Kiro skills. Where they live and how to install them.

What skills are in Kiro

Kiro's documentation describes skills as portable instruction packages that follow the open Agent Skills standard. They bundle instructions, scripts and templates that Kiro can activate when they are relevant. At startup Kiro loads only each skill's name and description. When your request matches a description it loads the full instructions, and it reads scripts or reference files only as the instructions point to them.

Skills can activate two ways: automatically, when your request matches, or as slash commands. Type / in the chat input to see available skills, select one, and Kiro loads its full instructions. You can add text after the skill name, for example /explain-file src/api/client.ts.

Kiro separates skills from two related features. Steering is Kiro-specific context that shapes behaviour, and Powers bundle MCP tools with knowledge. Kiro suggests Powers for MCP integrations.

Where Kiro looks for skills

If two skills share a name, the workspace skill beats the global one. By default the agent loads skills from both places. Custom agents are different: they do not load skills unless you add them to the agent's resources field with the skill:// scheme:

{
  "name": "my-agent",
  "resources": [
    "skill://.kiro/skills/*/SKILL.md",
    "skill://~/.kiro/skills/*/SKILL.md"
  ]
}

Install a skill

The examples use frontend-design from anthropics/skills, located at skills/frontend-design.

Option 1: import in the Kiro IDE

1. Open the Agent Steering & Skills section in the Kiro panel.
2. Click + and choose Import a skill.
3. Choose GitHub and paste the URL of the skill folder, or its SKILL.md file:

https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/frontend-design

The URL must point to a subdirectory of the repository, not the repository root. You can also import from a Local folder. Imported skills are copied into your skills directory and work immediately.

Option 2: the skills CLI

npx skills add anthropics/skills --skill frontend-design -a kiro-cli

This installs into .kiro/skills/ in the project. Add -g for ~/.kiro/skills/. The skills tool notes that Kiro CLI's default agent loads these folders without configuration, while a custom agent needs the resources entry shown above.

Option 3: GitHub CLI

gh skill install anthropics/skills frontend-design --agent kiro-cli
gh skill install anthropics/skills frontend-design --agent kiro-cli --scope user

Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later, where gh skill is a public preview.

Option 4: copy the folder

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/anthropics/skills.git skills-src
mkdir -p .kiro/skills
cp -r skills-src/skills/frontend-design .kiro/skills/frontend-design
rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.kiro/skills/ for a global skill, and commit .kiro/skills if you want the team to share it.

Check that it loaded

Open the Agent Steering & Skills section of the Kiro panel to see your skills. Type / in chat and look for frontend-design in the slash-command list. If you use the CLI, note that $ARGUMENTS and ${N} substitution into the skill body is currently CLI-only.

Update and remove

• Remove: delete the skill folder, or run npx skills remove frontend-design.
• Update: import again or copy a newer version of the folder, or use npx skills update or gh skill update for skills those tools installed.

Troubleshooting

• Skill not found: confirm SKILL.md exists with valid frontmatter in .kiro/skills/<name>/ or ~/.kiro/skills/<name>/.
• Slash command not found: the folder name must match the name you type, and SKILL.md needs valid frontmatter.
• Skill not activating: make the description more specific, with keywords that match how you phrase requests.
• A custom agent is missing skills: add skill:// URIs to its resources field.
• Wrong skill activating: differentiate the descriptions with more specific keywords.
• The name field must match the folder name, use lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens, and stay within 64 characters. The description can be up to 1,024 characters.

Safety

Kiro's skills can bundle scripts, and importing copies them into your skills folder, where they work immediately. Open the skill on GitHub and read SKILL.md and its scripts before you import, rather than importing and reviewing afterwards. Global skills apply in every workspace, so use the workspace folder for anything you have not fully reviewed.