---
title: Skills
description: >-
  Install Release Notes Index skills — auto-triggering playbooks that teach
  Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and OpenCode how to use the CLI and MCP tools.
---
# Skills

Skills are short, auto-triggering playbooks that teach an AI agent how to use Release Notes Index. When you ask a release-shaped question, your agent loads the matching skill and follows it.

They work in Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, and any other agent that supports the [agent skills format](https://agentskills.io/home).

## Install

### Standalone (any agent)

Run this from the root of any project where you want the skills, using the [`skills`](https://skills.sh) CLI:

```bash
npx skills add buildinternet/releases
```

Your agent picks them up on the next session.

### Claude Code plugin

If you're on Claude Code and also want the bundled MCP connection and `/releases` command:

```bash
/plugin marketplace add buildinternet/releases
```

```bash
/plugin install releases@releases
```

Claude Code doesn't auto-update third-party plugins by default. To get new skills as they ship, run `/plugin`, open **Marketplaces**, select `releases`, and turn on auto-update. To update once by hand, run `/plugin marketplace update releases` to refresh the listing. Then run `claude plugin update releases@releases --scope user`, using the scope you installed with, and restart Claude Code.

## What the skills do

### releases-mcp

Triggers when you ask about a library or product release: "what changed in Next.js 15?", "latest Tailwind releases", "compare Bun vs Deno." Your agent answers from current registry data instead of stale training data.

### releases-cli

Triggers when you mention the `releases` CLI or run a `releases` command. Helps your agent pick the right subcommand and flags.

### analyzing-releases

Triggers on landscape questions: "what is X shipping lately", "how does X compare to Y", "what's new in observability." Picks a set of products, fetches their recent releases, and summarizes the themes.

### creating-releases-json

Triggers when you want to **list your own product**: "add a releases.json", "get indexed on Releases Index", "make us a manifest for our website." It finds where you actually publish release notes, writes a valid v2 manifest, and walks through publishing it at `/.well-known/releases.json`.

Install just this skill (or grab the copy buttons on the [submit page](/submit)):

```bash
npx skills add buildinternet/releases --skill creating-releases-json
```

See [Listing your product](/docs/listing) for the format and the paste-ready agent prompt.

## Operator skills

These are for people running or maintaining the registry itself: onboarding sources (`finding-changelogs`, `managing-sources`), the parse pipeline (`parsing-changelogs`, `classify-media-relevance`), and bulk maintenance (`seeding-playbooks` and friends). They live with the backend in the [releases monorepo](https://github.com/buildinternet/releases) under `.claude/skills/`. Claude Code picks them up automatically in a checkout, or you can install them anywhere:

```bash
npx skills add buildinternet/releases
```

Most need an admin API key to do anything.

## Source

- **Reader skills** (search, MCP, analysis): [github.com/buildinternet/releases](https://github.com/buildinternet/releases) under `plugins/claude/releases/skills/`.
- **Operator skills**: [github.com/buildinternet/releases](https://github.com/buildinternet/releases) under `.claude/skills/`.
- **Owner manifest skill** (`creating-releases-json`): [github.com/buildinternet/releases](https://github.com/buildinternet/releases) under `skills/creating-releases-json/`. Two files drive skill grouping and must stay in sync: the skills.sh **web** repo page reads root [`skills.sh.json`](https://github.com/buildinternet/releases/blob/main/skills.sh.json) ([skills.sh customize](https://www.skills.sh/docs/customize)), while the `npx skills add` **CLI** picker groups by plugin from [`.claude-plugin/marketplace.json`](https://github.com/buildinternet/releases/blob/main/.claude-plugin/marketplace.json) (each `plugins[].name` becomes a picker group).