ART+COM Agent Skills

A collection of reusable AI agent skills by ART+COM. Each skill gives AI coding agents domain-specific knowledge so they can work effectively with our libraries and tools.

Available Skills

Skill	Description
prototyping	Scaffold and deploy ART+COM web prototypes with GitLab, Netlify, and optional MQTT support
mqtt-topping	Connect to MQTT brokers, subscribe/publish messages, and query retained data over HTTP using mqtt-topping

Installation

Install skills with the skills CLI:

# List available skills in this repo
npx skills add artcom/agent-skills --list

# Install a specific skill
npx skills add artcom/agent-skills --skill mqtt-topping

# Install the prototyping skill
npx skills add artcom/agent-skills --skill prototyping

# Install all skills
npx skills add artcom/agent-skills --all

# Install to specific agents only
npx skills add artcom/agent-skills --skill mqtt-topping -a claude-code

# Install globally (available across all projects)
npx skills add artcom/agent-skills --skill mqtt-topping -g

Skills are symlinked into your project's .agents/skills/ directory and become available to your AI agent automatically. Use --copy if you prefer independent copies instead of symlinks.

Updating installed skills

Update an installed skill to the latest published version with:

npx skills update prototyping -p -y

Skills.sh updates from the original source; it does not define a per-skill version field. Use annotated, per-skill Semantic Versioning Git tags for immutable releases, for example prototyping-v1.0.0. Create a patch tag for fixes, a minor tag for backwards-compatible behavior, and a major tag for breaking workflow changes. Keep main as the latest version.

Versioning and releasing skills

Version each skill independently with an annotated tag named <skill-name>-vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH. The tag, not the repository-wide commit count, is the immutable release identifier. main remains the current development and installation source.

• Patch (v0.1.1): Correct instructions, scripts, or examples without changing the expected workflow.
• Minor (v0.2.0): Add a backwards-compatible capability, integration, or optional workflow step.
• Major (v1.0.0): Remove or rename a skill, or change required workflow behavior, defaults, or integration contracts in a way that existing users must adapt to.

For each release:

1. Merge the skill change to main and validate the affected skill.

2. Create an annotated tag on that exact commit, with a short release summary:

   git tag -a prototyping-v1.0.1 -m "Release prototyping v1.0.1"
   git push origin prototyping-v1.0.1

3. Describe the user-visible change in the annotated tag message or the Git hosting release notes.

skills-lock.json records a content hash for an installed copy. It helps detect whether a local copy matches its source, but it is not a release version. To identify a release, use the per-skill Git tag.

Repository Structure

This repository hosts multiple skills side-by-side. Each skill lives in its own directory under skills/:

skills/
├── prototyping/
│   ├── SKILL.md
│   └── scripts/
├── mqtt-topping/
│   └── SKILL.md
└── <future-skill>/
    └── SKILL.md

Every skill directory must contain a SKILL.md with YAML frontmatter (name, description) and markdown instructions. The description drives when the AI agent activates the skill — it should cover both what the skill does and the contexts in which it's useful.

Adding a New Skill

1. Create a new directory under skills/<skill-name>/

2. Add a SKILL.md with frontmatter and instructions:

   ---
   name: my-skill
   description: Short description of what this skill does and when to use it.
   ---
   
   # My Skill
   
   Instructions for the AI agent...

3. Optionally add supporting files (scripts/, references/, assets/)

4. Add an entry to the Available Skills table above

5. Commit and push

Resources

• skills.sh — Skill discovery and leaderboard
• Skills CLI docs
• Claude Code skills guide
• Why agent skills?
• The Complete Guide to Building Skills for Claude