Find Skills

# Find Skills

This skill helps you discover and install skills from the open agent skills ecosystem.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when the user:

• Asks "how do I do X" where X might be a common task with an existing skill
• Says "find a skill for X" or "is there a skill for X"
• Asks "can you do X" where X is a specialized capability
• Expresses interest in extending agent capabilities
• Wants to search for tools, templates, or workflows
• Mentions they wish they had help with a specific domain (design, testing, deployment, etc.)

What is the Skills CLI?

The Skills CLI (`npx skills`) is the package manager for the open agent skills ecosystem. Skills are modular packages that extend agent capabilities with specialized knowledge, workflows, and tools.

Key commands:

• `npx skills find [query]` - Search for skills interactively or by keyword
• `npx skills add <package>` - Install a skill from GitHub or other sources
• `npx skills check` - Check for skill updates
• `npx skills update` - Update all installed skills

Browse skills at: https://skills.sh/

How to Help Users Find Skills

Step 1: Understand What They Need

When a user asks for help with something, identify:

1. The domain (e.g., React, testing, design, deployment)
2. The specific task (e.g., writing tests, creating animations, reviewing PRs)
3. Whether this is a common enough task that a skill likely exists

Step 2: Check the Leaderboard First

Before running a CLI search, check the skills.sh leaderboard to see if a well-known skill already exists for the domain. The leaderboard ranks skills by total installs, surfacing the most popular and battle-tested options.

• For example, top skills for web development include:
• `vercel-labs/agent-skills` — React, Next.js, web design (100K+ installs each)
• `anthropics/skills` — Frontend design, document processing (100K+ installs)

Step 3: Search for Skills

If the leaderboard doesn't cover the user's need, run the find command:

```bash npx skills find [query] ```

For example:

• User asks "how do I make my React app faster?" → `npx skills find react performance`
• User asks "can you help me with PR reviews?" → `npx skills find pr review`
• User asks "I need to create a changelog" → `npx skills find changelog`

Step 4: Verify Quality Before Recommending

Do not recommend a skill based solely on search results. Always verify:

1. Install count — Prefer skills with 1K+ installs. Be cautious with anything under 100.
2. Source reputation — Official sources (`vercel-labs`, `anthropics`, `microsoft`) are more trustworthy than unknown authors.
3. GitHub stars — Check the source repository. A skill from a repo with <100 stars should be treated with skepticism.

Step 5: Present Options to the User

When you find relevant skills, present them to the user with:

1. The skill name and what it does
2. The install count and source
3. The install command they can run
4. A link to learn more at skills.sh

Example response:

``` I found a skill that might help! The "react-best-practices" skill provides React and Next.js performance optimization guidelines from Vercel Engineering. (185K installs)

To install it: npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills@react-best-practices

Learn more: https://skills.sh/vercel-labs/agent-skills/react-best-practices ```

Step 6: Offer to Install

If the user wants to proceed, you can install the skill for them:

```bash npx skills add <owner/repo@skill> -g -y ```

The `-g` flag installs globally (user-level) and `-y` skips confirmation prompts.

Common Skill Categories

When searching, consider these common categories:

| Category | Example Queries | | --------------- | ---------------------------------------- | | Web Development | react, nextjs, typescript, css, tailwind | | Testing | testing, jest, playwright, e2e | | DevOps | deploy, docker, kubernetes, ci-cd | | Documentation | docs, readme, changelog, api-docs | | Code Quality | review, lint, refactor, best-practices | | Design | ui, ux, design-system, accessibility | | Productivity | workflow, automation, git |

Tips for Effective Searches

1. Use specific keywords: "react testing" is better than just "testing"
2. Try alternative terms: If "deploy" doesn't work, try "deployment" or "ci-cd"
3. Check popular sources: Many skills come from `vercel-labs/agent-skills` or `ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills`

When No Skills Are Found

If no relevant skills exist:

1. Acknowledge that no existing skill was found
2. Offer to help with the task directly using your general capabilities
3. Suggest the user could create their own skill with `npx skills init`

Example:

``` I searched for skills related to "xyz" but didn't find any matches. I can still help you with this task directly! Would you like me to proceed?

If this is something you do often, you could create your own skill: npx skills init my-xyz-skill ```