agent-skills-cli MCP — Use Cases, Install & Live Demo

Why use it

Key features

40,000+ skills from the SkillsMP catalog
Sync across Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, OpenAI Codex, Antigravity
Version pinning per tool
Search, install, upgrade, remove semantics like a package manager
Workspace + global scopes

Live Demo

What it looks like in practice

agent-skills-cli-skill.replay ▶ ready

0/0

Install

Pick your client

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json · Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agent-skills-cli-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Karanjot786/agent-skills-cli",
        "~/.claude/skills/agent-skills-cli"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config. Restart after saving.

~/.cursor/mcp.json · .cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agent-skills-cli-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Karanjot786/agent-skills-cli",
        "~/.claude/skills/agent-skills-cli"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Cursor uses the same mcpServers schema as Claude Desktop. Project config wins over global.

VS Code → Cline → MCP Servers → Edit

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agent-skills-cli-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Karanjot786/agent-skills-cli",
        "~/.claude/skills/agent-skills-cli"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Click the MCP Servers icon in the Cline sidebar, then "Edit Configuration".

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agent-skills-cli-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Karanjot786/agent-skills-cli",
        "~/.claude/skills/agent-skills-cli"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Same shape as Claude Desktop. Restart Windsurf to pick up changes.

~/.continue/config.json

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "agent-skills-cli-skill",
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/Karanjot786/agent-skills-cli",
        "~/.claude/skills/agent-skills-cli"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Continue uses an array of server objects rather than a map.

~/.config/zed/settings.json

{
  "context_servers": {
    "agent-skills-cli-skill": {
      "command": {
        "path": "git",
        "args": [
          "clone",
          "https://github.com/Karanjot786/agent-skills-cli",
          "~/.claude/skills/agent-skills-cli"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to context_servers. Zed hot-reloads on save.

claude mcp add agent-skills-cli-skill -- git clone https://github.com/Karanjot786/agent-skills-cli ~/.claude/skills/agent-skills-cli

One-liner. Verify with claude mcp list. Remove with claude mcp remove.

Use Cases

Real-world ways to use agent-skills-cli

How to install a skill once and have it work in Claude Code + Cursor

👤 Developers using multiple AI-coding tools ⏱ ~10 min beginner

When to use: You want the same skill available wherever you code.

Prerequisites

CLI installed — npm i -g agent-skills-cli (or per repo docs)

Flow

Search

agent-skills search 'ga4 event tracking'✓ Copied

→ Ranked list from SkillsMP
Install

agent-skills install event-tracking-skill --targets claude-code,cursor✓ Copied

→ Skill files placed in each tool's skills dir
Verify

agent-skills list --targets all✓ Copied

→ Table showing skill installed in both

Outcome: One install, two (or more) tools.

Pitfalls

Some skills are tool-specific — CLI flags incompatibilities during install

Pin skill versions across a team

👤 Teams wanting reproducible skill setups ⏱ ~15 min intermediate

When to use: You want every teammate running the same skill versions.

Flow

Generate lockfile

agent-skills lock --scope workspace✓ Copied

→ skills.lock file
Install from lockfile

agent-skills install --frozen-lockfile✓ Copied

→ Versions match lockfile exactly

Outcome: Deterministic skill setup per repo.

Clean up a messy ~/.claude/skills folder

👤 Developers with accreted skills from random git clones ⏱ ~30 min intermediate

When to use: You have 30+ skill folders and no idea what's in use.

Flow

Inventory

agent-skills inventory ~/.claude/skills — show source, version, last used (if tracked)✓ Copied

→ Table with origin + version
Replace with managed equivalents

For each skill that has a SkillsMP equivalent, re-install via the CLI so it's managed.✓ Copied

→ Migration log

Outcome: A managed skills folder with consistent provenance.

Combine with: marketplace-skill

Combinations

Pair with other MCPs for X10 leverage

agent-skills-cli-skill + marketplace-skill

Discover vetted skills via marketplace, install via CLI

Find a vetted ga4 skill in marketplace, install with agent-skills install to both Claude Code and Cursor.✓ Copied

agent-skills-cli-skill + awesome-llm-skill

Install individual skills from awesome-llm without cloning the whole repo

Use agent-skills to install just 'lead-research' from the awesome-llm-skills catalog.✓ Copied

Tools

What this MCP exposes

Tool	Inputs	When to call
search	query	Finding a skill
install	skill, targets?	Adding a skill
upgrade	skill?, targets?	Refreshing versions
list / inventory	scope?	Auditing
lock	scope	Team reproducibility
remove	skill, targets?	Cleanup

Cost & Limits

What this costs to run

API quota: None
Tokens per call: 0 (CLI runs outside Claude context)
Monetary: Free
Tip: Pin versions — chasing latest across 30 skills creates churn.

Security

Permissions, secrets, blast radius

Credential storage: No credentials. Optional: SkillsMP token for private catalog access.

Data egress: CLI fetches from SkillsMP registry

40k+ skill catalog includes community submissions. Prefer marketplace-audited entries for sensitive work.
Installed skills can execute shell commands via hooks. Review each before enabling in production repos.

Troubleshooting

Common errors and fixes

install fails with 'unknown target'

Tool identifiers: claude-code, cursor, copilot, codex, antigravity. Check agent-skills targets for current list.

Verify: agent-skills targets

version conflict between tools

Pin explicit version in skills.lock; don't let each tool drift to latest

Alternatives

agent-skills-cli vs others

Alternative	When to use it instead	Tradeoff
marketplace-skill	You want vetted skills rather than the full catalog	Fewer choices
Manual git clone	You only use one tool and one skill	Doesn't scale

More

Resources

📖 Read the official README on GitHub

🐙 Browse open issues

🔍 Browse all 400+ MCP servers and Skills