When two Claude skills want the same prompt
Two skills with overlapping descriptions make it hard to predict which one runs. How to find the overlap and give each a job the other does not claim.
The symptom looks like flakiness: the same kind of request gets a different skill on different days. Usually nothing is flaky. Two skills both claim the request, and which description reads as the better match depends on exactly how you phrased it.
Find the overlap
Put the descriptions next to each other and list the nouns each one claims. A review skill and a standards skill that both say code, review and conventions are competing for the same prompts.
| Skill | Claims |
|---|---|
| house-react | React components, conventions, review |
| interface-review | screens, UI, review |
| Overlap | review |
Give each one a boundary
- Rewrite each description around what only it does: the artefact, the output, the domain.
- Where they genuinely touch, say which owns it: "for visual review of a rendered screen; code-level review is out of scope".
- Remove shared generic verbs from both.
Then test with prompts aimed at each skill and near-misses between them, using the method in a trigger test set. When one of the two is a personal skill shadowing a team one, the team skill should win; see sharing skills with a team.
Questions
What happens when two skills match the same request?
Claude has to choose between them from their descriptions, and small wording changes in the request can tip it either way. The result feels random because the boundary between the skills was never stated.
How do I find overlapping skills?
Read the descriptions side by side and underline the nouns. If both claim the same artefact or the same kind of request, they overlap. Then run the requests that should go to each and see which one answers.
Should I merge overlapping skills?
Sometimes. If the two skills are really one job described twice, merge them. If they are different jobs that share vocabulary, sharpen each description so its boundary is explicit.