NPX Skills: Browsing, Discovery, and Management Reference

Research Date: 2026-01-20
Source URL: https://www.perplexity.ai/search/how-to-browse-npx-skills-6GfgIJt8QMOVMqla6U5w4g

Reference URLs

• Agent Skills - Claude Code Docs
• Agent Skills Specification
• SkillsMP Marketplace
• NPX AI-Agent-Skills CLI
• Vercel Agent Skills Announcement
• Agent Skills Integration Guide

Summary

NPX skills represent a standardized approach to extending AI coding agents with reusable knowledge packages. The Agent Skills open specification, formalized in late 2025, defines a SKILL.md format that enables agents like Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex CLI to discover and load domain-specific instructions on demand. Multiple discovery mechanisms exist: CLI tools for interactive browsing, web-based marketplaces hosting tens of thousands of community skills, and automatic directory scanning by supported agents. The ecosystem distinguishes between lightweight “Skills” (markdown-based knowledge) and heavier “MCP servers” (functional tool integrations), with skills optimized for context efficiency through progressive disclosure.

CLI Commands Reference

The npx ai-agent-skills package provides the primary interface for skill management.

Core Commands

Alternative CLI Tools

# Vercel Skills installation
npx skills i vercel-labs/agent-skills
npx add-skill vercel-labs/agent-skills

# Claude Code built-in
claude mcp add  # Interactive wizard for MCP/skill discovery

SKILL.md Format Specification

Directory Structure

skill-name/
├── SKILL.md           # Required: metadata + instructions
├── scripts/           # Optional: executable code (Python, Bash, Node.js)
├── references/        # Optional: documentation, templates
└── assets/            # Optional: static resources, images, schemas

Required Frontmatter

---
name: skill-name
description: Brief description of what this skill does and when to use it.
---

Frontmatter Fields

Body Content

Standard GitHub-Flavored Markdown following the frontmatter. Recommended sections:

• Overview/purpose
• Step-by-step instructions
• Input/output examples
• Edge cases and common pitfalls

Marketplace Ecosystem

SkillsMP (skillsmp.com)

• Catalog size: 70,000+ open-source skills
• Discovery: Semantic AI search, category browsing
• Source: Auto-indexed from public GitHub repositories
• Categories: Development, business, content/media, and more

Vercel Agent Skills

Three curated skills launched January 2026:

agentskills.io

Official specification registry providing:

• Format specification documentation
• skills-ref validation library
• Integration guides for agent developers

Progressive Disclosure Architecture

This architecture minimizes context window usage by loading full skill content only when relevant.

Skills vs MCP Comparison

Skills and MCP are complementary: skills provide knowledge/instructions, MCP provides functional capabilities.

Agent Discovery Locations

Agents scan these directories at startup and when files change.

Configuration Examples

MCP Server Configuration (~/.claude.json)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brave-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-brave-search"],
      "env": { "BRAVE_API_KEY": "YOUR_KEY" }
    },
    "sequential-thinking": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-sequential-thinking"]
    }
  }
}

Querying Available Skills

# In Claude Code terminal
What Skills are available?

# List connected MCP servers
claude code --list-servers

# Check context usage from skills/MCP
/context

Key Findings

• The npx ai-agent-skills browse command provides interactive TUI exploration of available skills
• Skills use progressive disclosure to minimize context window consumption (up to 95% reduction)
• The SKILL.md format is an open standard adopted by Anthropic, OpenAI, and major tooling vendors
• SkillsMP hosts 70,000+ community skills with semantic search capabilities
• Vercel’s January 2026 launch introduced curated React/Next.js optimization skills
• Skills complement rather than replace MCP servers: knowledge vs functional capabilities

References

1. Claude Code Agent Skills Documentation - Accessed 2026-01-20
2. Agent Skills Specification - Accessed 2026-01-20
3. SkillsMP Agent Skills Marketplace - Accessed 2026-01-20
4. AI-Agent-Skills GitHub Repository - Accessed 2026-01-20
5. Vercel Agent Skills Announcement - Accessed 2026-01-20
6. SkillsMP Documentation: Skills vs MCP - Accessed 2026-01-20