Where to find agent skills: directories, marketplaces and package managers

By markdownregistry. Published October 2, 2026. Updated October 2, 2026.

Directories help you find a skill; package managers install it at an exact version and keep track of it. Each place below is described from its own documentation, linked in the sources. Whichever you use, popularity is not review: read a skill before an agent runs it (what to check).

Every claim about another tool was checked against that tool's own documentation on October 2, 2026. Figures are from State of agent markdown, September 2026, data frozen September 27, 2026.

Where can I find and install agent skills for Claude Code?

Start with Anthropic. Claude Code adds Anthropic's official plugin marketplace for you, and /plugin install name@claude-plugins-official installs a plugin, which can carry skills; Anthropic's example skills install after /plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills. For skills from other authors, find one in a directory such as skills.sh or SkillsMP and install it from its source repository with npx skills add owner/repo, gh skill install owner/repo, or mdr add owner/repo/skill to pin an exact version. A skill is a folder with a SKILL.md in it, so you can also copy it into .claude/skills/ in your project, or ~/.claude/skills/ for every project.

/plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills
/plugin install document-skills@anthropic-agent-skills

Those two lines are from anthropics/skills; /plugin install opens the plugin's details so you can review it before it installs (Claude Code docs, plugins). Where Claude Code looks for skills: Claude Code docs, skills.

What is the best agent skills directory in 2026?

The best one depends on what you need. skills.sh, run by Vercel, ranks skills by how often its CLI installed them and shows third-party security audits, so it is the place to see what other developers use. SkillsMP searches the largest set, more than 3,000,000 skills from public GitHub by its own count, sorted into categories. ClawHub is the registry for OpenClaw. Anthropic's plugin marketplaces carry the skills Anthropic lists for Claude Code. markdownregistry indexes skills and other agent files from GitHub with the versions it has recorded, an audit grade and a CLI that pins by content hash. In every one, popularity is not a review.

What are the best alternatives to skills.sh for agent skills?

SkillsMP, for searching the widest set of skills collected from GitHub. GitHub's gh skill, for installing any skill straight from a GitHub repository and pinning it to a tag or commit. Anthropic's plugin marketplaces, for skills Anthropic lists for Claude Code. ClawHub, if you use OpenClaw. markdownregistry, for skills with their versions, an audit grade and a lockfile. skills.sh remains the clearest signal of what is popular, because its ranking counts installs made with its CLI.

skills.sh ranks by anonymous install counts from its CLI (skills.sh docs); its CLI installs for many agents, including Claude Code, Codex and Cursor (vercel-labs/skills).

SkillsMP vs skills.sh: which agent skills directory is better?

They answer different questions. skills.sh is a leaderboard: it ranks skills by how many times its CLI installed them, so it shows what developers actually use, and it shows security audits from Gen, Socket and Snyk. SkillsMP is a search engine over a far larger set, more than 3,000,000 skills collected from public GitHub by its own count, sorted into categories and occupations, with a free API and an MCP server. Use skills.sh to find popular skills and read their audits; use SkillsMP to find a skill for a narrow task, then check its source repository yourself, as SkillsMP's own page advises.

SkillsMP describes itself as an independent community project, not affiliated with Anthropic or OpenAI (SkillsMP, about). skills.sh says it cannot guarantee the quality or security of every skill it lists (skills.sh docs).

What is the difference between a skills directory and a skills package manager?

A directory helps you find a skill; a package manager installs it and keeps track of it. A directory lists, ranks and describes skills and usually shows an install command. A package manager installs a skill at an exact version, records what it installed in a lockfile, checks the files against their hashes, tells you when the source changed and shows you the change before you update. Without that, a copied skill stays whatever version you copied.

That is measurable. For five skills from anthropics/skills, chosen because they change often, 75 files in other repositories are byte-for-byte copies of a recorded upstream version, and 47 of them (62.7%) match an older version rather than the current one. And 5.7% of SKILL.md files in the registry (3,487 of 61,170) are at least 200 bytes and byte-identical to a file in another repository (State of agent markdown, September 2026).

Is there a package manager for AGENTS.md and SKILL.md files?

Yes. mdr, the markdownregistry CLI, installs SKILL.md skills and other agent files such as AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md that it has indexed from public GitHub, pinned to a content hash, and records each one in mdr.lock; mdr outdated reports a pinned entry whose main file (SKILL.md for a skill) changed upstream, and mdr diff shows that change before you take it. For skills only, GitHub's gh skill installs from any GitHub repository and pins with --pin, and ClawHub's CLI records installed OpenClaw skills in .clawhub/lock.json.

$ mdr add obra/superpowers/AGENTS.md
installed obra/superpowers/AGENTS.md@git:20260919.5bf4e78  1 file (1 hash-verified)  audit A  to .

Recorded October 2, 2026. Install the CLI from the mdr CLI page; the walk-through of pinning, checking and updating is how to pin an agent skill to an exact version.

Sources

• skills.sh docs
• vercel-labs/skills
• Vercel changelog: security audits on skills.sh
• SkillsMP, about
• OpenClaw docs: ClawHub
• GitHub changelog: gh skill
• anthropics/skills
• Claude Code docs: plugins
• Claude Code docs: skills

Last checked October 2, 2026.

Read next

• Agent skills for a team: one version for everyone, private skills and publishing
• How to pin an agent skill to an exact version
• Every SKILL.md skill in the registry, most starred first
• State of agent markdown, September 2026

Try it

npx modelranch add anthropics/skills/pdf

That installs one skill pinned to its exact version. Every way to install the CLI is on the mdr CLI page.