AGENT SKILLS REGISTRIES

Agent Skills Directory: Every 2026 Registry Compared

Between January and September 2026 the agent skills ecosystem went from "clone a repo and copy a folder" to a dozen competing registries with CLIs, leaderboards, security scanning, and self-reported counts that disagree by an order of magnitude. Here is every serious agent skills directory side by side — with the install commands, the safety checks, and the part none of the free registries offer: payment.

Browse the VibeFuse marketplace Where sellers get paid

Directory vs registry vs marketplace: pick your term

The ecosystem never settled on vocabulary, and the SERP reflects it: people search "agent skills directory", "agent skills registry", "browse agent skills", and "SKILL.md marketplace" interchangeably. In practice three things exist:

Directories index SKILL.md files from public GitHub so you can browse and install them. Free, no checkout, quality ranges from Anthropic-tested to AI-generated filler.
Registries with tooling add versioning, search, and moderation on top of indexing — ClawHub's vector search and signed manifests, tessl's semantic versioning, the skills CLI's install-count leaderboard.
Marketplaces add payment rails. This tier is nearly empty: as of September 2026 the official registries (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Vercel) pay creators nothing, and the paid-skills-store claims around Anthropic remain unverified in Anthropic's own docs.

A SKILL.md file is an open standard — YAML frontmatter plus Markdown instructions, optional bundled scripts — defined at agentskills.io and shipped by Anthropic in December 2025. The same file loads in Claude Code, OpenAI Codex CLI, Cursor, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, and dozens more agents, which is exactly why the directory layer fragmented so fast: the install bar is a file copy, so anyone can build an index over it.

The 2026 registry landscape, side by side

Scale figures are each project's own claim — directory counts measure how many repos contain a SKILL.md, not how many useful skills exist.

Registry	Run by	Scale claim	Curation & tooling	Creator payouts
skills.sh	Vercel (launched with the `npx skills` CLI, Feb 2026)	Leaderboard by install count; tens of thousands of installs within weeks of launch	Install-count leaderboard, category browse, `npx skills find`; supports 67+ agents (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenCode...)	None
anthropics/skills	Anthropic first-party (GitHub-trending #1 with ~174K stars, Sep 2026)	Deliberately small: document skills (docx/pdf/pptx/xlsx), skill-creator, mcp-builder	Maintained and tested by Anthropic; the canonical example of a well-formed skill; doubles as a Claude Code plugin marketplace	None
openai/skills	OpenAI (Sep 7, 2026)	Skills catalog scoped to Codex CLI	First-party catalog completing the Big Three (Anthropic, Google, OpenAI); same SKILL.md format	None
google/skills	Google (~Aug 2026)	"Agent Skills for Google products and technologies"	Broadest framing of the three first-party repos — scoped to Google products generally	None
ClawHub	OpenClaw (openclaw/clawhub)	Top-500 skills tracked at 1.57M+ downloads across 360+ publishers (Mar 2026)	Vector search instead of keywords, semantic versioning, signed manifests, moderated releases, security analysis that checks SKILL.md declarations against actual behavior	None
tessl.io	Tessl	Versioned skills + "tiles"	Semantic versioning, interactive search CLI, web registry browse	None
SkillsMP	Independent (launched May 2026)	1.3M+ indexed skills scraped from public GitHub	Automated scraper with a quality filter — indexing, not review	None
skillsdirectory.com	Independent	294K+ indexed skills, security-scanned	Published security methodology and badges; source-attributed listings	None
VibeFuse marketplace	Rowton Development	Widgets, skills, and styling packs inside the first ever free widget-based AI harness	Open-source marketplace; buyers preview a widget running on the canvas before they pay	80% flat revenue share via Stripe Connect

Second-tier scrapers round out the wave — LobeHub at ~169K indexed skills, agentskill.sh at ~110K, Tencent's SkillHub enterprise mirror at ~25K. Community "find-skills" helpers now exist purely to route you between registries, because no single directory covers the ecosystem and each has skills the others lack.

How to install skills from any directory

Three routes, in order of friction. The CLI route uses the skills package manager Vercel shipped alongside skills.sh:

# search the leaderboard + install (works for any agent it supports)

npx skills find "react performance"

# add a skill from GitHub: owner/repo@skill, -g installs user-level

npx skills add vercel-labs/agent-skills@vercel-react-best-practices -g -y

# ClawHub registry (OpenClaw ecosystem, semantic versions)

clawhub install react-expert

Manual copy: clone or download the skill folder and drop it into your agent's skills path — ~/.claude/skills/ or project-level .claude/skills/ for Claude Code, .agents/skills/ for Codex and most universal tools. Restart the agent or open a new session; the folder name becomes the slash command.
Publishing: npx skills init scaffolds a SKILL.md template; clawhub skill publish versions it on ClawHub. There is no approval step on the open registries — which is the safety caveat below.
Where it loads: a SKILL.md is invisible until an agent decides a request matches its description. If a skill "isn't working", the description is usually the problem, not the install.

Safety: read before you install

A skill is not just text — a SKILL.md can bundle scripts that run with your terminal's permissions. The scraper directories do not review what they list, and a large share of community submissions observed in early 2026 were AI-generated and untested. Working heuristics used by the ecosystem's own find-skills tooling:

Install count: prefer 1K+ installs; treat anything under 100 with skepticism.
Source reputation: official org repos (anthropics, vercel-labs, microsoft, openai) are more trustworthy than unknown authors; check the backing repo's stars.
Read the SKILL.md — especially any bundled script — before installing, regardless of source.
Prefer moderated registries where behavior is checked: ClawHub's security analysis verifies frontmatter-declared requirements against actual skill behavior, and skillsdirectory.com publishes its scanning methodology.

None of this is paranoia: the top skill on ClawHub by downloads is "Self Improving Agent" at 240K installs, and skills that rewrite their own instructions are exactly the category worth reading before you run. The open standard's power — arbitrary scripts beside your prompt — is the same thing that makes the unreviewed tail risky.

The gap: every directory here pays creators $0

Notice the last column of the table. Every registry above treats your skill as free distribution: installs, reputation, maybe a leaderboard rank. The 2026 economics research is blunt about where that leads — most free-directory listings earn nothing, the GPT Store already demonstrated the pattern (most builders, including ones with millions of conversations, earned $0), and predicted marketplace pricing clusters most skills at $0–10 with a differentiated head at $50–500.

Income requires a marketplace with payment rails, and the honest pick list is short: AgentPowers pays 85%, Agensi 70%, approved listings on Creator Skills keep 70%. The structural difference with the VibeFuse marketplace is the asset type: a SKILL.md file is invisible until an agent loads it, but a canvas widget is demonstrable — buyers watch it run before they pay, which is why visual products convert better in every mature digital marketplace. VibeFuse pays a flat 80% revenue share on widgets, skills, and styling packs via Stripe Connect, with $0.50–$500 creator-set pricing and no listing fee, inside the first ever free widget-based AI harness — local/offline processing, works in any app.

Practical strategy for a skill author in late 2026: publish to the open registries for distribution (they are where the installs are), and sell where payouts exist. The two are not in conflict — distribution feeds reputation, and reputation feeds sales.

Related deep-dives: agent skills vs MCP servers (which layer to use when, with the context-cost math) and are Claude skills safe (the 2026 audit findings plus a 10-minute pre-install audit checklist).

✓ 80% flat creator payouts
✓ Widgets + skills + styling packs
✓ Buyers see the widget run before they buy
✓ Free harness for buyers

Sell yours where sellers get paid See the 80% payout terms

Explore VibeFuse & harness guides

Agent skills directory FAQ

What is the best agent skills directory?

There is no single winner — use them for different jobs. skills.sh (Vercel) is the de facto leaderboard with the npx skills CLI and the broadest agent support; ClawHub (OpenClaw) adds vector search, semantic versioning, signed manifests, and security analysis; skillsdirectory.com security-scans its 294K+ index and publishes its methodology; the official anthropics/skills, openai/skills, and google/skills repos are small, first-party, and trustworthy but narrow. Cross-check two directories before installing anything from an unknown author.

How do I install skills for Claude Code or Codex?

Fastest route: npx skills add owner/repo@skill -g -y (the skills CLI targets 67+ agents including Claude Code and Codex). Manual route: copy the skill folder into ~/.claude/skills/ (or project-level .claude/skills/) for Claude Code, or .agents/skills/ for Codex and most universal tools, then start a new session. The folder name becomes the slash command. ClawHub skills install with clawhub install <slug>.

How many agent skills exist in 2026?

Depends entirely on who is counting, and every figure is self-reported: SkillsMP claims 1.3M+ indexed skills scraped from public GitHub, skillsdirectory.com indexes 294K+, LobeHub ~169K, agentskill.sh ~110K, and Tencent's enterprise SkillHub mirror ~25K. These counts measure how many repos contain a SKILL.md file, not how many skills are useful or tested — a large share of community submissions are AI-generated and untested. The first-party repos (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google) are deliberately small and maintained.

Are agent skill directories safe?

Treat them like package registries before npm audit existed. A SKILL.md can bundle scripts that run with your terminal's permissions, and scraper-based directories do not review what they list. Prefer skills with 1K+ installs, official org sources, and read the SKILL.md plus any bundled script before installing. ClawHub runs security analysis that checks declared requirements against actual behavior; skillsdirectory.com publishes its scanning methodology. The top ClawHub skill by downloads is "Self Improving Agent" — a skill that rewrites its own instructions — which tells you exactly why reading before running matters.

Do agent skills directories pay creators?

No — as of September 2026 every major directory (skills.sh, ClawHub, tessl, SkillsMP, skillsdirectory.com) and every official first-party repo treats skills as free distribution: installs and reputation, zero money. The GPT Store already demonstrated where that leads: most builders, including creators with millions of conversations, earned nothing. Income requires a marketplace with payment rails — AgentPowers pays 85%, Agensi 70%, and the VibeFuse marketplace pays a flat 80% on widgets, skills, and styling packs via Stripe Connect.

What is the difference between a directory, a registry, and a marketplace for AI skills?

A directory indexes SKILL.md files so you can browse and install them (free, no checkout). A registry adds tooling: versioning, search, moderation (ClawHub's vector search and signed manifests, tessl's semantic versioning). A marketplace adds payment rails and payouts — nearly empty territory in 2026, which is the real gap: the ecosystem built magnificent free distribution and almost no way for skill authors to earn.

Should I publish my skill to every registry?

Yes for distribution — the open registries are where the installs are, SKILL.md is cross-agent (the same file loads in Claude Code, Codex CLI, Cursor, and OpenCode), and installs build the reputation that feeds sales. Sell separately where payouts exist: publish to skills.sh/ClawHub for reach, list sellable work on a paying marketplace like VibeFuse (80% share) or AgentPowers (85%). Distribution and payment are different problems; the directories solve only the first.