How to install agent skills in other AI tools

Agent Skills is an open format. Anthropic created it, and Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, OpenCode and dozens of other agents now read the same SKILL.md skills. One command installs a skill into any of them.

Which AI tools can use skills?

• Coding agents that read the format load skills from a folder, just as Claude Code and Codex do. Install with the skills CLI below.
• Chat models without skill support, such as ChatGPT or Gemini in the browser, can still follow a skill if you give it the instructions. Skip to chat models.

Using Claude or Codex? They have their own guides: How to install skills in Claude and How to install skills in Codex.

Install a skill with the skills CLI

The open-source skills CLI downloads a skill from GitHub and puts it in each agent's skills folder. You need Node.js 22.20 or later. Every skill page in the collection has its command filled in; this one installs Anthropic's Frontend Design:

npx skills add anthropics/skills --skill frontend-design Copy Copied

Run like this, the CLI finds the agents installed on your computer and asks which ones should get the skill. To skip the questions, name the agent and the scope yourself:

npx skills add anthropics/skills --skill frontend-design -a cursor -g -y Copy Copied

Flag	What it does
-a <agent>	The agent to install for. Repeat it for several: -a cursor -a gemini-cli
-g	Install for every project, in your user folder. Without it the skill goes into the current project
-y	Answer yes to every question
-l	List the skills in a repository without installing any
--copy	Copy the files into each agent's folder instead of linking them

By default the CLI keeps one copy of the skill and links each agent's folder to it, so an update reaches every agent at once. Use --copy where links do not work.

Where each agent keeps its skills

If you would rather copy a skill by hand, put its folder here, keeping the folder's name, with SKILL.md directly inside it.

Agent	-a name	This project	Every project
Cursor	cursor	.agents/skills/	~/.cursor/skills/
Gemini CLI	gemini-cli	.agents/skills/	~/.gemini/skills/
GitHub Copilot	github-copilot	.agents/skills/	~/.copilot/skills/
Windsurf	windsurf	.windsurf/skills/	~/.codeium/windsurf/skills/
OpenCode	opencode	.agents/skills/	~/.config/opencode/skills/
Amp	amp	.agents/skills/	~/.config/agents/skills/

Most agents read project skills from the same .agents/skills/ folder, so one copy there serves all of them. The CLI supports many more agents than this table; its agent list has every name and folder.

List, update and remove skills

See what is installed, for every project or for one agent:

npx skills ls -g Copy Copied

Check for newer versions, then update:

npx skills check Copy Copied npx skills update -g Copy Copied

Remove a skill by its name:

npx skills remove --global frontend-design Copy Copied

The CLI sends anonymous usage data. Set DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1 or DO_NOT_TRACK=1 in your environment to turn it off.

Use a skill in any chat model

A skill is mostly written instructions, so a model with no skill support can still follow one:

1. Open the skill's SKILL.md on GitHub. Every skill page here links to it.
2. Copy everything below the --- block at the top. That block is for agents; the rest is the instructions.
3. Paste it where the model keeps standing instructions: custom instructions, a ChatGPT project's instructions or a Gemini Gem. Or paste it at the start of a chat.

Two limits. The skill applies to everything in that chat or project, not only the requests it fits, so keep it to a project of its own. And a skill that relies on scripts or extra files in its folder only works in part: the model reads the instructions but cannot run the scripts.

When a skill does not work

• The CLI says “No skills found”. The SKILL.md is missing its name or description, or the repository and skill name are wrong. Run the command with -l to list the skills the repository really has.
• A permission error. The CLI cannot write to the agent's folder. Check that you own it, or install for the project instead of with -g.
• The agent does not see the skill. Restart the agent, and check that the folder sits directly in its skills folder, as skills/<name>/SKILL.md.
• It is installed but never used. The agent matches your request against the skill's description. Ask in the description's words, or name the skill in your request.

Before you install any skill

A skill is instructions your agent follows, and some include scripts it can run. Read a third-party skill's SKILL.md before you install it, the way you would read code before running it. Every skill page here links to its source.