skills

The CLI for the open agent skills ecosystem.

Supports OpenCode, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and 75 more.

Install a Skill

npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills

Use a Skill Without Installing

Generate a prompt for one skill, or start a supported coding agent interactively:

npx skills use vercel-labs/agent-skills@web-design-guidelines | claude
npx skills use vercel-labs/agent-skills --skill web-design-guidelines --agent claude-code

skills use resolves sources the same way as skills add, writes the selected skill files to a temporary directory, and prints only the generated prompt to stdout unless --agent is provided. With --agent, it starts one supported agent interactively with the generated prompt.

Source Formats

# GitHub shorthand (owner/repo)
npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills

# Full GitHub URL
npx skills add https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills

# Direct path to a skill in a repo
npx skills add https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills/tree/main/skills/web-design-guidelines

# GitLab URL
npx skills add https://gitlab.com/org/repo

# Azure Repos (Azure DevOps Services or Server)
npx skills add https://dev.azure.com/org/project/_git/repo
npx skills add https://dev.azure.com/org/project/_git/repo?path=/skills/web-design&version=GBmain

# Any git URL
npx skills add git@github.com:vercel-labs/agent-skills.git

# Local path
npx skills add ./my-local-skills

Private Repositories

Use the same command for public and private repositories. The CLI uses the authentication already configured for the repository URL:

# GitHub shorthand or HTTPS (Git credential helper, GitHub CLI, then SSH fallback)
npx skills add acme/private-skills

# SSH on GitHub, GitLab, or another Git host
npx skills add git@github.com:acme/private-skills.git
npx skills add ssh://git@git.example.com/acme/private-skills.git

# HTTPS on any Git host (uses your configured Git credential helper)
npx skills add https://git.example.com/acme/private-skills.git
npx skills add https://dev.azure.com/org/project/_git/private-skills

For GitHub HTTPS and shorthand sources, skills first uses normal Git credentials. If that fails and GitHub CLI is authenticated, it tries gh repo clone, followed by SSH. It does not execute gh auth token or copy the stored GitHub CLI credential into the Node.js process.

For GitHub tree lookups, skills first tries the API anonymously, then an explicitly supplied environment token, then gh api. GitHub CLI applies its own stored authentication and returns only the API response; the credential is never printed to or read by skills. If API access still fails, update checks fall back to an authenticated Git clone.

GITHUB_TOKEN or GH_TOKEN can be set explicitly for GitHub API access, including private repository downloads and update checks. They are optional for installs when Git, GitHub CLI, or SSH authentication is already configured.

Options

Option	Description
-g, --global	Install to user directory instead of project
-a, --agent	Target specific agents (e.g., claude-code, codex). See Supported Agents
-s, --skill <skills...>	Install specific skills by name (use '*' for all skills)
-l, --list	List available skills without installing
--copy	Copy files instead of symlinking to agent directories
-y, --yes	Skip all confirmation prompts
--all	Install all skills to all agents without prompts

Examples

# List skills in a repository
npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills --list

# Install specific skills
npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills --skill frontend-design --skill skill-creator

# Install a skill with spaces in the name (must be quoted)
npx skills add owner/repo --skill "Convex Best Practices"

# Install to specific agents
npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills -a claude-code -a opencode

# Non-interactive installation (CI/CD friendly)
npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills --skill frontend-design -g -a claude-code -y

# Install all skills from a repo to all agents
npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills --all

# Install all skills to specific agents
npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills --skill '*' -a claude-code

# Install specific skills to all agents
npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills --agent '*' --skill frontend-design

# Install from a direct SKILL.md or archive download URL
npx skills add https://example.com/download/my-skill

Direct download URLs are tried after well-known discovery. They may point to a single valid SKILL.md file or a .zip, .tar, .tar.gz, or .tgz archive; the URL does not need to include a file extension. Downloads are limited to 10 MiB, extracted content to 25 MiB, and archives to 1000 files by default. Override with SKILLS_DOWNLOAD_MAX_BYTES, SKILLS_EXTRACT_MAX_BYTES, and `SKILLS_EXTRACT_