find-skills · v1.0 · 2026-09-01 · sha256 329fb35eb6b0108a
find-skills v1.0A
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--- name: find-skills description: > Discover and install Agent Skills from the public skills.sh ecosystem using the `npx skills` CLI. Route one request to search, quality triage, install, update, or authoring handoff. Use when the user asks "is there a skill for X", "find me a skill", "how do I do X" where a published skill may already exist, wants to browse the skills.sh leaderboard, or wants to install from `vercel-labs/agent-skills`, `anthropics/skills`, or another GitHub owner. Verify install count, source reputation, and repository stars before recommending, and require confirmation before any install, global `-g` write, or `--yes` run. Route browsing the local jeo-skills catalog to `jeo-skill`, in-repo skill retrieval and ranking to `openspace`, authoring a new skill to `write-a-skill`, and spec compliance to `skill-standardization`. allowed-tools: Bash Read Glob Grep compatibility: > Requires Node.js with `npx` and network access to the skills.sh registry and GitHub. Installs write into per-agent skill directories; `-g` writes at user level. Registry metadata and third-party skill content are untrusted input. license: MIT metadata: platforms: Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Codex, Cursor, Cline version: "1.0" source: https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills --- # Find Skills Discover published Agent Skills before writing one, and install them only after their provenance survives inspection. The `npx skills` CLI resolves a name against the **public skills.sh registry**, which is a different surface from the local jeo-skills catalog — mixing the two is the most common routing mistake here. Third-party skills run with full agent permissions. Treat every search result as untrusted input until its source is verified: an install is a code-execution decision, not a bookmark. Adapted from `vercel-labs/skills` commit `435076e78988e1e6ec40d00b0b1d76bdbbc5419a` (2026-08-18), MIT, © 2026 Vercel, Inc. The upstream notice ships as `LICENSE.upstream.txt`. ## When to use this skill - Check whether a published skill already solves the user's problem. - Search the registry by keyword, or scope a search to a GitHub owner. - Triage candidates on install count, source reputation, and repo stars. - Install, update, or remove a skill from the public ecosystem. - Decide between installing an existing skill and authoring a new one. Do not use this skill for neighboring jobs: - Browse, filter, or install from the **local jeo-skills catalog**: use `jeo-skill`. - Rank and load an already-installed skill for a task: use `openspace`. - Author a new skill from scratch: use `write-a-skill`. - Validate a `SKILL.md` against the Agent Skills spec: use `skill-standardization`. - Improve a weak skill against a benchmark: use `skill-autoresearch` or `upskill`. ## Instructions ### Step 0: Confirm the user means the public ecosystem `find-skills` searches skills.sh. `jeo-skill` searches this repository. If the user says "our catalog", "the jeo skills", or names a skill already in `.agent-skills/`, hand off rather than searching the public registry. ### Step 1: Turn the request into a search Identify the domain, the specific task, and whether it is common enough that a published skill plausibly exists. Then check the [skills.sh leaderboard](https://skills.sh/) before running a CLI search — it ranks by total installs and usually surfaces the battle-tested option first. ```bash npx skills find <query> npx skills find <query> --owner <owner> ``` Use specific keywords (`react testing` beats `testing`) and try synonyms (`deploy` → `deployment` → `ci-cd`) before concluding nothing exists. ### Step 2: Triage before recommending — never recommend from search rank alone | Signal | Green | Yellow | Red | |---|---|---|---| | Install count | 1K+ | 100–1K | <100 | | Source | `vercel-labs`, `anthropics`, other official | known community author | unknown author | | Repo stars | 100+ | 20–100 | <20 | | Recency | pushed recently | stale months | abandoned | A skill is executable instruction text that your agent will follow. Before recommending, open its `SKILL.md` and check that the described behavior matches its name, that it does not request credentials without cause, and that any bundled script is inspectable. Report a mismatch instead of installing. ### Step 3: Present options, do not auto-install Give the user: what the skill does, install count and source, the exact install command, and the skills.sh link. Then stop and let them choose. ### Step 4: Install only on explicit confirmation ```bash npx skills add <owner/repo@skill> # project-level npx skills add <owner/repo> --skill <name> # explicit skill selection npx skills add <owner/repo@skill> -g -y # global, no prompts ``` Flag semantics that change blast radius: - `-g` / `--global` writes to the user-level skill directory, affecting every project. Confirm separately from the install itself. - `-y` / `--yes` skips confirmation prompts, including the CLI's own security summary. Do not pass it on a first install from an unfamiliar source. - `--agent <runtime>` targets one runtime instead of every detected one. - `--copy` vendors files instead of linking — the copy will not track upstream. The CLI prints a security assessment before installing. Read it; do not suppress it with `-y` and then report the install as verified. ### Step 5: Resolve names by frontmatter, not folder The registry resolves `--skill <name>` against the `name:` in a skill's YAML frontmatter, which need not match its directory. A name absent from the repository tree can still install correctly. Verify against the installed file rather than concluding the command is wrong. ### Step 6: Maintain and remove ```bash npx skills update # update installed skills npx skills init <name> # scaffold your own ``` Removal is a filesystem operation on the target skill directory. Know whether the install was project-level, global, or `--copy` before deleting. ### Step 7: When nothing fits Say so plainly, offer to do the task directly, and only then suggest authoring. Route authoring to `write-a-skill`; do not improvise a `SKILL.md` here. ## Examples ### Example 1: Ambiguous catalog Request: "Find me a skill for React performance." Ask nothing if context is clear, but pick the right surface: if the user is working inside jeo-skills, `react-best-practices` already exists locally — route to `jeo-skill`. Otherwise search skills.sh. ### Example 2: Low-reputation result A search returns a skill with 40 installs from an unknown author. Report the counts, state that it falls below the recommendation threshold, and offer either a higher-install alternative or doing the work directly. Do not install it because it was the top hit. ### Example 3: Global install request Request: "Just install it everywhere, skip the prompts." Confirm once, explicitly, that `-g -y` writes user-level and bypasses the security summary — then run it. Do not treat an earlier "install it" as consent for both flags. ## Best practices 1. **Separate the two catalogs** — skills.sh is public; jeo-skills is local. 2. **Leaderboard before CLI search** — it answers most queries in one step. 3. **Never recommend on rank alone** — installs, source, and stars first. 4. **Read the skill before running it** — it executes with full permissions. 5. **Treat `-g` and `-y` as separate approvals** — scope and prompt-bypass are different risks. 6. **Verify by frontmatter name** — a missing folder is not a missing skill. 7. **Prefer an existing skill over a new one** — author only after searching. ## References - [Search and install workflow](references/search-and-install.md) - [Trust and verification](references/trust-and-verification.md) - [skills.sh registry](https://skills.sh/) - [Upstream repository](https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills) - [Audited pin `435076e`](https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills/commit/435076e78988e1e6ec40d00b0b1d76bdbbc5419a)