How to Install Agent Skills
A practical guide to installing agent skills. Official Claude platform methods, community tools like `npx skills add`, and emerging standards for universal discovery.
Agent skills are modular capabilities that extend what AI agents can do. Each one is a folder with a SKILL.md file that gives an agent specialized knowledge or a workflow. How you install a skill depends on which product you use.
Official methods (Claude platform)
Anthropic provides several ways to install skills depending on your workflow.
Claude.ai
Upload skill packages directly through the web interface:
- Navigate to Settings → Features.
- Upload your skill as a
.zipfile. - The skill is then available in your conversations.
Custom skills on claude.ai need a paid plan with code execution enabled, and belong to the user who uploaded them.
Claude Code
Skills are filesystem-based and can be installed in two locations:
- Personal skills:
~/.claude/skills/— available across all your projects. - Project skills:
.claude/skills/— scoped to a specific project.
Place your skill directory in either location. Claude Code discovers skills in both and loads each one when a task calls for it.
Claude API
For programmatic use, upload custom skills through the Skills API (the /v1/skills endpoints) and reference them by skill_id in a request that uses the code execution tool. The Skills API guide has the request format.
Claude Agent SDK
When building with the Agent SDK, place skills in the .claude/skills/ directory of your project, the same location Claude Code uses.
Community tools: the npx skills add command
The community has built tooling to simplify skill installation. The skills CLI behind skills.sh installs a skill with one command:
npx skills add owner/repo
This approach offers several benefits:
- One-command installation — no manual downloading or file management.
- Cross-agent support — it installs to Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode and dozens of other agents.
- Updates —
npx skills updatebrings installed skills up to date.
Example:
npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills
Most of the skills catalogued in this directory install via this pattern. The install command is printed on every skill's detail page.
Emerging standards: the well-known URI RFC
Cloudflare has published a draft for a standardized discovery mechanism using the well-known URI pattern:
/.well-known/agent-skills/
The draft suggests that skill providers host an index at a predictable URL, enabling:
- Universal discovery — agents and tools can find skills published by any domain.
- Progressive disclosure — expose skill capabilities in stages.
- Decentralized distribution — no central registry required.
It is still a draft, but it could simplify how agents discover and install skills across the web.
Bonus: skills + MCP integration
Skills become more useful when combined with MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers. A skill can describe a workflow that uses MCP tools:
- A code review skill can use MCP tools for Git operations.
- A deployment skill can connect to cloud-provider MCP servers.
- A data analysis skill can query databases through MCP.
The skill supplies the procedure; the MCP server supplies the connection. See Claude skills vs MCP for how the two differ.
Summary
Installing agent skills is straightforward, with several options depending on the workflow:
| Method | Best for |
|---|---|
| Claude.ai upload | Quick testing and personal use |
Filesystem (~/.claude/skills/) | Local development |
| Claude API | Automated deployments |
npx skills add | Cross-agent installation |
| Well-known URI | Future discovery |
Pick the method that fits your workflow.