task outcomes

Real World Example: Feature Implementation

Let's see how these tools work together in practice.

User request: "Add a user profile endpoint to our API"

1. Orchestration (Agent): A master agent manages the overall flow-gather context, implement, verify
2. Expertise (Skill): A "Secure API Design" Skill is automatically discovered and loaded, guiding security decisions
3. Actions (Slash Commands): The agent invokes /create-controller UserProfile, /create-route GET /users/{id}, and /run-tests
4. Verification (Slash Command): Results are verified using /run-tests --pattern=user_profile

The Skill ensures best practices. The Slash Commands handle atomic actions. The agent orchestrates the entire workflow.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Mistake 1: Everything in CLAUDE.md
You'll end up with a massive context sink. Keep CLAUDE.md lean-only essential project context.

Mistake 2: Creating Slash Commands for one time tasks
Slash Commands are for frequent actions. If you only use it once every three months, just ask Claude directly.

Mistake 3: Overcomplicating Skills
Keep Skills focused on a single domain. A monolithic "Everything Skill" defeats the purpose of progressive disclosure.

Mistake 4: Not versioning your tools
Commit your claude/commands/ and claude/skills/ directories to git. Your entire team benefits, and you have version history.

Conclusion

CLAUDE.md, Skills, Slash Commands, and Plugins form a hierarchy of tools for packaging and delivering expertise to Claude:

• CLAUDE.md: Essential, always loaded project context
• Skills: Complex domain knowledge that Claude discovers automatically
• Slash Commands: Frequent, explicit actions you invoke on demand
• Plugins: Complete, distributable packages of the above

Understanding when to use each transforms your Claude workflow from frustrating complexity to elegant simplicity. Start with CLAUDE.md, add Slash Commands for your most frequent tasks, and extract domain knowledge into Skills as patterns emerge.

The result? A finely tuned AI assistant that knows your project, remembers your standards, and executes your workflow exactly as you've designed it.

Ready to optimize your Claude workflow?

Whether you're building your first CLAUDE.md file, creating Slash Commands for your team, or architecting a multi agent system, the principles are the same: deliver the right expertise at the right time. Start lean, iterate based on feedback, and let your workflow evolve alongside your needs.

Explore more development insights on cloud architecture, AI tools, and modern development practices on the Hrishi Digital blog. For enterprise teams ready to implement advanced Claude workflows, contact our team to discuss how we can accelerate your AI assisted development transformation.