find-skills

Find Skills

Codex: Read ../_shared/codex-tools.md before following this skill. Apply its tool, root and dispatch mappings throughout.

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@1.7.0) 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@1.7.0 find [query] - Search for skills interactively or by keyword
• npx skills@1.7.0 add <package> - Install a skill from GitHub or other sources
• npx skills@1.7.0 check - Check for skill updates
• npx skills@1.7.0 update - Update all installed skills (refreshes EVERY installed skill to its repository head; review what changed, and prefer updating a named skill to a reviewed commit over a blanket refresh)

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@1.7.0 find [query]

For example:

• User asks "how do I make my React app faster?" → npx skills@1.7.0 find react performance
• User asks "can you help me with PR reviews?" → npx skills@1.7.0 find pr review
• User asks "I need to create a changelog" → npx skills@1.7.0 find changelog

The command will return results like:

Install with npx skills@1.7.0 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@1.7.0 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

Before installing, show the user the skill's contents — fetch and display its SKILL.md (and any hook or script it ships) so an install is an informed choice, not a blind fetch. Then:

npx skills@1.7.0 add <owner/repo@skill>

• Keep the confirmation prompt — do not pass -y. The prompt is the user's last look before third-party content lands.
• Default to project scope — omit -g. Install globally (-g, user-level, every project) only when the user explicitly asks for that reach.
• Pin to a reviewed commit, not the moving head — a bare owner/repo@skill takes the repository head at fetch time; where the tool supports a ref, name the commit the user reviewed (see the tool's ref syntax), so a later push to that repo cannot change what is installed.

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. If the workflow recurs, first consider extending an existing clauDNA skill, lens or mode. For a pack contribution, use a clauDNA source checkout and the contribution workflow and authoring guide. The source-only skill-scaffold requires that checkout context and is excluded from the installed Codex catalog.

Example:

I searched for skills related to "xyz" but didn't find any matches.
I can still help you with this task directly.

If this becomes a repeatable clauDNA workflow, we can extend an existing skill
or propose an addition through clauDNA's source-checkout contribution workflow.