add-skill

January 21, 2026 · View on GitHub

Install agent skills onto your coding agents from any git repository.

Supports Opencode, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and 13 more.

Quick Start

npx add-skill vercel-labs/agent-skills

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.)

Usage

Source Formats

The <source> argument accepts multiple formats:

# GitHub shorthand
npx add-skill vercel-labs/agent-skills

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

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

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

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

Options

Option	Description
`-g, --global`	Install to user directory instead of project
`-a, --agent <agents...>`	Target specific agents (e.g., `claude-code`, `codex`). See Available Agents
`-s, --skill <skills...>`	Install specific skills by name
`-l, --list`	List available skills without installing
`-y, --yes`	Skip all confirmation prompts
`-V, --version`	Show version number
`-h, --help`	Show help

Examples

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

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

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

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

# Install all skills from a repo
npx add-skill vercel-labs/agent-skills -y -g

Available Agents

Skills can be installed to any of these supported agents. Use -g, --global to install to the global path instead of project-level.

Agent	`--agent`	Project Path	Global Path
Amp	`amp`	`.agents/skills/`	`~/.config/agents/skills/`
Antigravity	`antigravity`	`.agent/skills/`	`~/.gemini/antigravity/skills/`
Claude Code	`claude-code`	`.claude/skills/`	`~/.claude/skills/`
Clawdbot	`clawdbot`	`skills/`	`~/.clawdbot/skills/`
Codex	`codex`	`.codex/skills/`	`~/.codex/skills/`
Cursor	`cursor`	`.cursor/skills/`	`~/.cursor/skills/`
Droid	`droid`	`.factory/skills/`	`~/.factory/skills/`
Gemini CLI	`gemini-cli`	`.gemini/skills/`	`~/.gemini/skills/`
GitHub Copilot	`github-copilot`	`.github/skills/`	`~/.copilot/skills/`
Goose	`goose`	`.goose/skills/`	`~/.config/goose/skills/`
Kilo Code	`kilo`	`.kilocode/skills/`	`~/.kilocode/skills/`
Kiro CLI	`kiro-cli`	`.kiro/skills/`	`~/.kiro/skills/`
OpenCode	`opencode`	`.opencode/skills/`	`~/.config/opencode/skills/`
Roo Code	`roo`	`.roo/skills/`	`~/.roo/skills/`
Trae	`trae`	`.trae/skills/`	`~/.trae/skills/`
Windsurf	`windsurf`	`.windsurf/skills/`	`~/.codeium/windsurf/skills/`
Neovate	`neovate`	`.neovate/skills/`	`~/.neovate/skills/`

Note

Kiro CLI users: After installing skills, you need to manually add them to your custom agent's resources in .kiro/agents/<agent>.json:

{
  "resources": [
    "skill://.kiro/skills/**/SKILL.md"
  ]
}

Agent Detection

The CLI automatically detects which coding agents you have installed by checking for their configuration directories. If none are detected, you'll be prompted to select which agents to install to.

Creating Skills

Skills are directories containing a SKILL.md file with YAML frontmatter:

---
name: my-skill
description: What this skill does and when to use it
---

# My Skill

Instructions for the agent to follow when this skill is activated.

## When to Use

Describe the scenarios where this skill should be used.

## Steps

1. First, do this
2. Then, do that

Required Fields

name: Unique identifier (lowercase, hyphens allowed)
description: Brief explanation of what the skill does

Skill Discovery

The CLI searches for skills in these locations within a repository:

Root directory (if it contains SKILL.md)
skills/
skills/.curated/
skills/.experimental/
skills/.system/
.agents/skills/
.agent/skills/
.claude/skills/
./skills/
.codex/skills/
.cursor/skills/
.factory/skills/
.gemini/skills/
.github/skills/
.goose/skills/
.kilocode/skills/
.kiro/skills/
.opencode/skills/
.roo/skills/
.trae/skills/
.windsurf/skills/
.neovate/skills/

If no skills are found in standard locations, a recursive search is performed.

Compatibility

Skills are generally compatible across agents since they follow a shared Agent Skills specification. However, some features may be agent-specific:

Feature	OpenCode	Claude Code	Codex	Kiro CLI	Cursor	Antigravity	Roo Code	Github Copilot	Amp	Clawdbot	Neovate
Basic skills	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
`allowed-tools`	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
`context: fork`	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Hooks	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No

Verify the skill was installed to the correct path
Check the agent's documentation for skill loading requirements
Ensure the SKILL.md frontmatter is valid YAML

Permission errors

Ensure you have write access to the target directory.

Telemetry

This CLI collects anonymous usage data to help improve the tool. No personal information is collected.

To disable telemetry, set either of these environment variables:

DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 npx add-skill vercel-labs/agent-skills
# or
DO_NOT_TRACK=1 npx add-skill vercel-labs/agent-skills

Telemetry is also automatically disabled in CI environments.

License

MIT