How to use Agent Skills in Cursor IDE?

Support Help
1

How do I use the Agent Skills described here inside my Cursor IDE?

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3

you type in chat /<skill name>, maybe they can be used automatically too when you say to agent to look for some skill

and you put them either in user directory in .cursor in skills SKILL-NAME/SKILL.md or the same in project folder

easiest is to ask agent, it has a built in skill to create a new skill and can show you

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4

Once you’ve set up your skills, there are two ways to use them:

1. Automatic (Default)

When you’re working in Agent chat, Cursor automatically presents available skills to the agent. The agent will decide when a skill is relevant based on:

  • Your conversation context
  • The skill’s description field (which tells the agent when to use it)

You don’t need to do anything special, just chat with the agent, and it will apply relevant skills automatically.

2. Manual (Slash Command Style)

You can explicitly invoke a skill by typing / in Agent chat followed by the skill name:

/my-skill

This is especially useful for skills that have disable-model-invocation: true, which makes them behave like traditional slash commands that only activate when explicitly called.

5

Thanks for the reply. I guess my question is how to set it up in the first place? Do I run the npx skill…. command while in my project dir?

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The automatic skill selection doesn’t work very well, even when the instructions are 100% suitable for use. So it’s better to manually specify the desired skill

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@Kqpro here are all details on how to create skills.

How to Create a Basic Skill

Step 1: Create the Skill Folder

Create a folder in one of these locations:

  • .cursor/skills/my-skill/ (for this project only)
  • ~/.cursor/skills/my-skill/ (for all your projects)

The folder name should use lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens only.

Step 2: Create SKILL.md File

Inside your skill folder, create a file named SKILL.md with this structure:

---
name: my-skill
description: Short description of what this skill does and when to use it.
---

# My Skill

Detailed instructions for the agent.

## When to Use

- Use this skill when...
- This skill is helpful for...

## Instructions

- Step-by-step guidance for the agent
- Domain-specific conventions
- Best practices and patterns
- Use the ask questions tool if you need to clarify requirements with the user

Step 3: Required Fields

Your frontmatter must include:

  • name: Must match your folder name (lowercase, numbers, hyphens only)
  • description: Helps the agent decide when to use this skill

Step 4: View Your Skill

  1. Open Cursor Settings (Cmd+Shift+J on Mac, Ctrl+Shift+J on Windows/Linux)
  2. Navigate to Rules
  3. Your skill appears in the Agent Decides section

Step 5: Use Your Skill

The agent will automatically use your skill when relevant, or you can manually invoke it by typing /my-skill in Agent chat.

Example

---
name: code-review
description: Perform thorough code reviews focusing on best practices, security, and performance. Use when reviewing pull requests or code changes.
---

# Code Review

Review code changes systematically for quality, security, and maintainability.

## When to Use

- Use when the user asks for a code review
- Use when reviewing pull requests
- Use when analyzing code quality

## Instructions

1. Review code structure and organization
2. Check for security vulnerabilities
3. Assess performance implications
4. Verify adherence to project conventions
5. Suggest improvements with explanations
6. Highlight what is done well