Quick start

A five-minute tour. Assumes you've installed the global tool.

At a glance

What the CLI looks like end-to-end. Each section below covers one of these in detail.

# Install from any source - one command, several ecosystems
agentskills-cli add anthropics/skills                      # GitHub shorthand
agentskills-cli add MyOrg.AgentSkills                      # NuGet package
agentskills-cli add @my-org/agent-skills                   # npm package
agentskills-cli add ./my-local-skill                       # local folder

# Inspect what is installed, grouped however you want
agentskills-cli list --by package

# Search community skills
agentskills-cli find testing

# Remove an entire package's worth of skills
agentskills-cli remove @my-org/agent-skills -y

Now the step-by-step.

1. Scaffold a skill

mkdir my-first-skill && cd my-first-skill
agentskills-cli init . -y

Open SKILL.md. The scaffolded file looks like this:

---
name: my-first-skill
description: One-line description that helps an agent decide when to use this skill.
---
# my-first-skill

What this skill does and how it should be used by an agent.

## When to invoke

- Bullet trigger conditions

## Notes

- Anything else the agent should know.

Edit the description and body to describe whatever you want an AI agent to do.

2. Install it

cd ..
agentskills-cli add ./my-first-skill -a universal -y --copy

The output shows where the files landed:

╭───────────────────┬───────────┬────────┬────────────────────────────────────╮
│ Skill             │ Agent     │ Result │ Path                               │
├───────────────────┼───────────┼────────┼────────────────────────────────────┤
│ my-first-skill    │ Universal │ copied │ /path/to/cwd/.agents/skills/my-…   │
╰───────────────────┴───────────┴────────┴────────────────────────────────────╯
Installed under /path/to/cwd/.agents/skills
Done.

A skills-lock.json is written alongside, recording what was installed and from where.

3. List what's installed

agentskills-cli list

Group by package or by install path:

agentskills-cli list --by package
agentskills-cli list --by path --paths

4. Install from a real source

Pick whichever ecosystem fits:

GitHub

agentskills-cli add anthropics/skills -y --copy

NuGet

agentskills-cli add MyOrg.AgentSkills -y --copy

npm

agentskills-cli add @my-org/agent-skills -y --copy

Local

agentskills-cli add /path/to/skill -y --copy

All four use the same install pipeline. The result table tells you exactly where the files landed and the lock file records the source for agentskills-cli update later.

5. Search the community registry

agentskills-cli find testing

Picks an entry, hands it off to the install flow. See find for the full UX.

6. Remove cleanly

agentskills-cli remove my-first-skill -y

Or remove every skill that came from a specific source (the unified-targets behavior):

agentskills-cli remove MyOrg.AgentSkills -y       # all skills from that NuGet package
agentskills-cli remove anthropics/skills -y       # all skills from that GitHub repo

What next

• Commands for the full flag reference on each subcommand
• Source formats for every input shape AgentSkills CLI accepts
• Ship skills with your library if you maintain a NuGet or npm package and want users to get agent guidance "for free" when they install your SDK