Install and use your first Skill

Step 1: Browse Agent Catalog and select a Skill

1. Go to Agent Catalog.

2. Enter a keyword (such as "resource search") in the search box on the landing page or in the navigation bar. Search results are grouped by asset type into the All, Agents, Skills, and Plugins tabs. Click the Skills tab to filter. Alternatively, click Skills in the navigation bar to browse the Skill list by cloud product category.

3. Click a Skill to open its detail page. The detail page shows information such as the introduction, download count, and last update time of the Skill. The Passed business testing and Passed security check badges indicate the quality status. The body is the full SKILL.md, describing the capability scope, runtime prerequisites (Prerequisites), and usage flow of the Skill. The following steps use Resource Center global resource search (alibabacloud-resourcecenter-search) as an example.

Step 2: Install the Skill

At the top of the Skill detail page, click Install Guide and choose an installation method as prompted. The recommended method is to let the Agent install autonomously. Alternatively, copy the CLI command and run it in your terminal.

Please download and install the {skill-name} Skill through https://agentcatalog.aliyun.com/api/public/skills/{skill-name}/download. After installation, let me know whether I need to restart the conversation.

npx skills add aliyun/alibabacloud-aiops-skills --skill <skill-name> --agent <client> -y --full-depth

npx clawhub install <skill-name>

npx skills ls

npx skills ls -g

Step 3: Use the Skill in your Agent client

The example Skill in this topic, Resource Center global resource search, operates on cloud resources through Alibaba Cloud CLI. Complete the following preparation before use. For the runtime prerequisites of other Skills, refer to the Prerequisites section of SKILL.md on their detail pages.

• Alibaba Cloud CLI: Install CLI and configure identity credentials. Version 3.3.3 or later is required. Run aliyun version to verify the version number. Run aliyun configure list to verify that credentials are configured.

• Resource Center service: The Resource Center service must be activated. If it is not activated, run the CLI command aliyun resourcecenter enable-resource-center to activate it. RAM users must have the AliyunResourceCenterReadOnlyAccess permission policy.

After installation, restart the Agent client to load the newly installed Skill. The following examples use Claude Code, Cursor, and Qoder:

# ECS Instance Search Results
Found **3** ECS instances.

| Instance ID | Instance Name | Region | Status | Instance Type |
|---------|---------|------|------|------|
| i-bp1abc**** | web-server-01 | cn-hangzhou | Running | ecs.g6.large |
| i-bp2def**** | db-server-01 | cn-hangzhou | Running | ecs.r6.xlarge |
| i-bp3ghi**** | test-instance | cn-shanghai | Stopped | ecs.c6.large |

Step 4: Try more operations

Once the Skill works correctly, try more complex tasks. The following prompts are all supported by the Resource Center global resource search Skill:

Show me all cloud resources in the China East 1 (Hangzhou) region.

Show me the resource count for each product type under my current account.

Why can't my Agent client find the installed Skill after a successful installation?

If the Agent does not recognize an installed Skill, the cause is typically a mismatch between the installation directory and the working directory, the client not reloading, or incomplete Skill files. Check the following in order:

• Verify that you ran the installation command in the correct project directory. Skills are installed to the project-level directory .<client>/skills/ by default and will not automatically take effect in other projects. To use a Skill across projects, add the -g flag for global installation.

• After installation, restart the Agent client or reopen the current project in the client to let it rescan the skills directory.

• Run ls .<client>/skills/<skill-name>/ to verify that the SKILL.md file exists. If the file is missing or the directory is empty, delete the directory and run the installation command again.

• When a Skill with the same name is installed in both project and global scope, the project directory takes priority. If a global update does not take effect, check whether an older version remains in the project directory.

Why does the npx skills add command fail?

Installation failures typically stem from the local Node.js environment, network connectivity, or directory permissions. Check the following in order:

• If you see command not found: npx or a message that the Node.js version does not meet the requirement, run node --version to verify that Node.js is installed and the version is 22 or later. If Node.js is not installed, refer to Node.js official website for installation.

• If the error is a network timeout or slow download, check your local network connection and try again.

• If the error is a permission error (such as EACCES or permission denied), do not use sudo to run npx. Instead, check and fix the write permissions of the current user for the project directory.

• If the error is 404 Not Found or the Skill name does not exist, go to Agent Catalog and verify that the Skill identifier is spelled correctly and the Skill has been published.

What do I do if the Agent reports that it cannot download the Skill during autonomous installation?

This method requires the Agent to access the external network and write local files. When the Agent reports that the network is unreachable or permissions are insufficient, handle it as follows:

• If the Agent itself lacks external network access or file writing capability but the local terminal works normally, switch to Install via CLI command and run the installation command in the terminal.

Why do I get errors when the Agent invokes a Skill?

Invocation errors typically stem from Alibaba Cloud CLI credential issues, insufficient RAM permissions, or an inactive Resource Center service. Check the following in order:

• If the error is an authentication failure, run aliyun sts get-caller-identity to verify that the current CLI credentials are valid and have not expired. If they have expired, run aliyun configure to reconfigure.

• If the error is insufficient permissions (such as Forbidden.RAM or NoPermission), go to the RAM console and add the required permission policy for the current RAM user or role (Resource Center search requires the AliyunResourceCenterReadOnlyAccess permission). Then let the Agent retry.

• If the error indicates that Resource Center is not activated (such as ServiceNotEnabled), run aliyun resourcecenter enable-resource-center to activate the service and try again.

• If the error involves a specific cloud product API (such as ECS or SAS), refer to the corresponding cloud product documentation to add the required permissions of that product for the RAM user.