Find Skills

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.

Security Scan

The skill's description matches its instructions (it uses the Skills CLI to find and install skills), but the runtime guidance encourages executing third‑party code via npx and installing packages globally with -y (skipping prompts), which raises safety concerns that the metadata does not address.

Purpose & Capability

The name/description (find and install skills) align with the SKILL.md: it documents using the 'npx skills' CLI and skills.sh to search and add skills. Nothing requested in metadata (no creds, no binaries) conflicts with that purpose.

Instruction Scope

Instructions are focused on searching and installing skills via 'npx skills'. They do not request reading local files or unrelated environment variables. However, they explicitly suggest running 'npx skills add <pkg> -g -y' (global install, auto-confirm) which instructs the agent to fetch and run remote code without interactive confirmation — a behavior that broadens runtime authority and risk.

Install Mechanism

There is no install spec in the skill bundle (instruction-only), but the runtime workflow depends on npx (npm) to fetch/execute packages from the public registry and GitHub. Using npx/npmpackages means arbitrary remote code will be executed at runtime if the agent follows the instructions — this is expected for a finder/installer but is a higher-risk operation than purely local actions.

Credentials

The skill requests no environment variables, credentials, or config paths. That is proportionate to a discovery/install helper.

Persistence & Privilege

The SKILL.md encourages global installs (-g) and auto-confirmation (-y). While the skill metadata does not force always:true, following the instructions would persist third‑party code system‑wide and could be performed without explicit user re-confirmation if the agent is allowed to run shell commands. This combination increases the blast radius of any malicious third‑party skill installed.

What to consider before installing

This skill is coherent for finding and adding skills, but exercising caution is important before allowing it to install anything. npx will fetch and execute code from npm/GitHub — review the exact package and its source before installing. Avoid global installs and auto-confirm (-g -y) unless you trust the package owner; prefer showing the install command to the user and asking for explicit permission. If you want stricter controls, disallow autonomous shell execution for the agent or require manual approval for any npx/npm install operations. Verify links on skills.sh and prefer well-known authors/repos when installing new 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] - Search for skills interactively or by keyword
• npx skills add <package> - Install a skill from GitHub or other sources
• npx skills check - Check for skill updates
• 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: Search for Skills

Run the find command with a relevant query:

npx skills find [query]

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

The command will return results like:

Install with npx skills add <owner/repo@skill>

vercel-labs/agent-skills@vercel-react-best-practices
└ https://skills.sh/vercel-labs/agent-skills/vercel-react-best-practices

Step 3: 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 command they can run
3. A link to learn more at skills.sh

Example response:

I found a skill that might help! The "vercel-react-best-practices" skill provides
React and Next.js performance optimization guidelines from Vercel Engineering.

To install it:
npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills@vercel-react-best-practices

Learn more: https://skills.sh/vercel-labs/agent-skills/vercel-react-best-practices

Step 4: Offer to Install

If the user wants to proceed, you can install the skill for them:

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

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

When No Skills Are Found

If no relevant skills exist:

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

Example:

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?

If this is something you do often, you could create your own skill:
npx skills init my-xyz-skill