Find Skills

---
name: find-skills
description: 'Searches the catalog, then skills.sh, for an existing community skill out there, and installs one only after the user agrees. Use when asking: is there a skill for this?'
license: MIT
metadata:
  source: vercel-labs/skills skills/find-skills
  source-commit: 3694740352eeef5cdd689af694c485f1ff62eec3
  modified-by: basicly 2026-10-02
---
<!-- Generated by `basicly skills-build` from skill.yaml. Do not edit; edit the source. -->

# Find Skills

> Modified by basicly on 2026-10-02 from vercel-labs/skills find-skills at 3694740 (MIT, see `LICENSE.txt`).

Find a skill that already does the job before anyone writes a new one. Search the
installed catalog first, then the open skills registry at skills.sh. Install nothing
without the consent of the user.

## When to use it

- The user asks "is there a skill for X" or "find a skill for X".
- The user asks "how do I do X" or "can you do X", and X is a common, specialized task.
- The user wants to extend the agent with a domain: design, testing, deployment.
- Before the `skill-creator` skill drafts a new skill.

## Rules

- **Ask before every install**, and before any network call other than the search. An
  install adds third-party instructions that the agent will follow.
- **Install at project level.** Never pass `-g` (user level) or `-y` (no prompts). Without
  `-y`, the CLI asks the user to confirm too.
- **Recommend nothing on a search result alone.** Check the quality first.
- **Convert a kept skill to a source.** In a basicly repository, a hand-installed
  `SKILL.md` is not a catalog source, and the next `basicly skills-build` does not know
  it. Rewrite a skill that the project keeps as a `skill.yaml` source with
  `basicly catalog new skill <slug>`; the `catalog-authoring` skill gives the format and
  the `skill-creator` skill tests it.

## Step 1: Understand the need

Name the domain (React, testing, deployment), the specific task (write tests, review a
pull request) and whether the task is common enough that a skill likely exists.

## Step 2: Search the installed catalog

The agent already lists the installed skills. Read that list first. To see every source
and where it comes from:

```sh
basicly catalog dump
```

The projected skills are in `.claude/skills/<slug>/SKILL.md` and
`.agents/skills/<slug>/SKILL.md`. When an installed skill fits, use it and stop here.

## Step 3: Search skills.sh

The skills CLI (`npx skills`) is the package manager of the open agent skills ecosystem.
It downloads from the network, so ask the user before the first search.

```sh
npx skills find <query>
npx skills find <query> --owner <owner>
```

For example requests, search terms and a sample presentation, read [search](references/search.md).

The leaderboard at <https://skills.sh/> ranks skills by total installs.

## Step 4: Check the quality

1. **Installs**: prefer a skill with 1K or more installs. Be careful under 100.
2. **Owner**: an official source (`vercel-labs`, `anthropics`, `microsoft`) is more
   trustworthy than an unknown author.
3. **Stars**: check the source repository. Treat a repository with fewer than 100 stars
   with skepticism.
4. **Content**: read the `SKILL.md` and every script of the skill before the install. A
   skill runs with the permissions of the agent.

## Step 5: Present the options

For each relevant skill, give the name and what it does, the install count and the
owner, the install command, and the link at skills.sh.

## Step 6: Install after consent

When the user agrees, install at project level and let the CLI prompt:

```sh
npx skills add <owner/repo@skill>
```

`npx skills update` updates the installed skills; it is also a network call. In a basicly
repository, convert a skill that stays into a `skill.yaml` source (see the rules).

## When nothing is found

1. Say that no existing skill matched.
2. Offer to do the task directly.
3. When the user does the task often, offer to create a skill with the `skill-creator`
   skill.

```text
I searched for skills related to "xyz" and found no match.
I can still do this task directly. Do you want me to go ahead?

If you do this often, I can create a skill for it and test it.
```