RFC: Skills Distribution Standard #27
Description
Problem
The Agent Skills spec defines how to write skills but not how to distribute or install them.
Current user experience:
- Find a skill on GitHub
- Manually download/clone the folder
- Figure out where your agent expects skills to live
- Copy to the correct path
- Repeat for each skill
This friction limits adoption.
Proposal
1. Document Installation Paths
This relates to #15. Each agent currently uses its own path:
| Agent | Installation Path |
|---|---|
| Claude Code | ~/.claude/skills/ |
| Cursor | .cursor/skills/ |
| Amp | ~/.amp/skills/ |
| Goose | ~/.config/goose/skills/ |
| VS Code / Copilot | .github/skills/ |
| OpenCode | ~/.opencode/skills/ |
| Codex | .codex/skills/ |
Even if agents don't converge on a single path (per #15), documenting the current paths would help users and tool builders.
2. Distribution Tooling (ecosystem)
Several projects are exploring distribution:
- PRPM - Registry with format conversion (PRPM: Open Source Cross-format distribution and conversion for Agent Skills #9)
- ai-agent-skills - CLI supporting 7 agents
- Manual git clone (current default)
Rather than the spec prescribing one approach, perhaps the docs could link to community distribution options.
Concrete Ask
At minimum, could we add a "Distribution" or "Installing Skills" section to the docs that:
- Lists installation paths per agent
- Links to community tools for easier installation
This is low-effort and immediately useful for anyone trying to actually use skills.
Open Questions
- Should paths be documented in the spec or a separate page?
- Is there interest in a standard path (per Proposal: include a standard folder where agent skills should be #15)?
- Should the docs link to community distribution tools?