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agent-skills-mcp

Community
MCP server that exposes the Agent Skills catalog to AI coding agents via progressive disclosure
GitHub source repository ↗
★ 5.0k Stars Category · Dev Tools Very popular
59FMRS · C
Reliability
6/20
Security and permissions
12/20
Maintenance
15/20
Documentation
13/20
Setup experience
13/20

agent-skills-mcp is the MCP server from the community project tech-leads-club/agent-skills, exposing its skills catalog through four tools — list_skills, search_skills, read_skill, and fetch_skill_files — using progressive disclosure so any MCP-compatible client can search and load skill content on demand. It is not an officially maintained protocol or vendor server, and users should independently verify the licensing and security-scanning claims for any third-party skills they consume.

Read the FMRS scoring method →

agent-skills-mcp is part of the tech-leads-club/agent-skills project, a secure, validated skill registry for professional AI coding agents. This MCP server exposes that skills catalog to MCP-compatible clients using progressive disclosure: clients search or browse first, then fetch only the specific skill instructions or reference files they need, rather than loading the whole catalog at once. The underlying catalog is maintained by the project's CLI (@tech-leads-club/agent-skills), and skills are scanned with tools like Snyk Agent Scan before publishing. The repository's overall license field is NOASSERTION, but the README states the CLI/engine code is MIT-licensed, maintainer-authored skill files are CC-BY-4.0, and third-party skills retain their original licenses.

Tools

list_skills
Browse the full skills catalog by category (should only be called when the user explicitly asks to browse/list the catalog)
search_skills
Find skills by intent using fuzzy search
read_skill
Load a skill's main SKILL.md instructions
fetch_skill_files
Fetch specific reference or template files for a skill on demand

Setup

Add an mcpServers entry named agent-skills to your MCP-compatible client's configuration (e.g. Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code), setting command to npx and args to ["-y", "@tech-leads-club/agent-skills-mcp"], then save and restart the client; npx will fetch and run the server on demand without requiring a global install.

claude_desktop_config.json
{"mcpServers":{"agent-skills":{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@tech-leads-club/agent-skills-mcp"]}}}

Fit and risk

Best for

  • Developers already using the tech-leads-club/agent-skills catalog who want to search and invoke skills directly from an MCP-enabled coding assistant
  • Workflows that benefit from progressive, on-demand loading of skill content rather than pulling the whole catalog at once

Not for

  • Teams requiring an MCP implementation maintained directly by an official product or protocol owner (this is a community project from Tech Leads Club, not an Anthropic or other official offering)
  • Use cases needing the server itself to execute code, access the filesystem, or call external cloud services (the README does not document such tools)

Required permissions

  • Running via npx requires network access to download and execute the @tech-leads-club/agent-skills-mcp package
  • The MCP server needs access to the skills catalog data (via CDN or local cache) to support listing, searching, and reading

Risks and side effects

  • The README notes that roughly 13% of skills in open marketplaces contain critical vulnerabilities; while this project claims static analysis and scanning of its skills, running third-party packages via npx -y still requires trusting the published package
  • The repository's license field is NOASSERTION, and some skills come from community or third-party authors retaining their own original licenses — verify individual skill licensing before commercial or compliance-sensitive use
  • The README does not provide detailed input/output parameters or error codes for the tools, so full integration requires consulting packages/mcp/README.md

Troubleshooting

  1. If the client fails to start the server, confirm the local Node.js version is >=22 as indicated by the repository badges
  2. If the first run is slow or requires connectivity, confirm network access to the npm registry so npx can fetch the package on demand
  3. For issues related to catalog or cache staleness, note the CLI-side cache defaults to ~/.cache/agent-skills/ and can be cleared and retried
  4. Consult packages/mcp/README.md in the repository for full client setup, caching behavior, and an error reference

Use cases

Search and browse the Agent Skills catalog directly from within a coding assistant instead of switching to a terminal to run the CLI
Load a specific skill's detailed instructions and reference files on demand, avoiding injecting the entire catalog into context at once
Dynamically extend Claude Code, Cursor, and similar clients with domain-specific workflows (cloud architecture, browser automation, design-to-code, security review, etc.)

Supported clients

Claude CodeFull support
CursorFull support
VS CodePartial support