Getting Started with Agent Skills 🧠

Adding skills to your AI workflow is simple. In just a few minutes, you can enhance your agent's capabilities for specific tasks across multiple platforms.

Prerequisites

To use skills, you need:

• Access to an AI agent that supports the Agent Skills specification (Claude, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, VS Code)
• Access to your preferred agent interface (web, IDE, or API)

Step 1: Find a Skill

Browse our skill directory to find skills that match your needs. You can:

• Search by keyword using the search bar
• Browse by category (Development, Document Creation, etc.)
• Filter by official vs community skills

Step 2: View the Skill

Click on any skill to see its full details, including:

• What the skill does
• Who created it
• Links to the SKILL.md file

Step 3: Copy the Skill

On the skill page, click "View SKILL.md" to open the full skill definition. Then:

1. Click the copy button or select all the content
2. Copy the entire SKILL.md content to your clipboard

Step 4: Add to Your Platform

For Claude:

1. Go to claude.ai and open or create a Project
2. Click on Project Knowledge in the sidebar
3. Click Add Content → Add text
4. Paste the skill content
5. Give it a descriptive name (e.g., "Excel Creator Skill")
6. Click Save

For GitHub Copilot (as of December 2025):

1. Create a .github/skills/ directory in your project
2. Create a subdirectory for your skill (e.g., .github/skills/excel-creator/)
3. Create a SKILL.md file in that directory
4. Paste the skill content into SKILL.md
5. Save the file—Copilot will automatically load it

Note: .claude/skills/ directory is also supported

For Other Platforms:

1. Check our Supported Platforms guide for specific instructions
2. Or look for "System Instructions", "Custom Instructions", or "Knowledge" settings in your tool
3. Paste the skill content into the appropriate location
4. Save your changes

Tips for Best Results

Use Specific Projects or Contexts

Create dedicated projects or contexts for different types of work. Add only the relevant skills to each context to keep the agent focused and avoid context overload. This works the same across all platforms.

Combine Skills Thoughtfully

You can add multiple skills to a context, but be mindful of how they interact. Skills that complement each other (like "Frontend Design" + "Artifacts Builder") work great together.

Test Before Relying

After adding a skill, test it with a few typical requests to ensure it works as expected for your use case and platform.

Use Skills Across Platforms

Because skills follow an open standard, you can copy the same skill to multiple platforms. Use it with Claude for web work, Copilot for coding in VS Code, and Codex for CLI workflows—all with the same SKILL.md file.

Check for Updates

Skills may be updated over time. Periodically check back to see if there are improved versions available.

Troubleshooting

Skill doesn't seem to be working

• Make sure you're in the right project or context where the skill was added
• Start a new conversation (skills apply to new chats on most platforms)
• Check that the skill was saved properly to your platform's knowledge base
• Verify the skill format is correct (valid YAML frontmatter and markdown)

The agent ignores the skill

• Try explicitly mentioning what you want (e.g., "Create an Excel spreadsheet for...")
• The skill may only activate for specific types of requests—check the skill's description
• Some platforms require specific triggers or commands to activate skills

Installation path issues

• Each platform uses different installation paths—see our Supported Platforms guide for exact paths
• Make sure the SKILL.md file is properly named (case-sensitive on some systems)
• Check that the file is in the correct directory structure for your platform

Next Steps

Ready to start? Here are some popular skills to try: