Introduction

The CLI for the open agent skills ecosystem

The Skills CLI is a universal package manager for AI coding agent skills. It allows you to install, manage, and share reusable instruction sets that extend your coding agent’s capabilities across 42+ supported agents.

Skills are reusable instruction sets defined in SKILL.md files that teach agents how to perform specialized tasks like generating release notes, creating PRs, or integrating with external tools.

What are Agent Skills?

Agent skills are reusable instruction sets that extend your coding agent’s capabilities. They’re defined in SKILL.md files with YAML frontmatter containing a name and description.

Skills let agents perform specialized tasks like:

• Generating release notes from git history
• Creating PRs following your team’s conventions
• Integrating with external tools (Linear, Notion, etc.)
• Following project-specific coding patterns
• Automating common development workflows

Supported Agents

The Skills CLI supports 42+ coding agents including:

OpenCode

.agents/skills/ (project)

~/.config/opencode/skills/ (global)

Claude Code

.claude/skills/ (project)

~/.claude/skills/ (global)

Cursor

.agents/skills/ (project)

~/.cursor/skills/ (global)

Cline

.agents/skills/ (project)

~/.agents/skills/ (global)

Windsurf

.windsurf/skills/ (project)

~/.codeium/windsurf/skills/ (global)

Codex

.agents/skills/ (project)

~/.codex/skills/ (global)

The CLI automatically detects which coding agents you have installed. If none are detected, you’ll be prompted to select which agents to install to.

View all 42+ supported agents →

Key Features

Universal Compatibility

Works with 42+ coding agents following the Agent Skills specification

Multiple Sources

Install from GitHub, GitLab, direct URLs, or local paths

Smart Installation

Choose between symlinks (single source of truth) or copies (independent)

Version Tracking

Check for updates and update all skills with a single command

Project & Global Scopes

Install skills per-project or globally for all projects

Interactive CLI

Search, select, and manage skills with an intuitive interface

Installation Scopes

Skills can be installed in two scopes:

Scope	Flag	Location	Use Case
Project	(default)	./<agent>/skills/	Committed with your project, shared with team
Global	-g	~/<agent>/skills/	Available across all projects

How It Works

1. Install Skills

   Add skills from GitHub repositories, URLs, or local paths using npx skills add

2. Choose Agents

   Select which coding agents to install the skills to, or let the CLI auto-detect

3. Select Installation Method

   Choose symlinks (recommended) for easy updates or copies for independence

4. Use in Your Agent

   The skills are now available to your coding agent in every conversation

Quick Example

Terminal

# Install skills from a GitHub repository
npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills

# List available skills without installing
npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills --list

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

# Install globally for all projects
npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills -g

Discover Skills

Browse and discover community skills at skills.sh

Related Resources

• Agent Skills Specification
• Vercel Agent Skills Repository
• GitHub Repository
• npm Package