Install Skills

A meta-skill for discovering, browsing, and installing Agent Skills from online repositories. This skill helps you find and install community-created skills to enhance your capabilities.

When to Use This Skill

• User asks to "install a skill", "add a skill", or "get a skill"

• User mentions needing capabilities that might exist as community skills

• User wants to browse available skills from known repositories

• User wants to install a skill from a specific GitHub repository

• User asks "what skills are available?"

Supported Skill Sources

Primary Repositories

Repository Description

anthropics/skills

Official Anthropic skills collection

github/awesome-copilot

GitHub's community-curated skills in skills/ directory

microsoft/agent-skills

Skills for Microsoft AI SDKs and Azure services in .github/skills/ directory

Custom Repositories

Any GitHub repository with skills in one of these structures:

• skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

• .github/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

• .claude/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

Installation Locations

Skills can be installed to:

Location Scope Path

Project Current repo only .github/skills/<skill-name>/

Personal All projects ~/.copilot/skills/<skill-name>/

Default: Project skills (.github/skills/ ) - only install to personal profile if user explicitly requests it

Workflow: Browse Available Skills

Step 1: List Skills from Known Repositories

Use the scripts/list-skills.sh script:

List skills from default repository (anthropics/skills)

./scripts/list-skills.sh

List skills from a specific repository

./scripts/list-skills.sh anthropics/skills ./scripts/list-skills.sh github/awesome-copilot

Step 2: Display Skills to User

Present skills in a table format:

Skill Name Repository Description

skill-name source/repo Brief description from SKILL.md

Step 3: Get Skill Details

Fetch and display the SKILL.md content for any skill the user is interested in.

Workflow: Install a Skill

IMPORTANT: Always use the scripts in scripts/ folder to install skills. Do NOT manually fetch and write skill files.

Step 1: Identify the Skill Source

Parse the user's request to determine:

• Skill name

• Source repository (default to searching known repos)

• Installation scope (project by default, personal only if user explicitly requests)

Step 2: Run the Install Script

Use the scripts/install-skill.sh script to install the skill:

For project installation (DEFAULT)

./scripts/install-skill.sh <skill-name> <source-repo> .github/skills

For personal installation (only if user explicitly requests)

./scripts/install-skill.sh <skill-name> <source-repo> ~/.copilot/skills

The script handles:

• Creating the destination directory

• Fetching the skill via sparse checkout

• Trying multiple skill locations (skills/, .github/skills/, .claude/skills/)

• Copying all skill files (SKILL.md, scripts/, references/, assets/, templates/, etc.)

• Displaying the skill description

Step 3: Confirm Installation

The script will output:

• Skill name installed

• Installation location

• Brief description of what the skill does

Workflow: Search for Skills

When the user describes a capability they need:

• Search known repositories for skills with matching keywords

• Read SKILL.md descriptions to find relevant matches

• Present options to the user

• Install the selected skill

Workflow: Install from Custom Repository

When given a GitHub URL or owner/repo reference:

• Parse the repository reference

• Check for skills in standard locations:

• skills/

• .github/skills/

• .claude/skills/

• List available skills

• Install selected skill(s)

Example Commands

User Says Action

"Install the webapp-testing skill" Run ./scripts/install-skill.sh webapp-testing <repo> .github/skills

"What skills are available?" Run ./scripts/list-skills.sh for known repos

"Install pdf skill from anthropics/skills" Run ./scripts/install-skill.sh pdf anthropics/skills .github/skills

"I need help with image manipulation" Search for relevant skills with list script, suggest matches

"Add the github-issues skill to this project" Run ./scripts/install-skill.sh github-issues <repo> .github/skills

"Install skill to my personal profile" Run ./scripts/install-skill.sh <skill> <repo> ~/.copilot/skills

"Install all skills from anthropics/skills" Batch install using the install script for each

Installation Scripts

This skill includes helper scripts in scripts/ that MUST be used for all installation operations:

scripts/install-skill.sh

Usage: ./scripts/install-skill.sh <skill-name> [source-repo] [install-path]

Install to project (default)

./scripts/install-skill.sh webapp-testing anthropics/skills .github/skills

Install to personal profile (only when user explicitly requests)

./scripts/install-skill.sh webapp-testing anthropics/skills ~/.copilot/skills

scripts/list-skills.sh

Usage: ./scripts/list-skills.sh [source-repo]

./scripts/list-skills.sh # Lists from anthropics/skills ./scripts/list-skills.sh github/awesome-copilot # Lists from specific repo

Troubleshooting

Issue Solution

Skill not found Check spelling, try searching with keywords

Permission denied Ensure write access to installation path

Skill conflicts Check for existing skill with same name

Missing dependencies Read skill's prerequisites section

Post-Installation

After installing a skill:

• Restart the CLI to load the new skill (exit and reopen your terminal session)

• Once restarted, Copilot will automatically load it when relevant based on the description

Uninstalling Skills

To remove an installed skill:

Personal skill

rm -rf ~/.copilot/skills/<skill-name>

Project skill

rm -rf .github/skills/<skill-name>