How to install a skill
A skill is a folder of instructions. Installing it means putting that folder where your AI app will read it. You are not installing a traditional app.
Before you start
Know which AI app you will use. Claude, Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex can all load skills, and they do not share one folder. Anthropic's own skills README says the example skills are already on paid Claude plans. If you are in Claude on the web, look there before you copy anything from GitHub. If you use a coding agent, the files usually live in a project folder such as .claude/skills or .agents/skills.
Read the listing's permissions. A writing skill still sees the document you paste. Do not paste a customer list, a contract, or HR notes into an app your company has not approved.
In Claude
On the web, open the skill or connector settings for your plan and see whether the skill is already listed. Anthropic publishes a set of example skills, including document and brand skills, that paid plans can use without a GitHub checkout.
In Claude Code, the publisher's usual path is a plugin marketplace. For Anthropic's own skills that command is /plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills, then install either the document skills or the example skills. For the marketing pack, the README's command is npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills. Run that in a terminal, and tell it which agent to install for. The marketing README warns that running the installer from inside the agent can drop the files in a folder Claude Code ignores.
In another app
If there is no install button, you are copying a folder. The folder contains a SKILL.md file. That file has a name, a description of when to use it, and the instructions. Put the folder where that app reads skills. The app's own docs are the authority for the path. This guide will not invent a folder layout for every product.
Setup level 1 on a listing means an install button. Level 2 means pasting an address or copying a folder. Level 3 means a terminal command, a local program, or an OAuth app you have to register. If the listing says terminal and you do not want a terminal, ask a teammate or pick a hosted server instead.
How to tell it worked
Ask for the skill by the job, not by a slogan. "Use the spreadsheet skill on a copy of this file" is a better test than "be my finance analyst." Then open the file it produced. For a writing skill, compare the draft with your notes and delete anything you did not say. If the assistant cannot tell you which skill it used, it may be improvising.
This is not the same as an MCP server
Installing a skill does not connect Slack, QuickBooks, or your helpdesk. That connection is an MCP server, added in the app's connector settings. Read what an MCP server is before you paste an address that can see company data. Never paste an API key into the chat. Keys belong in the app's secret or environment settings.
When you are ready, go back to a job page and pick one listing. Every listing in this directory is still untested by us.
