git:20261005.34ffb4a to git:20261011.ef64499

42 added, 128 removed. Audit A to A.

---

name: find-skills

- description: Helps users discover and install agent skills when they ask questions like "how do I do X", "find a skill for X", "is there a skill that can...", or express interest in extending capabilities. This skill should be used when the user is looking for functionality that might exist as an installable skill.

+ description: Discover, compare, install or update agent skills when the user explicitly seeks skills or asks to extend their skill collection. Use for skill-discovery requests, not ordinary how-to or implementation questions.

---

# 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] [--owner <owner>]` - Search for skills interactively or by keyword, optionally scoped to a GitHub owner

- - `npx skills add <package>` - Install a skill from GitHub or other sources

- - `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](https://skills.sh/) 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] [--owner <owner>]

- ```

- 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

+ Find the smallest useful addition to the user’s existing skills. A search result

+ is a lead; inspect its source and overlap before recommending it.

- 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`

+ ## Discover and compare

- ## When No Skills Are Found

+ 1. Read the installed catalog and the canonical skills checkout from

+ `~/.local/state/agent-env/environment.json`. Check whether an existing skill

+ already covers the request, including explicit-only skills and plugins.

+ 2. Start with official maintainers, relevant practitioners and the user’s trusted

+ authors. Matt Pocock (`mattpocock/skills`) and David Zhang (`dzhng/skills`) are

+ trusted regardless of star count. Use the user’s

+ [AI Skills list](https://app.notion.com/p/transitive-bs/AI-Skills-3c1edb27f12480c1b076e637a6b156e5)

+ when accessible. Search [skills.sh](https://skills.sh/) or use

+ `npx skills find <query> --owner <owner>` for discovery when useful.

+ 3. Inspect the actual skill and its linked resources. Verify author track record,

+ recency, license, dependencies, invocation scope and whether it adds a new job

+ or duplicates an installed skill. Adoption counts are context, not a quality

+ threshold; cite primary sources for the claims behind the recommendation.

+ 4. Present a concise shortlist: source, concrete benefit, overlap/replacement,

+ maintenance cost and recommendation. Prefer keeping the current skill when

+ the addition has no clear benefit. State when authoritative evidence is missing.

- If no relevant skills exist:

+ ## Install or update when authorized

- 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`

+ Use the Git checkouts recorded in `environment.json` and read their `AGENTS.md`

+ files. Import through the canonical skills repository rather than running a

+ third-party installer against global skill directories.

- Example:

+ 1. Compare upstream in a temporary checkout. Record exact commits, source paths

+ and licenses; preserve current files, local edits and attribution. Inspect

+ resources and resolve duplicate names or nested skill roots.

+ 2. Add or update the effective skill under `skills/` and its provenance and

+ profile membership in `skills.json`, following the repository’s current

+ conventions. Preserve invocation policy unless the user changes it.

+ 3. Read `python3 scripts/skillset.py --help`, run the required repository checks,

+ then use its apply workflow and the existing profile to update shared links.

+ Review the dry run before applying; do not overwrite unmanaged content.

+ 4. Finish with `agent-env doctor` from the configured dotfiles checkout and

+ report the installed revision, relevant local adjustments and any real drift.

- ```

- 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?

+ `npx skills add -g`, bulk `npx skills update`, and upstream install scripts can

+ overwrite managed links or local changes. Use the canonical manifest and shared

+ installer for these writes. Discovery-only requests end with recommendations;

+ an explicit install/update request already authorizes its in-scope work.

- If this is something you do often, you could create your own skill:

- npx skills init my-xyz-skill

- ```

+ If nothing suitable exists, say so and complete the underlying task directly

+ when requested. Propose a new personal skill only when recurring demand warrants

+ its maintenance cost.