skills
Skills for Real Engineers. Straight from my .agents directory.
A curated collection of agent skills for professional software engineering workflows, maintained by Matt Pocock. These skills provide structured workflows for test-driven development, code reviews, bug diagnosis, architecture improvement, and project planning within AI coding agents. The collection emphasizes engineering fundamentals like domain modeling, maintaining shared vocabulary through CONTEXT.md files, and preventing code entropy through disciplined development practices. Skills can be installed as a Claude Code plugin or copied directly into project repositories for customization.
Key Features
Use Cases
- 01Conducting grilling sessions to align with AI agents before starting feature development
- 02Building and maintaining a shared domain language to reduce agent verbosity
- 03Running test-driven development cycles with automatic red-green-refactor enforcement
- 04Triaging and breaking down work into properly-sized tickets with blocking dependencies
- 05Diagnosing complex bugs through disciplined hypothesis-instrument-fix loops
- 06Reviewing code changes against both coding standards and original specifications
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skills — FAQ
What are Matt Pocock's agent skills?+
A production-ready collection of workflow skills (slash commands) for AI coding agents that implement engineering best practices like TDD, domain modeling, and architectural deepening. The skills help prevent common failure modes in AI-assisted development by enforcing discipline around alignment, feedback loops, and code quality.
How do I install these skills in Claude Code?+
Run 'claude plugins install mattpocock-skills' from the command line, or type '/plugin install mattpocock-skills' inside a Claude Code session. The plugin installs from the official marketplace and updates automatically.
Can I use these skills with Codex or other AI agents?+
Yes, run 'npx skills@latest add mattpocock/skills' and select which skills to install and which coding agents to enable them on. This copies editable skill files into your project that you can customize.
Do I need API keys or external services to use these skills?+
Most skills work standalone, but some features require running the setup skill (/setup-matt-pocock-skills) to configure your issue tracker choice (GitHub, Linear, or local files) and triage labels. No additional API keys are required beyond your AI agent's existing configuration.
Are these agent skills free to use?+
Yes, the skills are open source and available in Matt Pocock's public GitHub repository. You can install them via the Claude Code marketplace or copy them directly into your projects.
What's the difference between user-invoked and model-invoked skills?+
User-invoked skills (like /grill-me or /triage) are slash commands you type manually to orchestrate workflows. Model-invoked skills (like /tdd or /code-review) can be called by you or automatically invoked by the agent when the task fits, and they contain reusable disciplined processes.
How do I install skills?+
Open the source repository on GitHub and follow its README. skills is a skill — MCP Agents Market links you directly to the official repo.
Is skills free?+
skills is an open-source project hosted on GitHub. Check the repository for its license and any usage requirements.