> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.decktalk.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Install the skills

> Where the skills land, which folders each coding agent reads, and what DeckTalk has actually tested.

`decktalk init` installs the six skills into a new project by default. Pass `--no-skills` to leave
them out.

```console theme={null}
decktalk init my-video
```

## The folders

The skills are written once, into one generic folder, and a second folder points at it.

| Path                                      | What it is                                                                                      |
| ----------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `.agents/skills/decktalk-<name>/SKILL.md` | The skills themselves, in the folder the Agent Skills format names for sharing between clients. |
| `.claude/skills`                          | A link to `.agents/skills`, because Claude Code reads its own folder and not the generic one.   |

On a machine where a link cannot be made, which is usually Windows without the privilege for one,
`init` writes a copy instead of a link. The copy holds the same files, and it has to be written
again when the skills change.

Do not commit a second copy of a skill under another name. Several harnesses read both folders, and
two copies of one skill is the case where a harness has to guess.

## Which harness reads which folder

Every harness below loads a `SKILL.md` natively. The folders are the ones each harness documents for
a project.

| Harness                    | Project folders it reads                                  |
| -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| Claude Code                | `.claude/skills/`                                         |
| OpenAI Codex               | `.agents/skills/`                                         |
| Cursor                     | `.agents/skills/`, `.cursor/skills/`, `.claude/skills/`   |
| GitHub Copilot and VS Code | `.github/skills/`, `.claude/skills/`, `.agents/skills/`   |
| Gemini CLI                 | `.gemini/skills/`, `.agents/skills/`                      |
| Windsurf                   | `.windsurf/skills/`, `.agents/skills/`                    |
| opencode                   | `.opencode/skills/`, `.claude/skills/`, `.agents/skills/` |
| Amp                        | `.agents/skills/`, `.claude/skills/`                      |
| Goose                      | `.agents/skills/`, `.goose/skills/`, `.claude/skills/`    |

The two folders that `init` writes reach every harness in that table. `.agents/skills/` reaches
eight of them, and `.claude/skills` reaches Claude Code, which is the one harness that does not read
the generic folder.

<Warning>
  DeckTalk tests its skills on Claude Code alone. The release test is a trigger run over Claude Code
  and a build made from the skills alone. Every other harness in the table is supported through the
  generic folder and is untested, because the founder does not run it. A skill that misfires on
  another harness is worth a GitHub Discussions post, and it is not a case DeckTalk can reproduce.
</Warning>

## Why the skills use no harness-specific fields

DeckTalk skills use only the fields the open format defines, which are `name`, `description`,
`license`, `compatibility` and `metadata`. Several harnesses add fields of their own, and a field
that one harness honours and another ignores gives one skill two behaviours. Some services also
reject a skill whose front matter carries a key they do not know.

The cost of that choice is that no front-matter field can mark a skill as user-only, so the guards
against spending live in the skill text and in the CLI. [Agent skills](/agents/skills) lists them.

## Install the skills without installing DeckTalk

The repository carries a `skills` folder at its root that points at the same files, so a generic
skill installer can read the skills straight from the repository before DeckTalk is on the machine.
The skills drive a CLI, so they are only useful once that CLI exists.