Find and install skills

A skill you install once works in every coding agent you've configured. This how-to covers the two halves: finding a skill worth installing, and installing it.

There are three ways to find a skill.

The AgentXM.ai registry is the catalog of published skills. Browse by category, search by keyword, and read each skill's description and versions before installing. Every skill page shows the exact identifier to pass to axm skills install.

axm discover scans your project without leaving your terminal:

axm discover

It takes no search term — instead it detects the packages your project already depends on (npm, PyPI, and the other supported ecosystems) and surfaces the companion extensions attested to those packages. Pass --path to scan a different directory. Copy the identifier of a companion you want and install it.

For free-text keyword search across the whole registry, browse agentxm.ai or ask a connected agent (see below) — axm discover is project-aware, not a keyword search.

When axm discover submits detected package signals to a registry, AXM uses credentials saved for that registry origin when they are available. The submission is then attributed to your signed-in identity; without matching credentials, it is submitted anonymously. Authentication changes attribution only — discovery results remain limited to public companion extensions in both cases.

AXM also exposes discovery through its MCP server connection, so an agent you've connected can search the registry on your behalf. Ask your agent for a capability in plain language and it can surface a matching skill — discovery becomes part of the conversation instead of a separate step.

Install from the registry, a GitHub repository, or a local path:

axm skills install @owner/skills/code-review   # registry
axm skills install owner/repo                   # GitHub
axm skills install ./path/to/skill              # local

Installing writes the skill into the universal .agents/skills/<name> location plus the native directory of every coding agent you've configured. Install once; it appears everywhere you work — install already materializes the skill into your configured agents, so there's nothing else to run. If you ever need to rebuild those files (for example after editing settings by hand), run:

axm sync

For version ranges, cherry-picking from a multi-skill source, scopes, and preview, see the axm skills install reference. axm skills list shows what's installed.

Discovery and installation aren't skill-specific. The registry, axm discover, and agent-driven discovery surface every extension type, and each type has a matching install command:

axm subagents install @owner/subagents/refactorer
axm packs install @owner/packs/frontend

The same works for subagents, packs, and the other extension types AXM manages — skills are just the most common starting point.

• Skills — what a skill is and how AXM manages it
• Create a skill — author your own from scratch
• Publish a skill — share a skill you've made
• Set up your team — install the same skills across a repo
• axm skills install and axm discover — full CLI reference