Explore AI Agent Skills & Claude Prompts
Discover open-source agent skills for Claude Code, Codex, ChatGPT, and any tool that uses SKILL.md.
Enter through keywords, occupations, creators, and GitHub sources to see what kinds of skills are emerging across domains.
Use the same catalog through the API
Connect 381,784 public skills to your own search, analytics, or agent workflow with the REST API.
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codon-optimize
by farnunglabCodon optimize protein sequences for expression using IDT's API. Use when the user asks to codon optimize genes, sequences, or accessions for a target organism (insect, E. coli, mammalian, yeast) or vector (438, 1-, pVEX).
complex-formation
by farnunglabAssemble and purify macromolecular complexes for structural biology. Use when the user asks about gel filtration, complex assembly, SEC purification, elongation complexes, calculating stoichiometry, or interpreting A260/A280 ratios.
construct-generator
by farnunglabGenerate expected plasmid maps by combining vector backbones with insert sequences. Use when the user asks about in-silico cloning, simulating cloning reactions, generating construct maps, or verifying clone sequences against expected products.
constructboundary
by farnunglabPredict optimal construct boundaries for protein expression. Use when the user asks about domain boundaries, construct design, truncations, which region of a protein to express, or identifying disordered regions.
gel-annotation
by farnunglabAnnotate SDS-PAGE gel images with molecular weight markers and lane labels. Use when asked to label, annotate, or analyze gel photos. Detects lanes and bands automatically via intensity profiling (scikit-image), assigns MW from known protein ladders, and outputs SVG-quality annotated images.
insect-cell
by farnunglabBaculovirus expression system for recombinant protein production. Use when the user asks about insect cell expression, baculovirus, V0/V1 production, Sf9/Hi5/Sf21 cells, DH10αEMBacY transfection, or large-scale protein expression.
orfverifier
by farnunglabVerify open reading frames (ORFs) in plasmid sequences. Use when the user asks about verifying protein coding sequences, checking if an ORF is present in a plasmid, finding where a protein is encoded, or doing six-frame translation analysis.
phenix
by farnunglabPHENIX suite for macromolecular structure determination. Use for cryo-EM model building, real-space refinement, map analysis, validation, and AlphaFold model processing.
protparam
by farnunglabCalculate protein parameters (MW, pI, extinction coefficient) and generate purification recommendations. Use when the user asks about protein properties, molecular weight, isoelectric point, extinction coefficients, or purification strategies.
reactor
by farnunglabCalculate reaction buffer recipes accounting for protein stock contributions. Use when the user asks about designing reaction buffers, calculating buffer volumes, compensation buffers, or setting up biochemistry experiments with proteins.
servalcat
by farnunglabServalcat for cryo-EM SPA reciprocal-space refinement and Fo-Fc map calculation. Use for refining models against half-maps, calculating weighted difference maps, and omit maps.
twist-order
by farnunglabOrder DNA synthesis from Twist Bioscience. Use when the user asks to order clonal genes, gene blocks, or gene fragments from Twist, or to submit codon-optimized sequences for synthesis.
Browse Agent Skills by Occupation
23 major groups · 867 SOC occupations
Browse by Category
Explore agent skills organized by their primary use case
Explore the agent skills ecosystem by occupation and creator
SkillMD is not just a keyword search box. It is an open map that organizes public skills by occupation, creator, and repository, helping you see which workflows, judgment criteria, and domain habits people are writing for AI agents.
Then follow creators and GitHub repositories back to the source: compare the skills a team maintains, whether the repo is active, and how the README frames the work before you open, install, or reuse anything.
Use it three ways: learn an unfamiliar field by occupation, study how creators organize skills, then use source context to decide what is worth opening or reusing.
01 Map a field
Browse 23 occupation groups and 867 SOC roles to learn what skills exist in adjacent domains and how they break down real work.
02 Follow creators
Use creator and repository pages to inspect maintained skill collections, recent updates, and source context before trusting a result.
03 Search with sources
Search 1.7M+ collected skills, then use occupation tags, creators, and GitHub source context to decide what is worth opening.
Start with the occupation map, then follow creators and repositories back to real code. SkillMD helps explain why a skill is worth opening, not only what it is named.
Standardizing Agent Capabilities with SKILL.md and Model Context Protocol (MCP)
In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, LLM agents (Large Language Model agents) have transitioned from simple text predictors to autonomous problem solvers. To orchestrate complex, multi-step agentic workflows, developers require a standardized format to specify agent capabilities, prompt instructions, system rules, and database bindings. This is where SKILL.md and the Model Context Protocol (MCP) have emerged as standard developer paradigms. SkillMD serves as the central directory for indexing, exploring, and sharing these critical agent configurations.
Our open-source registry currently tracks over 1.7 million collected SKILL.md configurations and system prompts. By compiling agent configurations from active developers on GitHub, we bridge the gap between prompt engineering research and production execution. Whether you are building agents with Anthropic's Claude Code, OpenAI's GPT-4, Google's Gemini, or local models using Ollama and LlamaIndex, standardized skill definitions ensure your agents behave predictably across different runtime environments.
What is the Model Context Protocol (MCP)?
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open-source standard designed to connect LLMs to data sources, developer tools, and external environments. MCP establishes a bidirectional communication channel between client applications (like Cursor, Claude Desktop, or custom agent systems) and servers hosting data or capabilities. Standardizing instructions via SKILL.md enables LLMs to query databases, read local files, execute terminal commands, and integrate third-party APIs. SkillMD allows you to find ready-to-run MCP servers and prompt instructions for various occupations and technical tasks.
The Structure of a Professional SKILL.md File
A valid SKILL.md configuration is designed to be easily read by humans and parsed by LLMs. It contains precise system instructions, trigger conditions, required parameters, and execution examples. Below is the typical architectural blueprint of a professional agent skill:
- Metadata & Core Scope: Declares the name of the skill, author details, target models, and a description of the capability.
- Triggers & Intent Detection: Details semantic triggers that help the agent decide when to invoke this skill.
- System Prompts: Explicit system-level instructions that direct the agent's behavior, personality, safety guardrails, and formatting preferences.
- Capabilities & Tools: Lists the files, databases, or APIs the agent must access to complete the tasks.
- Few-Shot Examples: Demonstrates real inputs and outputs, helping the model generalize behavior through in-context learning.
Optimizing Agent Workflows for Modern LLMs
Writing effective agent skills requires deep knowledge of prompt engineering. With the release of advanced reasoning models like Claude 3.5 Sonnet, ChatGPT o1, and DeepSeek-V3, prompt templates must focus on structured thinking. Developers are encouraged to use XML tags (e.g., <thought>, <context>, and <rules>) to isolate execution boundaries. Standardized prompts prevent agents from suffering from context drift, ensuring that long-running tasks remain aligned with the initial system parameters.
Exploring by SOC Occupations and Creator Profiles
What makes SkillMD unique is its taxonomy. Instead of simple text search, we parse and organize files according to the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. This means you can discover skills written for Computer and Mathematical roles, Business and Financial operations, Legal, Design, and and Educational Instruction fields. By tracking creator profiles, developers can study how different teams organize their custom instructions, compare version updates, and fork public configs for specialized enterprise use cases.
SkillMD operates as a high-performance index running on a fast Go backend and a highly responsive Astro SSR frontend. All search queries execute in milliseconds, featuring smart debouncing to prevent multiple API requests while keeping user data secure. Join our community of developers to standardize your AI agent instructions and optimize your LLM prompting workflows today.
Frequently Asked Questions
A practical guide to agent skills: what they are, how to inspect them, and how SkillMD helps you explore the ecosystem.