Tools
skills.sh, skills CLI, Claude Code
Price
Free (MIT-licensed CLI)
Time
10 min
Level
Terminal, beginner

Every Monday you paste the same long prompt so Claude writes your meeting notes "your way". Or you heard about a great skill on social media without knowing where to find it or whether it can be trusted. skills.sh solves both: it is a catalogue where each skill points to its GitHub repository, with its install count, automated audits and the command to add it to your agent.

What it is for, and who it is for

A skill is a folder that holds a SKILL.md file (plain-text instructions) and sometimes scripts. The agent reads only the name and description at startup, then loads the rest when your request fits. The result: a method written once, applied every time.

Vercel introduced skills.sh on 20 January 2026 as "a directory and leaderboard" for skills, together with a tool called skills that installs them into more than 75 agents: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf and others. If you use Claude Code for your business, or you are starting out with an AI agent and want ready-made methods, this is the right place to begin.

Read a skill page before installing

The home page leaderboard ranks skills by install count: all time, last 24 hours, or trending. Those numbers come from the anonymous telemetry of the skills tool: they tell you what is popular, not what is safe. On a skill page, check four things:

  • The source repository: the GitHub account that publishes the skill. A known author, an active repository and a clear licence are good signs.
  • The audits: three services (Gen Agent Trust Hub, Socket, Snyk) scan skills and show a risk level. A "Med Risk" or "High Risk" deserves a careful read.
  • The files: the page shows the contents of SKILL.md. Read it; it is usually short.
  • The install command: copy the one on the page rather than a version found elsewhere.

Install a skill step by step

You need Node.js (for the npx command) and an agent installed on your computer, here Claude Code.

  1. Search from the TerminalSearch also works without the website. Replace the keyword with your need.
    Terminal
    npx skills find pdf
  2. See what a repository holds without installingThe --list option shows the skills available in a repository. Example with Vercel's:
    Terminal
    npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills --list
  3. Install one skill, for one agent--skill picks the skill, -a claude-code targets Claude Code. Without -g, it installs in the current project (.claude/skills/); with -g, for all your projects (~/.claude/skills/).
    Terminal
    npx skills add vercel-labs/skills --skill find-skills -a claude-code
  4. Check, update, remove
    Terminal
    npx skills list
npx skills update
npx skills remove find-skills

Example: let the agent search for you

The skill installed in step 3, find-skills, was the most installed in the directory as of 17/10/2026: it lets the agent search skills.sh itself. In a small agency, that could look like this in Claude Code:

Prompt
Every week I have to produce a client report as a PDF from an Excel sheet.
Search skills.sh for 3 skills that could help.
For each one, give me: the source repository, the licence, the date of the last update, the security audit results and what the SKILL.md contains.
Do not install anything. I will choose myself.

If you work in another language, add a last line asking for the answer in that language: most skills are written in English, and the agent tends to reply in the skill's language.

Useful settings

  • Turn off telemetry: the tool anonymously sends the names of installed skills (that is what feeds the leaderboard). To switch it off, put DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 or DO_NOT_TRACK=1 in front of the command.
  • Copy or link: by default the tool offers a symbolic link to a single copy. The --copy option creates independent copies, handy if you want to adapt a skill for a client.
  • Project before global: to try a skill, install it in a test folder, without -g. Move it to global once you are convinced.

Limits and cost

  • The tool and the directory are free. Using a skill, however, consumes your AI subscription or credits, like any other request.
  • skills.sh targets agents installed on your computer. For Claude on the web, a skill is added separately, by uploading a zip file in the settings.
  • A popular skill can be badly written, and a three-month-old skill can be outdated. Check the date of the last commit on GitHub.

A skill can run code. The skills.sh documentation says so itself: the directory cannot guarantee the quality or security of every skill listed, and asks you to review skills before installing them. The audits help; they do not replace your own reading. Read the SKILL.md and the scripts, prefer identified authors, and be wary of copies of a well-known skill published by another account. Our full guide: install a skill without getting caught out.

Sources

Would you rather have an AI agent that already follows your methods, with nothing to search or install? That is what I build as custom AI agents.