Nested Skills Discovery tests automatic availability of skills from subdirectory-scoped .claude/skills directories in Claude Code 2.1.6.

What the Feature Claims

The feature would enable skills defined in nested .claude/skills directories to be automatically discovered and made available when working with files in those subdirectories. Instead of skills being limited to the project root, each subdirectory—such as a monorepo package or workspace module—could host its own skill suite.

Test Setup and Status

The test created the required nested structure:

2.1.6/tests/01-nested-skills/
└── .claude/
    └── skills/
        └── nested-test/
            └── SKILL.md

However, the test was not runtime verified. The test file candidly notes: "Cannot verify from current session because skill discovery happens based on working directory context. Would need to start new session inside nested directory or invoke skill while 'working with files' in that subdirectory."

Why This Matters

If working, nested skill discovery would unlock finer-grained tooling isolation in large projects. Monorepo packages, git submodules, and cross-team workspaces could each maintain independent skill configurations without polluting the global namespace.

Caveats

The hypothesis remains unproven. Runtime verification requires either starting a fresh Claude Code session from within the nested directory and checking /context, or invoking the nested-test skill from that context to confirm discovery. The test result is inconclusive—architectural assumption without empirical proof.