How to use sourced Agent Skills from GitHub

Every skill on findskills.co links back to a real GitHub repository. That’s the point — you can read exactly what you’re installing before you install it.

Here’s how to actually do it.

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What is a SKILL.md file?

A plain text file with instructions for an AI agent. When you install a skill, you’re giving the agent a new workflow to follow — specific inputs, a step-by-step process, and a defined output format.

The format is designed to be portable across agents. But each source repo documents its own install and usage path. If there’s ever a conflict between what findskills.co shows and what the upstream repo says, follow the upstream repo.

One habit worth building before installing anything: click the raw SKILL.md link on the skill page and read it. It takes 90 seconds. You’ll know immediately whether the process described actually matches what you need.

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Claude Code

Step 1. Open the skill page on findskills.co and copy the install command. It follows this pattern:

npx skills add {owner}/{repo} --skill {path}

Step 2. Run it in your terminal. The command pulls the skill file from the upstream GitHub repo and installs it locally.

Step 3. In your Claude Code session, invoke the skill by name. Claude loads its instructions and applies the process to whatever task you’re working on.

If you want to inspect what was installed, check the skills folder in your project. The file is just markdown — you can read it, edit it, or remove it.

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Claude.ai

For Anthropic’s official skills, paid Claude.ai plans expose them directly.

For community skills:

Step 1. Open the raw SKILL.md from the skill page.

Step 2. Review the source repo for bundled assets, reference files, or usage notes.

Step 3. Import or adapt the instructions in Claude.ai’s project customization flow.

For a single conversation: paste the skill content at the start of your message. Claude treats it as active instructions for that session only.

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Installing multiple skills

Use Skill Stacks as a shortlist — not a blind bundle installer.

Open each skill page individually. Read the raw file. Install only what you’ve actually reviewed. A stack of three skills you understand beats ten installed and forgotten.

Need help thinking about which skills to combine? The guide to building a skill stack covers the anchor skill concept and how to pick supporting skills that reinforce the same workflow.

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Common questions

Do skills cost anything? Check the license on the skill page and confirm it against the source repo. Most skills are MIT or Apache 2.0. findskills.co surfaces the upstream path and raw file specifically so you can verify this yourself.

Do skills work offline? Usually yes, once the file is local. Exact behavior depends on the skill and whether it expects bundled reference files.

Can I write my own skill? Yes. Read Anthropic’s Skill Creator first — it’s a skill for writing skills, and it shows you the format agents expect. There’s also a full walkthrough if you want to go from scratch.

Do skills slow the agent down? A well-written skill is concise. The context overhead is minimal and the quality improvement more than compensates. Badly written skills — long, vague, trying to cover every situation — do degrade quality. Another reason to read before installing.

A skill isn’t working as expected — now what? Go to the upstream GitHub folder. Check whether the skill expects reference files that you haven’t installed. Many skills depend on additional files that get loaded alongside the main SKILL.md. If reference files exist in the repo, you need them too.

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What to install first

Start with the skills that solve a frustration you’ve already had — not the ones that sound impressive. Browse by audience to see what’s matched to your role, or read the complete guide to Agent Skills if you want to think through what’s worth installing before you start.