Find Skills

Find Skills

Discover skills from installed local skills and the open skills.sh ecosystem. Local-first: check what's already installed before searching externally.

Workflow

Step 1: Understand the Need

Identify from the user's request:

1. The domain (e.g., marketing, document processing, frontend, testing)
2. The specific task (e.g., writing copy, creating PDFs, optimizing conversions)
3. Whether this is common enough that a skill likely exists

Step 2: Check Installed Skills

List what's already available locally:

npx skills ls -g

Also check project-level skills:

npx skills ls

If an installed skill matches, tell the user it's already available and how to use it. Done.

Step 3: Search Curated Sources

If no local match, consult references/curated-sources.md for trusted repositories organized by domain. Recommend from curated sources first — these have been vetted.

To list skills from a specific source:

npx skills add <source> -l

Example:

npx skills add anthropics/skills -l
npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills -l

Step 4: Search the Ecosystem

If curated sources don't have a match, search the broader ecosystem:

npx skills find <query>

Tips:

• Use specific keywords: "react testing" > "testing"
• Try alternative terms: "deploy", "deployment", "ci-cd"
• Browse at https://skills.sh/ for category discovery

Step 5: Present Options

When presenting a skill to the user, include:

1. Skill name and what it does
2. Source repository
3. Install command
4. Link to skills.sh page

Example:

Found "seo-audit" from coreyhaines31/marketingskills — audits SEO issues on pages.

Install: npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills --skill seo-audit -g
More info: https://skills.sh/coreyhaines31/marketingskills/seo-audit

Always ask the user before installing. Never auto-install.

Step 6: Install (After User Confirms)

npx skills add <source> --skill <skill-name> -g -y

• -g installs globally (user-level)
• -y skips confirmation (only use after user has already confirmed)
• Use --skill <name> to install a specific skill from a multi-skill repo

When Nothing is Found

1. Acknowledge no skill was found
2. Offer to help directly with general capabilities
3. Suggest creating a custom skill: npx skills init <name> (reference the skill-creator skill)