Progressive Disclosure: Why You Can Install 30 Skills and Pay for Almost Nothing

Short summary

This tutorial explains Claude Code Skills' three-layer progressive disclosure model: frontmatter always loads (~100 tokens), body loads only on description match, and referenced files load only when a body step calls for them. This lets you install 30+ Skills while paying token costs only for the ones actively triggered. The description field is the most critical line you write—it determines whether a Skill fires correctly.

• •Skills load in three layers: frontmatter always, body on match, files on demand
• •Installing 30 Skills costs ~3000 tokens total at idle, not 30 full Skill bodies
• •Description field quality determines whether Skills trigger correctly or fail silently

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