Npx skills

Skill petr-korobeinikov/skills/skills/npx-skills

Documents the `npx skills` CLI for installing and updating agent skills, plus the project-level `skills-lock.json` lockfile. On start, detects a `skills-lock.json` without installed skills under `.claude/skills/` and proposes restoring them via `npx skills add … --copy -y` per the source recorded in the lockfile.From its SKILL.md

Install

npx -y skills add petr-korobeinikov/skills --skill npx-skills

Assembled from the repository path, not quoted from the project. Check it against their README if it does not work.

One thing to look at

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SKILL.md

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npx-skills

The npx skills CLI (https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills) installs agent skills from a GitHub source into the host project's .claude/skills/ directory, and writes a project-level skills-lock.json recording what was installed.

Lock files

File	Scope	Checked in	Per-skill fields
`skills-lock.json` (repo root)	project	yes	`source`, `sourceType`, `skillPath`, `computedHash`
`~/.agents/.skill-lock.json`	global	no	written when `-g` is used

The project lockfile is the source of truth for which skills the repo expects to be present.

Startup detection

On the first interaction in a project that has skills-lock.json at the repo root but no .claude/skills/ directory (or the directory exists yet skills listed in the lockfile are missing):

Read skills-lock.json, list the skill names under skills.* that are not present in .claude/skills/.
Collect the unique source values from those entries.
Report the missing skills to the user, and propose one install command per unique source:
```
npx skills add <source> --skill '*' --copy -a claude-code -y
```
Wait for the user's confirmation before running anything.

Use -g instead of the project-local default only when the user explicitly wants the install under ~/.claude/skills/.

Install — all skills from a source

npx skills add <owner/repo> --skill '*' --copy -a claude-code -y

--skill '*' — every skill in the source. Replace with --skill <name> for a single skill.
--copy — write plain file copies, not symlinks. Symlinks couple the host repo to the source checkout and clutter the consumer's git status.
-a claude-code — target Claude Code's .claude/skills/ layout.
-y — non-interactive (skip the per-skill confirmation prompt).

Install — a single skill

npx skills add <owner/repo> --skill <skill-name> -a claude-code

Drop -y when adding a single skill — the interactive prompt is quick and confirms the resolved source.

Update — re-run `add --copy -y`

Re-running the install with --copy -y overwrites existing files in .claude/skills/ in place, so install and update share one command:

npx skills add <owner/repo> --skill '*' --copy -a claude-code -y

Avoid `npx skills update`

update stages the package under .agents/ in the host repo, which clutters git status in the consumer project. The --copy flag does not change this — update accepts it but silently ignores it. Use add --copy -y instead.

Scope: project vs global

Mode	Flag	Install path
Project	(default)	`.claude/skills/`
Global	`-g`	`~/.claude/skills/`

Project is the default and the recommended scope.

Verifying against upstream

The npx skills doc site is shallow. When the exact behavior of a flag or command is unclear, read the source at https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills (src/add.ts, src/update.ts, src/skill-lock.ts) rather than guessing.

What ships with it

Read from the repository

Just SKILL.md. No reference files, no scripts.