Agent skills
Agent skills: teach your AI a job once
A skill is a folder of instructions (a SKILL.md file) that teaches an AI agent a job and loads only when that job comes up. The best ones are free: Anthropic's official repo, Vercel's skills.sh and Claude's partner directory. Start there, and read any skill before you install it.
A year ago almost nobody searched for "Claude skills". Now about 27,000 people in the US do every month (DataForSEO, October 2026). The same SKILL.md format runs in Claude, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot and dozens of other agents, so a skill you write once works everywhere.
It matters beyond your own desk: 66% of leaders say they wouldn't hire someone without AI skills (Microsoft and LinkedIn, 2024). Writing down how you do a job so an agent can repeat it is a skill you can practise for free. Pick the guide for the agent you use and set up your first skill today.
Pick the agent you use
Each guide gets you from nothing to a working skill: where the files go, how to install the official ones and how to write your own.
Where to get skills (free)
None of the main skill directories charge for skills. Paid marketplaces exist, but the best-known skills are free, so check these first.
| Source | What it is | How to install | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| anthropics/skills | Anthropic's official repo: document skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF) plus examples for design, development and enterprise work. | /plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills | Free (document skills are source-available; most others Apache 2.0) |
| skills.sh | Vercel's open directory, ranked by anonymous install counts reported by its CLI. Works across Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and others. | npx skills add <owner/repo> | Free |
| Claude partner directory | Anthropic's directory of partner-built skills and connectors for the Claude apps. | Enable in Claude: Customize > Skills | Free to install; some need a paid account with the partner |
| agentskills.io | The open SKILL.md standard: the spec, examples and the list of tools that support it. | Read the spec, then write your own | Free |
| ClawHub | OpenClaw's skill registry. Large, but researchers found hundreds of malicious skills in early 2026: read every skill before installing. | From inside OpenClaw | Free; high risk |
Paid skills marketplaces
Paid stores such as Agensi (creators keep 70% of net revenue and set one-off or monthly prices, by its own terms) sell premium skill packs. A skill is a plain-text folder, so once you buy one you can read every line: do that before running it. Most people won't need a paid skill; the value is in skills that wrap a tool you already pay for.
Skills and the tools you already use
A skill tells an agent how to do a job; it often calls a tool to do it. The useful pairings: a skill that drivesn8n or Make workflows, one that writes in your brand voice beforeElevenLabs reads it out, or a research skill on top of a web-data API. If you code, skills work inside Claude Code, Codex and Cursor.
FAQ
Where can I find Claude skills?
Anthropic's official repo at github.com/anthropics/skills, Vercel's directory at skills.sh (ranked by installs) and the partner directory at claude.com/connectors. All are free.
Is there a skills marketplace?
Several. The big directories (skills.sh, Anthropic's repo, Claude's partner directory) are free. Paid marketplaces such as Agensi let creators sell skills; Agensi says creators keep 70% of net revenue.
Can you make money selling skills?
Some people do, but it's a small market: skills are plain text, easy to copy, and the best-known ones are free. The proven model is a free skill that sends people to a paid tool or service.