Skilz: The Universal Package Manager for AI Skills

 

The AI coding assistant ecosystem is booming, with tools like Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Cursor, OpenCode, Aider, Windsurf, Forge, and Zed AI all vying for developers’ attention. Yet a fundamental problem persists: no standardized method exists for installing and managing the specialized agents and agent skills.

Each platform presents its own unique workflow, ranging from manual file copying to proprietary marketplaces or agent-specific plugin commands. This fragmented experience makes it difficult to replicate setups across machines, teams, and tools.

Skilz solves this problem with a simple but powerful idea:

Treat AI skills like software packages.

Think pip install or npm install; but for AI agents. And if your tool doesn’t natively support skills give it the prompts to do so.

Developed by Spillwave (the team behind Skillzwave.ai, the largest marketplace for AI skills), Skilz is an open-source CLI that lets you install, update, list, and uninstall agentic skills from any Git repository with a single command. It works across 14 major AI coding assistants and soon 20 more plus it works with Claude Desktop, Claude Cowork and OpenWork.

The companion agent skill marketplace packages agent skills so they can be easily installed into Claude Desktop and Claude Cowork. The goal: make agentic skills available to everyone.

What Skilz Provides

Skilz eliminates installation friction while adding:

✅ Key Benefits

• One-command installs from any public or private Git repository

• Reproducible: skills can be pinned to exact Git commits

• Auditable: manifest files track exactly what’s installed and from where

• Cross-platform — works with:

• Claude Code

• OpenCode

• Codex

• Gemini CLI

• GitHub Copilot

• Cursor

• Aider

• Windsurf

• Zed AI

• Qwen

• Kimi

• Crush

• Plandex

Companion website that simplifies installing agent skills for Claude Desktop and Claude CoWork.

Quick Start with agent skills installer

pip install skilz

Requires Python 3.10+

Install an Agent Skill

# from skillzwave marketplace 
skills install anthropics/skills/algorithmic-art

# from github 
skilz install https://github.com/anthropics/skills

Install for different coding assistants

# Claude Code the default 
skilz install \
anthropics/skills/theme-factory \
 --agent claude

Opencode

skilz install \
anthropics/skills/theme-factory \
  --agent opencode 

Codex

skilz install \
anthropics/skills/theme-factory \
  --agent codex

Gemini

skilz install \
anthropics/skills/theme-factory \
  --agent gemini

We allow installs from local filesystem, git repos, GitHub URLs or our marketplace. You can install into any project or location for any supported agents. Check out the docs for more details.

skilz commands

skilz list. # Show installed skills and status

skilz update. # Update all skills to pinned versions

skilz install -f $dir # Install from filesystem


skilz uninstall anthropics/skills/theme-factory

skilz search excel. # Find skills on GitHub

skilz visit anthropics/skills. # Open repo in your browser

Aliases:

• skilz ls → list

• skilz rm → uninstall

How Skilz Works (Under the Hood)

Skilz uses a lightweight YAML-based registry (stored at user or project level) that maps:

• Skill IDs

• Git repositories

• Paths within repos

• Pinned commit SHAs

When you run skilz install:

1. It resolves the skill ID via the registry

2. Clones (or reuses) the repository

3. Checks out the exact pinned commit

4. Copies the skill files to the correct agent-specific directory

5. Writes a manifest file: .skilz-manifest.yaml for tracking and updates

Installation Modes

• Native directory support (best integration): Claude Code, OpenCode, Codex, Gemini

• Project-level installs: GitHub Copilot (native), Cursor, Aider, Windsurf, Zed AI, Qwen, Kimi, Crush, Plandex

• Universal fallback (works everywhere): Installs to .skilz/skills/ and updates a shared Markdown config file that many agents can read. We plan on both adding support for more tools and

👉 This means one agent skill set works across multiple tools!

Comparison to Native Methods

Skilz

• Single-command installation ✅

• Install from any public or private Git repository ✅

• Skills are pinned to exact Git commits (reproducible) ✅

• Generates a manifest/audit trail of what was installed and where ✅

• Works across 14 different AI coding agents ✅ (soon over 20)

• Provides a first-class skilz update command ✅

Claude Plugin / Marketplace Systems

• Single-command installation within the marketplace only ✅

• Cannot install from arbitrary Git repositories ❌

• No commit-level version pinning ❌

• No machine-readable manifest or audit trail ❌

• Works only for that specific agent ❌

• No general “update all” command ❌

Manual Copying of Skills

• No single-command install ❌

• Can technically install from any Git repository (if you copy files yourself) ✅

• Versioning is entirely manual and error-prone ❌

• No manifest or audit trail ❌

• Works only per-agent; must be repeated everywhere ❌

• Updates require manual re-copying ❌

Bottom line:

Skilz doesn’t replace native systems; it makes them reproducible, portable, and team-friendly.

Our companion websites packages skills so they can be easily installed into Claude Desktop and Claude Cowork. Our goal is to make agentic skills to everyone.

Discovery & Marketplace Integration

Skillzwave.ai is the companion marketplace where you can browse hundreds of community and official skills.

Each skill page includes a ready-to-copy skilz install command.

You can also discover skills directly from the CLI:

skilz search pdf

Open a skill in your browser:

skilz visit anthropics/skills/excel

Roadmap & Future

The core installer and multi-agent support are complete (Phases 1 — 8). Upcoming work includes:

• Full plugin/marketplace installation automation

• Deeper Skillzwave.ai search integration

• Skill dependency resolution

Long-Term Vision

Bring the entire ecosystem of AI skills; starting with Anthropic’s excellent plugins; to every major coding agent and coworker in a reproducible, shareable, and professional way for developers and non-developers.

Final Thoughts

Skilz is one of those tools that feels obvious in hindsight. Once you use it, going back to manual copying or marketplace silos feels archaic.

It brings the maturity of traditional package management to the emerging world of AI agents.

If you work with AI coding assistants daily:

pip install skilz

Then visit: https://skillzwave.ai, pick a skill, and install it in one line.

About the Author

Rick Hightower is a technology executive and data engineer who led 

ML/AI development at a Fortune 100 financial services company. He created skilz, the universal agent skill installer, supporting 14+ coding agents including Claude Code, Gemini, Copilot, and Cursor, and co-founded the world’s largest agentic skill marketplace. CConnect with Rick Hightower on LinkedIn or Medium.

The Claude Code community has developed powerful extensions that enhance its capabilities. Here are some valuable resources from Spillwave Solutions (Spillwave Solutions Home Page):

Integration Skills

• Notion Uploader/Downloader Agent Skill: Seamlessly upload and download Markdown content and images to Notion for documentation workflows
• Confluence Agent Skill: Upload and download Markdown content and images to Confluence for enterprise documentation
• JIRA Integration Agent Skill: Create and read JIRA tickets, including handling special required fields