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Installing Skills

Install skills locally for offline access or let the MCP server load them on demand.

Install a Skill

Use the aster install command:

aster install scripting-tiktok-videos

Skills are installed into the detected agent's own skills directory. Installs are project-scoped by default; add --global to write to your home directory instead.

AgentProject--global
Claude Code./.claude/skills/~/.claude/skills/
Codex CLI./.agents/skills/~/.agents/skills/

Codex reads skills from .agents/skills — not .codex/skills, which it never scans. The .codex/ directory holds Codex configuration only, as config.toml (TOML, never JSON).

Choose Your Agent

aster install writes skill files into the right location for 35+ agent tools. (Deploying a whole agent definition with aster deploy is a different command and is verified on Claude Code and the OpenAI Codex CLI only.)

aster install scripting-tiktok-videos --agent cursor# Install for Cursor
aster install scripting-tiktok-videos --agents cursor,windsurf,claude-code# Multiple agents
aster install scripting-tiktok-videos --all-detected# All installed agents

Run aster install --list-agents to see all 35+ supported agents and which are detected on your system.

Install from Different Sources

Install skills from the Asterism registry, GitHub, or other sources:

aster install scripting-tiktok-videos# Asterism registry
aster install github:anthropics/claude-code-skills# Direct from GitHub
aster install skills.sh:name# From skills.sh

GitHub skills are security-scanned before installation. Use --scan to see the security report first, or --force to bypass the minimum score requirement.

Specify a Version

Install a specific version using the @ syntax:

aster install scripting-tiktok-videos@2.0.0
aster install scripting-tiktok-videos@^2.0.0
aster install scripting-tiktok-videos@latest

List Installed Skills

See all locally installed skills:

aster list

Add --json for machine-readable output.

Update Skills

Update a specific skill to the latest version:

aster install scripting-tiktok-videos@latest

Or reinstall to get the latest version matching your version constraint.

Uninstall Skills

Remove a skill from your local installation:

aster uninstall scripting-tiktok-videos

View Skill Details

Get detailed information about a skill before installing:

aster info scripting-tiktok-videos

This shows the skill's description, version, author, security score, capabilities, and download count.

Local vs. On-Demand Loading

You have two options for using skills:

Local Installation

  • + Works offline
  • + Faster loading
  • + Version pinning
  • - Manual updates
  • - Uses disk space

MCP On-Demand

  • + Always up to date
  • + No disk usage
  • + Discover new skills
  • - Requires internet
  • - Slightly slower

Many users combine both approaches: install frequently-used skills locally and use the MCP server for discovery and occasional needs.

Security Considerations

Before installing a skill, review:

  • Security score — Higher is better (80+ is excellent)
  • Capabilities — What permissions does it need?
  • Author — Is the publisher trusted?
  • Downloads — Popular skills are often more vetted

Important: While all skills are security-scanned, automated scanning cannot catch everything. Review skill source code for sensitive operations. See our Terms of Service for details.

Audit Installed Skills

Run a security audit on your installed skills:

aster audit

This scans all installed skills and reports any security concerns.

Next Steps

MCP Integration

Connect skills to your AI assistant.

Create a Skill

Build your own skill.