Install Agent Skills Across 70+ Tools with the skills CLI

Copying skill folders by hand works until you support more than one agent. The vercel-labs/skills CLI (npx skills) is the shared installer for the open Agent Skills ecosystem: one command targets Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, and dozens of other clients.

Why This Tool Matters

Most skill repos assume you know where each agent stores skills. The skills CLI resolves that mapping for you. It also supports:

• GitHub shorthand (owner/repo) and full URLs
• Installing a single skill inside a monorepo (tree/main/skills/...)
• Project scope (committed with the repo) or global scope (-g)
• Listing skills before install (--list)
• Trying a skill once without installing (skills use)

If you install skills weekly, this removes the repetitive path and symlink work.

Installation

The CLI ships as an npm package. You do not clone the repo to use it.

npx skills --help

No global install is required. Pin a version in CI with npx skills@latest if you want reproducible builds.

Real Workflow: Install One Skill for Claude Code

You want Vercel's frontend design skill in a Next.js project.

Step 1: List what is in the repo

npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills --list

Scan the output for the exact skill folder name. Names with spaces must be quoted later.

Step 2: Install to Claude Code in this project

npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills \
  --skill frontend-design \
  -a claude-code \
  -y

Flags explained:

Restart Claude Code or start a new session so discovery picks up the new folder.

Step 3: Verify in session

Ask the agent which skills are loaded, then run a task that should trigger the skill, for example:

Apply the frontend design skill to review the homepage layout in src/app/page.tsx

If output ignores the skill, name it explicitly in the prompt.

Real Workflow: Try Before You Install

You are evaluating a skill from an unfamiliar repo and do not want 20 folders in ~/.claude/skills/ yet.

npx skills use vercel-labs/agent-skills --skill nextjs --agent claude-code

skills use resolves the repo, materializes the skill in a temp directory, and can launch the agent with a generated prompt. Use this for a one-off experiment before committing to a project install.

Real Workflow: Team-Wide Project Skills

Your team wants the same three skills in every service repo.

cd ~/my-service
npx skills add anthropics/skills \
  --skill write-git-commit \
  --skill code-review \
  -a claude-code \
  -y

Commit the generated .claude/skills/ (or equivalent) paths so new clones get the same setup. Use project scope (default) rather than -g unless the skill is personal preference, not team policy.

For CI or onboarding docs, the non-interactive form is:

npx skills add owner/repo --skill my-skill -a claude-code -g -y

Source Formats That Work

The CLI accepts more than owner/repo:

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

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

# Local checkout while developing your own skill
npx skills add ./my-local-skills

Use the tree/... form when a repository publishes many skills under one root and you only need one.

Tips

• Run --list before every install from a new repo. Skill names rarely match the GitHub directory name you guess.
• Prefer --skill over --all. Full-repo installs inflate context discovery and slow agent startup.
• Use -g only for skills you want on every machine. Keep team standards in project scope.
• Quote skill names that contain spaces: --skill "Convex Best Practices".
• Pair with SkillMap's leaderboard to find repos worth installing, then use npx skills add to apply them.

When Not to Use This

Skip the CLI if your organization blocks npx or outbound npm registry access. In that case, copy SKILL.md trees manually into the agent directory documented by your vendor.

Also skip it when you only use one agent and one skill forever. Manual copy is fine at that scale. The CLI pays off when agents, repos, or teammates multiply.

Explore more installation options on the SkillMap leaderboard.