Mindket

Vercel Skills CLI

Newversion 2 · updated
Star38.4k

Overview

Vercel Labs’ open CLI for agent skills. It installs, lists, updates and removes skills for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and dozens of other agents, and the repository holds the find-skills skill that helps an agent search for one.

Vercel Skills CLI is an open-source project on GitHub in the Developer category, listed by Mindket. It is free. This is version 2, last updated on . Install it from GitHub as its README says. Get Mindket’s setup notes on your Mindket account, as a zip.

At a glance

Runs in
  • Claude Code: .claude/skills/ in a project, and ~/.claude/skills/ with -g
  • Codex: .agents/skills/ in a project, and ~/.agents/skills/ with -g
  • Cursor: .agents/skills/ in a project, and ~/.cursor/skills/ with -g
  • Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, OpenCode and Windsurf: the docs list each one’s folders
Start with
npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills

Platform

OpenCodeCoding agent
Claude CodeCoding agent
CodexCoding agent
CursorCode editor
Gemini CLICoding agent
GitHub CopilotCoding agent

And 1 more in Where to use it

About

What it is

Vercel Skills CLI is Vercel Labs’ command line tool for agent skills, run as npx skills. A skill is a folder with a SKILL.md that teaches a coding agent one task. The CLI installs skills from a GitHub repository, a link or a local folder into the skills folder of your agent. It also searches for, lists, updates and removes them. Beside the CLI, the repository ships one skill, find-skills. It teaches an agent to search for a skill when you ask for a capability, and to install one if you agree.

  1. You run npx skills add with a repository name
  2. The CLI lists its skills and asks which agents get them
  3. The CLI copies or links them into each agent’s folder
  4. Your agent loads a skill when your request fits it

Who it suits

Anyone who uses a coding agent and wants to add, share or update skills from the command line instead of copying folders by hand. Teams that keep skills in a repository and want every agent to get the same ones gain the most. Skill authors can start a skill with npx skills init.

Who uses it, and how
WhoCommandExample
Developers on one agentadd, updateA developer adds a skill to Claude Code with one line, and later runs update to pull changes.
Teams on several agentsadd with several agentsA team installs one skill for Claude Code and Cursor in a single command, with each agent linked to one copy.
Skill authorsinitAn author runs init to get a SKILL.md template, then installs it from a local folder to try it.
CI maintainerscheck, add with -yA maintainer gates a build on check, which exits with code 1 when a skill has an update.

Where to use it

In a terminal, for any agent the docs list. The README names OpenCode, Claude Code, Codex and Cursor, and many more.

  • Claude Code: .claude/skills/ in a project, and ~/.claude/skills/ with -g
  • Codex: .agents/skills/ in a project, and ~/.agents/skills/ with -g
  • Cursor: .agents/skills/ in a project, and ~/.cursor/skills/ with -g
  • Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, OpenCode and Windsurf: the docs list each one’s folders
  • The source can be GitHub, GitLab, another git host, a link or a local folder

How to set it up

Get it saves a zip of Mindket’s setup notes in your downloads folder, with the CLI’s commands for each agent.

What you need first
NeedDetail
Node.js22.20 or later, which the README requires. npx comes with it
A coding agentAny the docs list, such as Claude Code, Codex or Cursor
GitFor private repositories, the CLI uses the Git credentials you already have
Accounts and keysNone for the CLI. A skill you install may need its own
NetworkThe CLI fetches the repository you name, and npx skills find searches online
  1. Check that Node.js is 22.20 or later. The README requires it. If your machine has none, install Node.js first.
  2. Run the install line in your project. The CLI lists the skills it finds and asks which to install and which agents get them. Add -g to install for every project.
  3. Check what was installed. Run npx skills list, then ask your agent for something the skill covers.
npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills

That line installs from Vercel’s own skills repository, the README’s example. Use any owner/repo instead. To pick one skill and one agent, the README gives this line.

npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills --skill web-design-guidelines -a claude-code

How to use it

Run the command for the job in your project.

The commands
CommandWhat it doesExample
npx skills findSearches for skills, interactively or by keywordnpx skills find typescript
npx skills addInstalls skills from a sourcenpx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills --list lists a repository’s skills first
npx skills listLists installed skillsnpx skills ls -g shows only global ones
npx skills checkSays whether updates exist, and exits with code 1 if one doesUse it to gate a CI run
npx skills updateUpdates installed skillsnpx skills update my-skill updates one
npx skills removeRemoves skills from agentsnpx skills remove web-design-guidelines
npx skills usePrints a skill’s prompt, or starts an agent with it, without installingnpx skills use vercel-labs/agent-skills@web-design-guidelines --agent claude-code
npx skills initMakes a SKILL.md templatenpx skills init my-skill

Once your agent has find-skills, you can skip the commands. Ask “is there a skill for writing a changelog?” Your agent runs the search, checks install counts and sources, and asks before it installs anything.

Example

You want to see what a repository offers before you install anything.

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

The CLI lists the skills in vercel-labs/agent-skills and installs nothing, so you can pick one by name for the next command.

Run the same line with --skill and a name from the list, and -a to name your agent.

For newcomers and experts

If you are new. A skill is a folder with one SKILL.md that your agent reads when a task fits it. The CLI only copies or links those folders to where your agent looks. Try it in a test project with a repository you trust, then look at what lands in your agent’s skills folder.

For experts. The source can be a GitHub shorthand, a full URL, a path to one skill in a repository, or a local folder. GitLab, Azure Repos and any other git address work too, and so does a link to a SKILL.md or an archive. Pin a tag with owner/repo@v1.2.3. In CI, -y skips every prompt.

The CLI looks for skills in skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/ and many agent folders. A skills.sh.json file with a paths list adds your own folders, and entries in .claude-plugin/marketplace.json are found too.

Projects can also declare skills in package.json. The experimental experimental_sync command links skills that your npm dependencies ship and records them in skills-lock.json. These are previews, so their names and options may change.

Good to know

The CLI sends anonymous usage data unless you turn it off.

  • Telemetry: DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 or DO_NOT_TRACK=1 turns it off, along with the security-audit requests. It sends GitHub repository and skill names only for repositories GitHub confirms are public, and may send source names from other hosts
  • Trust: the CLI installs what a source holds, so read a skill before you rely on it. find-skills tells the agent to check install counts, the source and the stars first
  • Agent features differ: the docs show context: fork working in Claude Code only
  • find-skills: it sits in the repository’s skills/find-skills/ folder. Neither the README nor the docs print a line to install it, so this listing gives none
  • The tool, not the skills: the skills you install come from their own makers, such as vercel-labs/agent-skills
  • Maker: Vercel Labs, MIT licensed, Copyright Vercel, Inc. Not made by Mindket

README and files

README

Vercel Skills CLI: setup notes

This kit holds setup notes written by Mindket. It does not contain the CLI or the find-skills skill. They come from Vercel Labs’ repository: https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills

License: MIT, Copyright (c) 2026 Vercel, Inc. Full text: https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills/blob/main/LICENSE

The skills CLI is made by Vercel Labs. Mindket lists it and did not write it.

The pages these notes came from: the README (https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills/blob/main/README.md), the docs folder (https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills/tree/main/docs: commands.md, agents.md, creating-skills.md, troubleshooting.md), the find-skills skill (https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills/blob/main/skills/find-skills/SKILL.md) and package.json. Facts about where Claude Code loads skills come from its docs (https://code.claude.com/docs/en/skills). Mindket copied every command and ran none of them.

What it is

The repository is the skills CLI, “The CLI for the open agent skills ecosystem”, in the README’s words. You run it with npx skills. It installs agent skills from a repository, a link or a folder into the skills folder of your coding agent, and it lists, updates and removes them. Agent skills are, again from the README, “reusable instructions that teach coding agents how to perform tasks”.

It supports Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode and many more agents. The list is in its docs (https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills/blob/main/docs/agents.md).

The repository also holds one skill, find-skills, in its skills folder. It teaches an agent to search for a skill when you ask for a capability, and to install one if you agree.

Files in this kit

  • setup/install-skills.md: npx skills add, source formats, options and where files land
  • setup/claude-code.md: the CLI with Claude Code
  • setup/other-agents.md: the CLI with Codex, Cursor and other agents
  • setup/find-skills.md: the find-skills skill, who does what in it
  • setup/manage-skills.md: find, list, check, update, remove, use, init, telemetry and settings

What you need first

  • Node.js 22.20 or later. The README says “Requires Node.js 22.20 or later.” and package.json has "node": ">=22.20.0". On a machine with no Node.js, install it first.
  • A coding agent that reads skills.
  • Git for repositories that need it. The docs say the CLI uses the Git credentials you already have for private repositories.
  • No account for the CLI itself. A skill you install may ask for its own.

What installs where

By default a skill goes into the current project, and with -g into your user folder. The docs’ table: “Project (default) ./<agent>/skills/” and “Global (-g) ~/<agent>/skills/”. Each agent has its own folder name, such as .claude/skills/ for Claude Code and .agents/skills/ for Codex. When it asks how to install, the recommended choice keeps one copy and links each agent to it. The --copy flag, or the Copy choice, makes separate copies instead.

Update and remove

npx skills update and npx skills remove do these, and npx skills check says whether an update exists. They are in setup/manage-skills.md.

Your data

The README says the CLI “collects anonymous usage data”. Set DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 or DO_NOT_TRACK=1 to turn it off. What it sends is in setup/manage-skills.md. The CLI also fetches skills from the source you name, and npx skills find searches online: its source file src/find.ts sends the search to skills.sh, which Mindket read in the CLI’s code, not in its docs.

Files
README.md  3 KB
setup/claude-code.md  2 KB
setup/find-skills.md  3 KB
setup/install-skills.md  4 KB
setup/manage-skills.md  4 KB
setup/other-agents.md  3 KB

6 files, 19 KB, downloaded as a zip.

What’s new

  • Version 2 · 2026-11-09

    Updated by Mindket to the current version of this kit.

  • Version 1 · 2026-11-07

Reviews

No ratings yet

Write a review

No reviews yet.

What people say

Posts and comments that name this project on Hacker News, Bluesky, X, Reddit, Facebook and YouTube, found by a weekly search and on Trendshift. Mindket doesn’t write or check them. Open one to read it where it was posted.

dhruvwillShow HN: Skills-CLI, Sync local and remote skills with agentic IDEsI built a CLI tool to solve my own frustration: keeping AI skills (prompts, rules, tool definitions) in sync across multiple AI coding assistants. The problem: I'd create a skill in Cursor, then need it in Claude Desktop and Gemini CLI too. Manual copying was tedious, and updates meant copying…1 pointEdy | Indie BuilderToday's GitHub trending: giving AI agents hands, skills, memory. - milind-soni/OpenMausBot: open-source Grok Bot alternative with a VM for the bot (+1,955 today) - anthropics/skills: Anthropic's Agent Skills repo (+390) - vercel-labs/agent-browser: browser CLI for agents (+190) #buildinpublic #AI4 likes · 1 replyvzalivaAsk HN: How do you manage skills files?I've used this to install some 3rd party skills: https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills It allows to install and update skills. Caveat: It works for Claude Code and Codex, but does not work for Claude Desktop.GitHub Trending📈 Today's GitHub Trending: 1. https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-browser - Rust, 180 stars today 2. https://github.com/cloudflare/security-audit-skill - JavaScript, 2088 stars today 3. https://github.com/google/skills - Python, 449 stars today 4. https://github.com/mattpocock/skills - Shell […]3 likes · 1 replyFailMoreAsk HN: How do you manage skills files?Surprised it has not been mentioned, but I think relying on https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills is sound. It handles global installs for a wide range of coding agents. If I was working on an internal only skill I'd probably still use the same foundation.@antspaceai.bsky.social5/6 vercel-labs/agent-skills: A collection of agent skills from Vercel Labs (33,608 GitHub stars) https://antspace.ai/skills/coding/vercel-labs-agent-skills1 like · 1 replyosr00Ask HN: How do you manage skills files?> How do you find skills I try to keep my collection of community skills short, usually a few established names (mattpocock, mcollina, trailsofbit). And then I check new releases (or when mattpocock published a youtube video for instance :D) > keep them organized For skills I wrote myself, I have…小光资讯装法分两步。第一步:npm install -g agent-desktop。第二步:npx skills add github.com/vercel-labs/... --skill agent-desktop,把官方技能装进项目,让 Claude Code、Codex、Cursor 直接读到用法。系统门槛先对齐:macOS 13 以上并给运行它的终端无障碍权限,Windows 10 1809 以上且要在交互会话里跑,Linux 要 Ubuntu 24.04 以上并跑着 AT-SPI 总线。1 like · 1 replywesturnerShow HN: Saga – A Jira-like project tracker MCP server for AI agents (SQLite)np. .claude/skills/ is the original path for agentskills. Anthropic Claude created and has open spec'd https://agentskills.io. Is .agents/skills/ less tool-specific? The skill.sh README lists a number of agent skills paths that their tool supports, but the agentskills.io specification doesn't say?…GitHub Trending JS/TS🚀 Skyrocketing! 🚀 (200+ new stars) 📦 vercel-labs / skills ⭐ 37,732 (+243) 🗒 TypeScript The open agent skills tool - npx skills1 like · 1 replywesturnerShow HN: Saga – A Jira-like project tracker MCP server for AI agents (SQLite)Np. Still learning about how to reference agentskills from my coding LLM here. Haven't yet worked with MCP or A2A much. I should port instruction prompts from each project's AGENTS.md to reusable skills in .claude/skills/skillname/SKILL.md ; so that I can reference "/skillname" in a prompt to…GitHub Trending JS/TS🔥 Hot Repo! 🔥 (100+ new stars) 📦 vercel-labs / skills ⭐ 34,150 (+187) 🗒 TypeScript The open agent skills tool - npx skills2 likes

Searched

More from Mindket

See all from Mindket

anaksor-ocr

Sokheng · Kit

Reads Khmer and English text from documents, receipts and photos of signs, using a detector for text lines and a recogniser for each line. Suits developers who…

New

Qwen2.5-7B-Instruct as GGUF files in eight quantization sizes, to chat with locally through llama.cpp. For people who want a capable 7.6B model on their own co…

New

ACE-Step 1.5 XL SFT

ACE-Step · Kit

Generates music from text with a 4B diffusion decoder, 50 steps and guidance control, aiming for higher audio quality than the base. For creators with a GPU of…

New

Similar in Developer

See all in Developer

Claude Code Skills & Plugins

alirezarezvani · Skill

Adds 411 ready-made skills for Claude Code and other coding agents, grouped by role from engineering and product to marketing, finance and compliance. Installs…

New29.8k

buzz

block · Kit

Self-hostable workspace where people and AI agents share the same rooms, built on a Nostr relay that logs every action as a signed event. For teams that want t…

New37.3k

plannotator

backnotprop · Kit

Opens your AI coding agent's plans, specs and code changes in a browser so you can annotate or comment on them and send the feedback straight back to the agent.

New10.5k