install

Install skills from a GitHub repo, Git URL, or local directory.

Synopsis

aiskills install <source> [options]

Source Types

GitHub Shorthand

aiskills install owner/repo                  # All skills in the repo (for both public and private)
aiskills install owner/repo/skill-name       # A specific skill by path

Git URL

In most cases, you don't need this, as ai-skills can work out the correct URL for you if you just pass owner/repo.

aiskills install https://github.com/owner/repo.git    # HTTPS
aiskills install git@github.com:owner/repo.git        # SSH

Local Path

aiskills install ./path/to/skill-directory
aiskills install ~/my-skills/my-skill

Interactive Mode (Recommended)

When --agent is not provided, an interactive prompt lets you choose the target agent(s) and location before cloning/installing. This is the easiest way to use this command — no flags to remember:

aiskills install owner/repo

The prompts appear before the repository is cloned, so you don't need to wait for the clone to complete before making your selections.

The location prompt is a single-choice prompt with the options global, project, and both. Multi-select prompts (target agent selection, skill selection) require at least one item — pressing Enter with nothing selected no longer cancels the operation; instead it shows Please select at least one, or press Ctrl+C to cancel.

Tip

In any multi-select prompt, press Shift+Tab to toggle select/deselect all.

Non-Interactive Mode

Specify --agent along with --project and/or --global:

aiskills install owner/repo --agent claude --project           # Project, Claude
aiskills install owner/repo --agent claude --global            # Global, Claude
aiskills install owner/repo --agent claude --project --global  # Both scopes, Claude
aiskills install owner/repo --agent claude,cursor --project    # Project, Claude + Cursor
aiskills install owner/repo --agent all --project              # Project, all agents
aiskills install owner/repo --agent all --global               # Global, all agents
aiskills install owner/repo --agent all --project --global     # Both scopes, all agents

Options

Flag	Short	Description
--agent <names>	-a	Target agent(s), comma-separated or all
--project	-p	Install to project scope (current directory)
--global	-g	Install to global scope (home directory)
--yes	-y	Skip interactive selection, install all skills found

Valid Agent Names

universal, claude, cursor, codex, gemini, windsurf, copilot, or all

Skill Selection

When a repository contains multiple skills, an interactive multi-select prompt lets you choose which skills to install (unless --yes is passed):

aiskills install owner/repo                    # Prompted to select skills
aiskills install owner/repo -y                 # Install all skills without prompting

Skill Selection — Subpath Display

When multiple skills in a repository share the same name, each entry in the selection list also shows its subpath within the repository. This makes it easy to tell otherwise identical-looking entries apart so you can pick the one you want.

Duplicate Skill Names — Rename

When the skill you are installing has a name that conflicts with an existing one — either with a skill already installed at the target location, or with another skill being installed in the same run — an interactive prompt offers to rename it. This lets you, for example, install the same skill more than once under different names, or keep both your existing version and a new one side by side.

Overwrite Behavior

If a skill with the same name already exists at the target location, you are prompted with:

• Yes — overwrite this skill
• No — skip this skill
• Yes to all — overwrite this and all remaining conflicts
• No to all — skip this and all remaining conflicts

Use --yes to automatically overwrite all existing skills without prompting.

Private Repositories

When installing from a GitHub HTTPS URL, if the clone fails (e.g. the repo is private), ai-skills automatically falls back to the equivalent SSH URL (git@github.com:owner/repo.git). For known private flows, ai-skills can also clone using scp-like SSH syntax directly instead of an HTTPS URL, avoiding the password prompt or hang that an HTTPS clone of a private repo would otherwise cause. Ensure your SSH keys are configured for this to work.

# These all work with private repos if SSH is configured:
aiskills install owner/private-repo
aiskills install git@github.com:owner/private-repo.git

Marketplace Skill Conflicts

When installing a skill globally whose name matches an Anthropic marketplace skill (e.g. pdf, xlsx), a warning is displayed. If you later re-enable Claude plugins, the marketplace version may overwrite your global skill. Use --project for conflict-free installation.