Definition
Agent Skills
Agent Skills are an open standard for extending AI coding agents with reusable, shareable capabilities. They install with npx skills add <owner/repo> from the Skills.sh marketplace and work across Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and more than 35 other agents. They are lighter than MCP servers: a skill augments one capability.
Why it matters
A skill is the smallest unit of agent capability that travels. Written once, it runs in every compatible agent — so the way your team does code review or writes commits stops being a habit somebody has to remember and becomes something the tool carries.
How each tool handles it
- Cursor
- Installed with
npx skills add <owner/repo>. - Claude Code
- Installed with
npx skills add <owner/repo>. - Codex
- Installed with
npx skills add <owner/repo>.
Frequently asked questions
How do you install an Agent Skill?
With npx skills add <owner/repo>, pulling from the Skills.sh marketplace. The same command works across Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and more than 35 other agents.
Should I write a skill or an MCP server?
A skill, when you are encoding a way of working — a review checklist, a commit convention, a workflow. An MCP server, when you need a persistent connection to an external system such as a database or an API.
Where do Agent Skills come from?
From the Skills.sh marketplace, addressed by repository: npx skills add <owner/repo>. Because the address is a repository, a team can publish its own skills the same way and install them with the same command.