Where do Claude Code and Codex look for skills?

Claude Code: ~/.claude/skills, a repo's .claude/skills, plugins and skills synced from your claude.ai account. Codex: ~/.agents/skills (and the older ~/.codex/skills), a repo's .agents/skills, plugins, and built-in and admin folders.

Why does Pairbar sometimes make a copy instead of a link?

When the skill uses Claude-only syntax such as $ARGUMENTS or ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}. Codex can't use those, so Pairbar writes a copy with the variables filled in. Skills that use only what both apps understand get a link, so one edit reaches both.

Does it change my Claude or Codex settings?

No. Making a skill available only adds a link or a copy in a skills folder. It doesn't touch either app's settings files, and Undo removes what it made.

How do I call the skill in each app?

Claude uses /name, Codex uses $name. A skill's page shows how to call it in each app.

Share Skills Between Claude Code and Codex

The problem

Both apps use the same idea, a folder with a SKILL.md, but they look for it in different places: Claude Code in ~/.claude/skills and a repo's .claude/skills, Codex in ~/.agents/skills and a repo's .agents/skills. A review method you taught Claude doesn't exist as far as Codex is concerned.

Copying the folder works once, then the two copies drift apart as you edit one of them.
A symlink keeps one copy, but a skill that uses $ARGUMENTS or ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR} shows Codex syntax it can't use.
Nothing tells you which of your skills only one app can see.

How Pairbar solves it

See which app has which
Open the Skills tab. Each row has two small app marks: full when Claude or Codex can use the skill, faint when it can't. Hover the faint one: "In Claude only · Make available in Codex". Filter → Claude lists the skills Claude can use.
Click the faint mark, or Make available in Codex
A click on the faint Codex mark does it, and so does Make available in Codex in the row's details (click the row). It works the other way round too: Make available in Claude. The notice that says it's done has Undo.
Or keep them all the same
Turn on Keep skills the same in Claude and Codex (the switch at the top of the tab) and Pairbar does this for every personal skill, in the background, and keeps the copies in step as you edit them. It never writes over a change you made in both apps: that skill gets one line, 1 skill changed in both apps · Review, where View version lets you read each SKILL.md before keeping the version you want. For an edited translated copy, choose Update from original (your edit is backed up) or Keep my edit; the original stays unchanged.
Or look over one plan first
⋯ → Sync all skills… shows every file operation in plain words ("Link ~/.agents/skills/review-method → ~/.claude/skills/review-method") before anything happens. Approve (⌘↩) makes the changes; Decline changes nothing.
Undo if you change your mind
Undo removes the links and copies Pairbar made, unless you've edited them since.

The Skills tab: which app can use each skill, at a glance.

Link or generated copy

The skill uses	Pairbar makes	Why
only what both apps understand	a link from the other app's folder	one copy on disk, so an edit reaches both apps
Claude-only syntax (`$ARGUMENTS`, `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}`)	a generated copy with the variables filled in	a link would show Codex syntax it can't use

A skill's page tags it Works in both apps, Needs small changes for Codex or Claude only, so you know which you'll get before you click. A folder both apps already load (for example ~/.agents/skills/deploy linking to ~/.claude/skills/deploy) counts as one skill with two copies in the same place: nothing to fix.

Where the link or copy goes

A personal skill: in ~/.agents/skills (for Codex) or ~/.claude/skills (for Claude).
A project's skill: in that repo's .agents/skills or .claude/skills, as a relative link you can commit.
What Pairbar made is recorded in ~/.pairbar/skills-manifest.json (readable only by you), so Undo removes only that.

If copies have already drifted apart, Keep skills the same brings them to the version that changed (or the clearly newest), backing up the others, and asks when it can't tell. See manage skills across projects.

Without Pairbar

Without Pairbar, you can share skills by hand:

Symlink the folder: ln -s ~/.claude/skills/review-method ~/.agents/skills/review-method. One copy, but Claude-only variables stay in it.
Keep skills in one git repo and link each skill into both apps' folders, per machine.
Copy and edit: duplicate the folder and replace $ARGUMENTS and similar by hand for Codex, then keep the two in step yourself.
Put project skills in both folders of the repo (.claude/skills and .agents/skills) and commit both.

Frequently asked questions

Where do Claude Code and Codex look for skills?: Claude Code: ~/.claude/skills, a repo's .claude/skills, plugins and skills synced from your claude.ai account. Codex: ~/.agents/skills (and the older ~/.codex/skills), a repo's .agents/skills, plugins, and built-in and admin folders.
Why does Pairbar sometimes make a copy instead of a link?: When the skill uses Claude-only syntax such as $ARGUMENTS or ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}. Codex can't use those, so Pairbar writes a copy with the variables filled in. Skills that use only what both apps understand get a link, so one edit reaches both.
Does it change my Claude or Codex settings?: No. Making a skill available only adds a link or a copy in a skills folder. It doesn't touch either app's settings files, and Undo removes what it made.
How do I call the skill in each app?: Claude uses /name, Codex uses $name. A skill's page shows how to call it in each app.

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