---
title: "Skills"
description: "Install Trigger.dev agent skills to teach any AI coding assistant how to write tasks, realtime frontends, and chat.agent AI agents."
sidebarTitle: "Skills"
---

## What are agent skills?

Skills are portable instruction sets that teach AI coding assistants how to use Trigger.dev effectively. Unlike vendor-specific config files (`.cursor/rules`, `CLAUDE.md`), skills use an open standard that works across all major AI assistants, so Cursor users and Claude Code users get the same knowledge from a single install.

Each skill is a directory containing a `SKILL.md` file: YAML frontmatter (name, description) plus markdown instructions with patterns, examples, and common mistakes that AI assistants discover on demand and follow.

<Note>
  Skills pair with the [MCP Server](/mcp-introduction), which gives your assistant live access to
  your project (deploy, trigger, monitor). Skills teach it how to write the code; the MCP server
  lets it act on your project. See [how they fit together](/building-with-ai#skills-and-the-mcp-server).
</Note>

## Installation

Run the installer with the CLI:

```bash
npx trigger.dev@latest skills
```

The CLI detects your installed AI tools, lets you pick which skills to install, and writes each one into that tool's native skills directory (`.claude/skills/`, `.cursor/skills/`, `.github/skills/`, `.agents/skills/`). It also adds a one-line pointer to your primary instructions file (`CLAUDE.md`, `.cursor/rules`, etc.) so your assistant always knows the skills are there and loads the right one on demand.

When you run `trigger dev` for the first time, the CLI offers to install the skills for you.

The installed skills are lightweight. Most point to the full, version-pinned reference that ships inside `@trigger.dev/sdk`, which your assistant reads straight from `node_modules`. The API guidance it follows always matches the `@trigger.dev/sdk` version installed in your project, with no extra step on your part. The `trigger-getting-started` skill is self-contained, since it runs before the SDK is installed.

### Non-interactive install

Pass `--target` to choose tools and `-y` to install every skill without prompting (useful in scripts and CI):

```bash
npx trigger.dev@latest skills --target claude-code --target cursor -y
```

## Available skills

| Skill                  | Use for                                                        | Covers                                                                       |
| ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `trigger-authoring-tasks`      | Writing background and scheduled tasks                         | `task`/`schemaTask`, retries, queues, waits, idempotency, metadata, triggering, cron, `trigger.config.ts` |
| `trigger-realtime-and-frontend`| Live run updates and triggering from the browser               | `runs.subscribeToRun`, `@trigger.dev/react-hooks`, public access tokens, streams |
| `trigger-authoring-chat-agent` | Building durable AI chat agents                                | `chat.agent` run loop, `toStreamTextOptions`, server actions, `useChat` transport, tools, lifecycle hooks |
| `trigger-chat-agent-advanced`  | Advanced chat.agent patterns                                   | sessions, human-in-the-loop, sub-agents, compaction, fast starts, resilience, version upgrades |
| `trigger-cost-savings`         | Auditing and reducing compute spend                            | right-sizing machines, `maxDuration`, batch vs sequential, debounce, schedule frequency, MCP run analysis |

Not sure which to install? Pick `trigger-authoring-tasks`; it covers the most common patterns for writing Trigger.dev tasks.

## Supported AI assistants

Skills use the open [Agent Skills standard](https://agentskills.io). The CLI installs natively into the tools that support a skills directory today:

| Assistant | Installs to |
| --- | --- |
| [Claude Code](https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code) | `.claude/skills/` |
| [Cursor](https://cursor.com) | `.cursor/skills/` |
| [GitHub Copilot (VS Code)](https://github.com/features/copilot) | `.github/skills/` |
| [Codex CLI](https://github.com/openai/codex), Jules, OpenCode | `.agents/skills/` |

Using a tool that does not support skills yet? Select "Unsupported target" in the installer for manual setup instructions.

## Keeping skills updated

The API guidance updates on its own: it lives in `@trigger.dev/sdk` and is read from `node_modules`, so upgrading the SDK in your project upgrades the guidance with it. Re-run `npx trigger.dev@latest skills` (or accept the prompt that `trigger dev` shows when a newer version is available) only to add skills or refresh the installed pointer files. Re-running overwrites them in place without creating duplicates.

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="MCP Server" icon="sparkles" href="/mcp-introduction">
    Give your AI assistant direct access to Trigger.dev tools and APIs.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Building with AI" icon="layer-group" href="/building-with-ai">
    See how skills and the MCP server compare, plus a copy-paste context snippet.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Writing tasks" icon="code" href="/tasks/overview">
    Learn the task patterns that skills teach your AI assistant.
  </Card>
  <Card title="AI agents" icon="robot" href="/ai-chat/overview">
    Build durable chat agents with chat.agent, the focus of two of the skills.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>