Skills CLI (npx skills)

Changelog

• Add Select All control to skill picker (#1999)
• fix: fail scoped well-known installs instead of falling back to the root index (#1990)
• fix: refuse remove --all when specific skills are named (#1964)
• fix: don't delete a skill from the same repo pinned to a different ref (#1953)
• fix: bypass blob snapshots for explicit refs (#1934)
• Fix internal skill filtering for well-known sources (#1921)
• fix: exclude internal skills from --skill '*' wildcard (#1909)
• feat: add Posit Assistant agent support (#1885)
• fix: remove obsolete OpenClaw use warning (#1858)
• fix: secure private repository authentication (#1857)

Contributors

@GeorgijGrigoriev,@Osamaali313 @Patrick-Erichsen,@dylanpulver @fenfenxu,@hcjmartin @initred,@quuu @statik

skills

The CLI for the open agent skills ecosystem.

<!-- agent-list:start -->

Supports OpenCode, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and 73 more.

<!-- agent-list:end -->

skills.sh

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

# 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

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 <agents...> | <!-- agent-names:start -->Target specific agents (e.g., claude-code, codex). See Supported Agents<!-- agent-names:end --> |

| -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_MAX_FILES when you trust the source.

Installation Scope

| Scope | Flag | Location | Use Case |

| ----------- | --------- | ------------------- | --------------------------------------------- |

| Project | (default) | ./<agent>/skills/ | Committed with your project, shared with team |

| Global | -g | ~/<agent>/skills/ | Available across all projects |

Installation Methods

When installing interactively, you can choose:

| Method | Description |

| ------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |

| Symlink (Recommended) | Creates symlinks from each agent to a canonical copy. Single source of truth, easy updates. |

| Copy | Creates independent copies for each agent. Use when symlinks aren't supported. |

Other Commands

| Command | Description |

| ---------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- |

| npx skills use <source> | Use one skill without installing |

| npx skills list | List installed skills (alias: ls) |

| npx skills find [query] | Search for skills interactively or by keyword |

| npx skills remove [skills] | Remove installed skills from agents |

| npx skills update [skills] | Update installed skills to latest versions |

| npx skills init [name] | Create a new SKILL.md template |

skills list

List all installed skills. Similar to npm ls.

# List all installed skills (project and global)
npx skills list

# List only global skills
npx skills ls -g

# Filter by specific agents
npx skills ls -a claude-code -a cursor

skills find

Search for skills interactively or by keyword.

# Interactive search (fzf-style)
npx skills find

# Search by keyword
npx skills find typescript

# Search across every repository owned by an organization or user
npx skills find react --owner vercel

skills update

# Update all skills (interactive scope prompt)
npx skills update

# Update a single skill by name
npx skills update my-skill

# Update multiple specific skills
npx skills update frontend-design web-design-guidelines

# Update only global or project skills
npx skills update -g
npx skills update -p

# Non-interactive (auto-detects scope: project if in a project, else global)
npx skills update -y

| Option | Description |

| --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |

| -g, --global | Only update global skills |

| -p, --project | Only update project skills |

| -y, --yes | Skip scope prompt (auto-detect: project if in a project dir, else global) |

| [skills...] | Update specific skills by name instead of all |

skills init

# Create SKILL.md in current directory
npx skills init

# Create a new skill in a subdirectory
npx skills init my-skill

skills remove

Remove installed skills from agents.

# Remove interactively (select from installed skills)
npx skills remove

# Remove specific skill by name
npx skills remove web-design-guidelines

# Remove multiple skills
npx skills remove frontend-design web-design-guidelines

# Remove from global scope
npx skills remove --global web-design-guidelines

# Remove from specific agents only
npx skills remove --agent claude-code cursor my-skill

# Remove all installed skills without confirmation
npx skills remove --all

# Remove all skills from a specific agent
npx skills remove --skill '*' -a cursor

# Remove a specific skill from all agents
npx skills remove my-skill --agent '*'

# Use 'rm' alias
npx skills rm my-skill

| Option | Description |

| -------------- | ------------------------------------------------ |

| -g, --global | Remove from global scope (~/) instead of project |

| -a, --agent | Remove from specific agents (use '*' for all) |

| -s, --skill | Specify skills to remove (use '*' for all) |

| -y, --yes | Skip confirmation prompts |

| --all | Shorthand for --skill '' --agent '' -y |

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.)

Discover skills at skills.sh

Supported Agents

Skills can be installed to any of these agents:

<!-- supported-agents:start -->

| Agent | --agent | Project Path | Global Path |

|-------|-----------|--------------|-------------|

| AiderDesk | aider-desk | .aider-desk/skills/ | ~/.aider-desk/skills/ |

| Amp, Replit, Universal | amp, replit, universal | .agents/skills/ | ~/.config/agents/skills/ |

| Antigravity | antigravity | .agents/skills/ | ~/.gemini/antigravity/skills/ |

| Antigravity CLI | antigravity-cli | .agents/skills/ | ~/.gemini/antigravity-cli/skills/ |

| AstrBot | astrbot | data/skills/ | ~/.astrbot/data/skills/ |

| Autohand Code CLI | autohand-code | .autohand/skills/ | ~/.autohand/skills/ |

| Augment | augment | .augment/skills/ | ~/.augment/skills/ |

| IBM Bob | bob | .bob/skills/ | ~/.bob/skills/ |

| Claude Code | claude-code | .claude/skills/ | ~/.claude/skills/ |

| OpenClaw | openclaw | skills/ | ~/.openclaw/skills/ |

| Cline, Dexto, Kimi Code CLI, Loaf, Warp, Zed | cline, dexto, kimi-code-cli, loaf, warp, zed | .agents/skills/ | ~/.agents/skills/ |

| CodeArts Agent | codearts-agent | .codeartsdoer/skills/ | ~/.codeartsdoer/skills/ |

| CodeBuddy | codebuddy | .codebuddy/skills/ | ~/.codebuddy/skills/ |

| Codemaker | codemaker | .codemaker/skills/ | ~/.codemaker/skills/ |

| Code Studio | codestudio | .codestudio/skills/ | ~/.codestudio/skills/ |

| Codex | codex | .agents/skills/ | ~/.codex/skills/ |

| Command Code | command-code | .commandcode/skills/ | ~/.commandcode/skills/ |

| Continue | continue | .continue/skills/ | ~/.continue/skills/ |

| Cortex Code | cortex | .cortex/skills/ | ~/.snowflake/cortex/skills/ |

| Crush | crush | .crush/skills/ | ~/.config/crush/skills/ |

| Cursor | cursor | .agents/skills/ | ~/.cursor/skills/ |

| Deep Agents | deepagents | .agents/skills/ | ~/.deepagents/agent/skills/ |

| Devin for Terminal | devin | .devin/skills/ | ~/.config/devin/skills/ |

| Droid | droid | .factory/skills/ | ~/.factory/skills/ |

| Eve | eve | agent/skills/ | N/A (project-only) |

| Firebender | firebender | .agents/skills/ | ~/.firebender/skills/ |

| ForgeCode | forgecode | .forge/skills/ | ~/.forge/skills/ |

| Gemini CLI | gemini-cli | .agents/skills/ | ~/.gemini/skills/ |

| GitHub Copilot | github-copilot | .agents/skills/ | ~/.copilot/skills/ |

| Goose | goose | .goose/skills/ | ~/.config/goose/skills/ |

| Grok Build | grok | .grok/skills/ | ~/.grok/skills/ |

| Hermes Agent | hermes-agent | .hermes/skills/ | ~/.hermes/skills/ |

| inference.sh | inference-sh | .inferencesh/skills/ | ~/.inferencesh/skills/ |

| Jazz | jazz | .jazz/skills/ | ~/.jazz/skills/ |

| Junie | junie | .junie/skills/ | ~/.junie/skills/ |

| iFlow CLI | iflow-cli | .iflow/skills/ | ~/.iflow/skills/ |

| Kilo Code | kilo | `.kilocode/s