What is a skill?
A skill is a small folder of instructions, reference documents, and optional helper scripts that teaches your coding agent how to do a specific job well — filing a tax return, drafting a will, reviewing a web app for security holes, and so on. Claude Desktop and Codex Desktop both know how to load these folders and surface them in your chat as things you can type "/" to use.
You don't need to read the files yourself. The agent reads them for you and then uses them to do the job. Think of a skill the way you'd think of hiring a specialist for an afternoon: you describe what you want, they already know the checklist.
What you need before you start
- 1A paid Jeffrey's Skills.md subscription. $20/month, no free tier. Sign up on the pricing page.
- 2One of these desktop apps installed on a Mac, Windows, or Linux computer:
- Claude Desktop — the Anthropic app.
- Codex Desktop — OpenAI's coding agent.
- 3A few minutes. Installing a skill takes about as long as pasting a message into a chat and hitting send.
On an iPhone or Android phone you can read the catalog, but the install step has to happen on a computer because the skill folder lives on that computer. The desktop apps don't exist on mobile.
How to install a skill you bought
The whole flow is: open the skill's page, click a button, copy the text it gives you, paste that text into Claude or Codex Desktop, approve the one tool request the agent asks for. Here is each step.
1. On the skill page, click "Generate install prompt"
From the skills catalog, click into the skill you want. Make sure you're signed in with the same account that holds your subscription — the install card only appears for paying subscribers. On the right-hand side of the page there's a card titled One-click agent install. Pick your desktop app (Claude or Codex) and your operating system, then press Generate install prompt.
The skill detail page with the install sidebar card visible on the right. 2. Copy the generated prompt
A block of text appears in the card along with a 10-minute countdown. Press the copy button in the top-right of the prompt box — it'll flash a check mark to confirm. The entire prompt is now on your clipboard. After 10 minutes the link inside the prompt stops working, so finish the next steps promptly (if you run out of time, just click Regenerate).
The install card in the ready state, showing the generated prompt and expiry countdown. 3. Paste it into Claude Desktop or Codex Desktop
Open the desktop app (not the web chat — the install needs a real local app because the skill has to land in a folder on your computer). Start a new chat, paste the prompt into the input, and hit return. The agent will read the instructions, explain what it's about to do, and ask permission to run one shell command — the command that downloads and unpacks the skill folder onto your computer.
4. Approve the single tool-use request
Both Claude Desktop and Codex Desktop show a clear approval prompt before running any command. Click Allow once. You won't be asked again — the prompt is designed to do the whole install in a single shell step and then stop.
Claude Desktop's tool-use approval dialog, highlighted. 5. Reload skills and start using it
The skill picker is cached, so the app needs a nudge to see the new folder. In Claude Desktop, open the command palette with Cmd + Shift + P and run Reload skills. In Codex Desktop, quit and reopen the app. Then in a new chat type
/— the skill you just installed shows up in the picker. Pick it and describe what you want in plain English. That's it.The slash-menu skill picker with the newly installed skill highlighted.
What if something goes wrong
The install link expired
The generated prompt is only valid for 10 minutes, and the download link inside it only works once. If the countdown ran out, or if the agent already ran it successfully and you're trying again on another machine, head back to the skill page and press Regenerate to mint a fresh one. Each new prompt replaces the old one.
The agent said it couldn't run shell commands
You're probably pasting the prompt into a web chat or a sandboxed environment instead of Claude Desktop or Codex Desktop. The install needs a real desktop app because the skill has to land in a folder on your computer. Download Claude Desktop and try again from there.
The skill isn't showing up in the "/" picker
The picker is cached. After installing a skill you must reload it. In Claude Desktop, open the command palette with Cmd + Shift + P and choose Reload skills. In Codex Desktop, quit the app fully and reopen it. If that still doesn't work, the install probably failed silently — try running the prompt again with a fresh link.
Something else — nothing in this list matches
Email support@jeffreys-skills.md with the name of the skill you were installing and whatever the agent said back to you. Include the exact error if there was one. We answer every message.
What does the code in the URL do?
The prompt you paste contains a link that looks something like jeffreys-skills.md/api/skills/…/bundle?code=…. Three plain-English facts about that code:
- ●It's tied to your paying account. The server only hands out codes to subscribers who are signed in. Someone else can't reuse it.
- ●It expires in 10 minutes. Plenty of time to paste it into an agent, not enough to sit around as a liability if you close the tab and forget about it.
- ●It only works once. After the agent downloads the skill, the code is burned. If you try to use it a second time, the server refuses.
That combination — yours, short-lived, one-shot — means you can safely paste the prompt into any chat without worrying about who sees it. If someone copies the URL out of your screen, by the time they try it, either it's already been used by your agent or it's expired.
Which skill should I try first?
If you don't know where to start, these are four good ones. None of them need any programming knowledge on your side.
Tax Return Preparation
Talks through your tax year with you, flags deductions you might miss, and organises everything before you file.
Wills & Estate Planning
Walks you through drafting a simple will and figuring out what happens to your stuff, in plain English.
Stripe Checkout for SaaS
A complete recipe for wiring up subscriptions, one-time payments, and webhooks — handy if you run a small online business.
Security Audit for SaaS
Gives you a practical, systematic pass over your website or app so you can catch obvious security mistakes before customers do.
Ready to try one?
Open the catalog, pick a skill, and look for the install card on the right side of its page. The whole thing is designed to be faster than finishing this paragraph.