vercel-labs/skills

What is `skills`?

skills is a command‑line tool that lets you install, use, search, update, and remove “agent skills” – reusable instruction bundles for AI‑powered coding assistants (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, OpenCode, etc.).

A skill is simply a SKILL.md file (YAML front‑matter + markdown) that tells an agent how to perform a specific task, such as generating release notes, creating PRs, or wiring into tools like Linear or Notion.

The CLI handles the whole lifecycle:

Fetching skills from any Git repository (GitHub, GitLab, Azure Repos, generic git URLs, or even a direct download URL).
Installing them into the right folder for each supported agent, either project‑local (./<agent>/skills/) or globally (~/<agent>/skills/).
Running a skill on‑the‑fly without installing (skills use …).
Discovering skills across repos, searching by keyword, and updating them later.

Key Concepts

Concept	What it means
Skill	A directory containing a `SKILL.md` file with a `name` and `description`. The markdown body holds the prompts/instructions the agent will follow.
Agent	An AI‑coding assistant that can load skills (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, OpenCode, etc.). The CLI knows where each agent expects its skill files.
Scope	Project – skills live inside the current repo (`./<agent>/skills/`). Global – skills live in your home directory (`~/<agent>/skills/`) and are available to any project.
Installation mode	Symlink (default) – a single copy of the skill is kept and each agent points to it, making updates easy. Copy – independent copies for agents that can’t follow symlinks.

Typical Workflow

Find a skill – browse the public catalog at skills.sh or search from the CLI:
```
npx skills find web‑design‑guidelines
```
Install it – add the whole repo or a single skill:
```
npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills --skill web-design-guidelines -a claude-code -g -y
```
-a selects the target agents, -g makes it global, -y skips prompts (CI‑friendly).
Use it without installing – generate the prompt and pipe it straight to an agent:
```
npx skills use vercel-labs/agent-skills@web-design-guidelines | claude
```
Update later – pull newer versions of all installed skills:
```
npx skills update -y
```
Remove – clean up a skill from one or all agents:
```
npx skills remove web-design-guidelines -a '*'
```

Supported Agents (excerpt)

The CLI knows how to place skills for 75+ agents, including the most popular ones:

claude-code
cursor
codex
opencode
aider-desk
continue
github-copilot
gemini-cli
kilo
mistral-vibe
…and many more listed in the README.

If no agents are detected on your machine, the tool will prompt you to choose which ones to target.

Installing the CLI

skills is distributed as an npm package. You can run it without a permanent install using npx:

npx skills <command>

Or install globally for repeated use:

npm i -g skills

Why Use `skills`?

Standardised format – all agents consume the same SKILL.md structure, so a single skill can be reused across many tools.
Zero‑setup discovery – just point the CLI at a Git repo (public or private) and it fetches the skill files for you.
Version control friendly – project‑scoped skills live alongside your code, making them part of the repo history.
CI/CD ready – non‑interactive flags (-y, --global, --all) let you script skill installation in pipelines.
Extensible – you can author your own skills, publish them in any Git repo, and share them via the public catalog.

Quick Reference Cheat‑Sheet

Command	Purpose
`skills add <source>`	Install one or more skills from a repo or URL.
`skills use <source>`	Generate a prompt (or start an interactive agent) without installing.
`skills list` / `ls`	Show all installed skills, optionally filtered by agent or scope.
`skills find [query]`	Interactive or keyword search for skills across repos.
`skills update [skills…]`	Pull latest versions; `-y` for non‑interactive.
`skills remove [skills…]`	Delete installed skills; `--all` removes everything.
`skills init [name]`	Scaffold a new `SKILL.md` template.

Where to Learn More

Public skill catalog – https://skills.sh – browse, vote, and contribute skills.
GitHub repository – https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills – view source, open issues, or contribute.
NPM page – https://www.npmjs.com/package/skills – version history and download stats.

Bottom Line

skills is a practical, language‑agnostic CLI that turns prompt templates into reusable, shareable packages for a wide ecosystem of AI coding assistants. It streamlines discovery, installation, and maintenance of those templates, making it easier for developers to extend their agents with custom behaviours without writing code.