Agent Skills Directory for Claude, Codex and Cursor
An Agent Skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file that teaches an AI assistant one task and loads only when it is needed. This directory lists official and community skills, each described in plain words so you can choose before you install.
Updated Nov 12, 2026
171 skills
Agent Skills
Academy Guide
OfficialRecommends matching courses, tutorials, and use cases from Claude Academy when you ask how to use Claude or its features.
Algorithmic Art
OfficialCreates original generative art with p5.js: an algorithmic philosophy document plus a self-contained interactive HTML viewer with seeded randomness and sliders.
Brand Guidelines
OfficialApplies Anthropic's official brand colors and typography to documents and slides so they match the company's visual style.
Canvas Design
OfficialCreate original visual art, posters and designs as .png or .pdf files, guided by a custom design philosophy.
Claude Api
OfficialHelps build and maintain applications that call the Claude API, with up-to-date model IDs, pricing, parameters, streaming, tool use, and migration guidance.
Discernment Nudge
OfficialAdds 2-3 short follow-up questions after substantive answers, helping users check facts, assumptions, and missing context before acting.
Doc Coauthoring
OfficialGuides you through a three-stage workflow to co-author docs, specs, proposals and decision documents with iterative refinement.
Docx
OfficialLets the assistant create, read, edit, and convert Word documents (.docx), including tracked changes, comments, and templates.
Frontend Design
OfficialGuides the assistant to design distinctive, non-templated visual interfaces with intentional typography, color, layout, and copy.
Internal Comms
OfficialHelps write internal company communications like 3P updates, newsletters, FAQs, status reports, and incident reports using your company's preferred formats.
Mcp Builder
OfficialGuides the assistant through building high-quality MCP servers in Python or TypeScript, from planning and coding to testing and evaluations.
Lets the assistant work with PDF files: extract text and tables, merge, split, rotate, watermark, create, fill forms, encrypt, and OCR scanned documents.
Pptx
OfficialCreate, edit, read and check PowerPoint (.pptx) presentations, including templates, charts, images and speaker notes.
Skill Creator
OfficialGuides the assistant through creating, testing, evaluating, and improving new skills, including optimizing their descriptions for better triggering.
Slack Gif Creator
OfficialHelps create animated GIFs sized and optimized for Slack, including emoji GIFs, using Python drawing and animation tools.
Theme Factory
OfficialApplies one of ten pre-set color and font themes, or a custom-generated theme, to slides, documents, reports and HTML pages.
Web Artifacts Builder
OfficialBuilds elaborate multi-component claude.ai artifacts with React, Tailwind and shadcn/ui, bundled into a single HTML file.
Webapp Testing
OfficialLets the assistant test local web apps by writing and running Playwright scripts to click through pages, take screenshots, and read browser logs.
Xlsx
OfficialLets the assistant create, edit, fix, and analyze Excel and CSV spreadsheet files, including formulas, formatting, charts, and data cleaning.
Agent Introspection Debugging
CommunityGuides the assistant through a structured four-phase self-debugging workflow when an agent run fails, loops, or burns tokens without progress.
Agent Sort
CommunityAnalyzes a code repository and sorts skills, commands, rules, and hooks into DAILY vs LIBRARY buckets to build a trimmed, evidence-backed install plan.
Agentic Engineering
CommunityGuides AI-assisted engineering with eval-first workflows, task decomposition, cost-aware model routing, and focused code review practices.
Api Design
CommunityGuides the assistant to design and review REST APIs using best practices for naming, status codes, pagination, errors, versioning, and rate limiting.
Api Design
CommunityGuides the assistant in designing consistent, production-ready REST APIs following naming, status code, pagination, error, and versioning best practices.
What are Agent Skills?
Agent Skills are a lightweight, open format for giving an AI agent specialised knowledge and workflows. The format was originally developed by Anthropic and released as an open standard. A skill teaches one job, such as filling in a PDF form, writing in a house style or reviewing code against a checklist, and the agent loads it only when the task calls for it.
Inside a SKILL.md file
A skill is a folder. The only required file is SKILL.md:
---
name: brand-guidelines
description: Apply the company's colours, fonts and tone to documents and slides.
---
# Brand guidelines
When creating a document or slide deck, use these colours...
name: lowercase letters and hyphens, matching the folder name.description: what the skill does and when to use it. This is what the
agent reads to decide whether to load it.
- Optional folders:
scripts/for code,references/for longer documents
and assets/ for templates or images.
How to install a skill
| Where | How |
|---|---|
| Claude Code | Copy the folder to .claude/skills/ (this project) or ~/.claude/skills/ (all projects) |
| Claude Code, official skills | /plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills, then /plugin install the set you want |
| Claude apps | The example skills are available on paid plans |
| Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI | Copy the folder to .agents/skills/ in your project |
| Any supported agent | npx skills add <owner/repo> installs a skill from a repository |
Skills vs MCP
| Skill | MCP server | |
|---|---|---|
| What it adds | Know-how and procedures | A connection to a service or data |
| What it is | A folder with SKILL.md | A program your assistant talks to |
| Where it runs | Inside the agent's context | Locally or on a remote server |
| Example | "Write release notes our way" | Read and create issues in GitHub |
They combine well: a skill can tell the agent how to use the tools an MCP server provides. New to MCP? Start with what MCP is. Skills are used by the agents in our guide to AI agents and by the tools in AI coding CLIs compared.
How skills are listed
We collect skills from public repositories, read their SKILL.md and write each listing with AI from that public information. We do not develop or audit them, so read a skill before installing it. Published a skill? Email envia@mcpteca.com and we will list it for free.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Claude skill?
A folder of instructions, and optionally scripts and files, that Claude loads when a task needs it, such as working with spreadsheets or following a brand style.
What is SKILL.md?
The one required file in a skill: a short YAML header with a name and a description, followed by the instructions in Markdown.
Are skills only for Claude?
No. Agent Skills are an open standard. Claude, Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, VS Code and OpenCode are among the supported tools.
How do I install a skill in Claude Code?
Copy the skill folder into .claude/skills/ in your project, or ~/.claude/skills/ for every project. Official Anthropic skills can be added with the /plugin commands.
Should I use a skill or an MCP server?
Use a skill to teach a procedure or know-how, and an MCP server to connect to an external service or data. Many workflows combine both.
Do skills use up the context window?
Very little until used: only the name and description, around 100 tokens, are loaded at startup. The full instructions load when the skill is activated.
Are skills free?
The skills listed here are published openly, but licenses vary. Check each skill's license before you reuse it.
Are skills safe?
A skill can include scripts that your assistant runs. Read a skill before installing it, especially from an unknown author.