The open
registry for
AI Agent Skills

An Agent Skill is a reusable instruction file that teaches an AI agent to do one task well, such as reviewing code or extracting PDF tables. It ships as a SKILL.md file: YAML frontmatter plus Markdown instructions. The agent loads it automatically when a request matches, and the same file works across Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and 60+ other agents.

It's the open format a skill ships in: a Markdown file with YAML frontmatter at the top (name, description, license) followed by the instructions in the body. The agent reads the short description to decide when the skill is relevant, then pulls in the full body only when needed (progressive disclosure).

SkillMD (skillmd.com) is a free, open registry of thousands of AI agent skills. Search by task, category, or agent, then install with one CLI command (npx skillmds add owner/name), through the hosted MCP server, or by copying the SKILL.md file directly. Every public skill passes an automated safety review before it is listed.

Automatically. The agent compares your request against each installed skill's description and triggers, then loads the most relevant one, so you don't have to invoke it by name. Good "use when…" descriptions are what make a skill discoverable to the model.

A skill is knowledge or behaviour the agent applies on its own. A command is an explicit slash-action you run yourself. A plugin (what we call a Pack) bundles related skills, and sometimes commands, so you can install a whole workflow at once.

Yes. SKILL.md is an open standard, so the same skill works across Claude Code, Claude.ai, Codex, Cursor, Gemini, Antigravity and more. Each tool just reads the file from its skills directory. See skillmd.com/agents for per-agent install paths.

Treat them like any code you add to your workflow. Every skill on SkillMD shows capability flags (executes scripts, makes network calls, reads secrets, or docs-only), and SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you. Review the SKILL.md before installing, especially for unverified authors.

It marks skills from official, trusted publishers like Anthropic, Google, Microsoft and Hugging Face. Anyone can publish, but the checkmark is reserved for vetted first-party sources.

No. SkillMD is 100% free: searching, saving, installing, and publishing skills all cost nothing, and skills remain under their authors' original licenses.

Install with the one-line MCP server (claude mcp add skillmds -- npx -y skillmds) and ask your agent by name, or download the SKILL.md directly. To contribute, use Submit a Skill: paste a SKILL.md or GitHub URL and it goes live after review.