Install a TrustedSkills Skill in Claude Desktop

This is the honest version of a page most directories fill with a command that does not exist. The skills CLI installs a SKILL.md into an agent's skills folder, and Claude Desktop is not one of the agents it knows how to write to. Below is what the CLI actually accepts, and the two routes that get a skill in front of Claude Desktop anyway.

What the CLI Says

Ask the skills CLI to install into Claude Desktop and it refuses by name:

$ npx skills add vercel-labs/skills --skill find-skills -a claude-desktop

■  Invalid agents: claude-desktop
●  Valid agents: aider-desk, amp, antigravity, … claude-code, … cursor, … universal

The valid list runs to more than seventy agents. Claude Desktop is not on it, under that name or any other. We are not going to invent a flag to fill this gap.

Without -a the command still runs, but it installs into whichever agent folders it finds in the current directory — not into Claude Desktop:

npx skills add vercel-labs/skills --skill find-skills

Option 1: Paste the Skill Into a Conversation

The CLI can print a skill as a ready-made prompt instead of installing it. This works with any chat interface, Claude Desktop included:

npx skills use vercel-labs/skills --skill find-skills

It prints the skill's instructions wrapped in a short preamble — "You are being given a Skill to execute for the user's next request" — followed by the whole SKILL.md. Copy the output, paste it as your first message in a new Claude Desktop conversation, then ask for what you want.

The limit: this lasts one conversation. There is no persistence, and a long skill eats into the context you have for the actual work. For a skill you use daily, option 2 is better.

Option 2: Install It Into Claude Code Instead

Claude Code is a supported target and usually sits on the same machine. If your reason for wanting the skill is the work rather than the window, install it there:

npx skills add vercel-labs/skills --skill find-skills -a claude-code

Full walkthrough: installing a skill in Claude Code.

What claude_desktop_config.json Is For

Claude Desktop does have a config file, and readers often try to put a skill in it. That file configures MCP servers — separate programs that hand your agent new tools. It has no field for a SKILL.md skill, and adding one does nothing.

If what you have is an MCP server, those guides are the right ones: Mac, Windows, Linux. If you are not sure which of the two you are holding, MCP servers vs skills vs plugins settles it in a minute.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I install a TrustedSkills skill into Claude Desktop with one command?

No. The skills CLI has no Claude Desktop agent target, so there is no single command that does it. Paste the skill in with npx skills use, or install it into Claude Code on the same machine.

Does putting the skill folder somewhere by hand work?

Not into Claude Desktop. The CLI's folders — .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/ — are read by coding agents. Copying a folder around does not give Claude Desktop a way to find it.

Is this a limitation of TrustedSkills?

No — it is the skills CLI's set of supported agents. When Claude Desktop appears in that list, this page changes. We would rather tell you the gap exists than publish a command that fails.

What goes in claude_desktop_config.json then?

MCP servers only. See installing an MCP server in Claude Desktop on Mac.