https://developers.openai.com/codex/skills/ OpenAI Developers Resources Codex ChatGPT Apps SDK Build apps to extend ChatGPT Agentic Commerce Build commerce flows in ChatGPT Blog Search the Codex docs Close Primary navigation Codex Resources Codex ChatGPT Blog * Home * Changelog Categories * Code * Cookbooks * Guides * Videos Topics * Agents * Audio & Voice * Image generation * Video generation * Tools * Computer use * Fine-tuning * Scaling Getting Started * Home * Quickstart * Pricing * Concepts + Tasks & Prompts + Models + Sandboxing + Build AI-Native Teams Using Codex * IDE Extension + Overview + Features * CLI + Overview + Features + Command Line Options + Slash commands * Web + Overview + Environments + Internet Access * Integrations + GitHub + Slack + Linear Configuration * Config File * Instructions * MCP * Skills Deployment & Admin * Administration * Authentication * Security * Windows Automation * Codex SDK * MCP Server * GitHub Action Releases * Changelog * Apps SDK * Agentic Commerce * All posts Recent * What makes a great ChatGPT app * Using Codex for education at Dagster Labs * How Codex ran OpenAI DevDay 2025 * Why we built the Responses API * Developer notes on the Realtime API Search [?] K Getting Started * Home * Quickstart * Pricing * Concepts + Tasks & Prompts + Models + Sandboxing + Build AI-Native Teams Using Codex * IDE Extension + Overview + Features * CLI + Overview + Features + Command Line Options + Slash commands * Web + Overview + Environments + Internet Access * Integrations + GitHub + Slack + Linear Configuration * Config File * Instructions * MCP * Skills Deployment & Admin * Administration * Authentication * Security * Windows Automation * Codex SDK * MCP Server * GitHub Action Releases * Changelog Copy PageMore page actions Copy PageMore page actions Agent Skills Give Codex new capabilities and expertise Agent Skills let you extend Codex with task-specific capabilities. A skill packages instructions, resources, and optional scripts so Codex can perform a specific workflow reliably. You can share skills across teams or the community, and they build on the open Agent Skills standard. Skills are available in both the Codex CLI and IDE extensions. What are Agent Skills A skill captures a capability expressed through markdown instructions inside a SKILL.md file accompanied by optional scripts, resources, and assets that Codex uses to perform a specific task. * my-skill/ + SKILL.md Required: instructions + metadata + scripts/ Optional: executable code + references/ Optional: documentation + assets/ Optional: templates, resources Skills use progressive disclosure to manage context efficiently. At startup, Codex loads the name and description of each available skill. Codex can then activate and use a skill in two ways: 1. Explicit invocation: You can include skills directly as part of your prompt. To select one, run the /skills slash command, or start typing $ to mention a skill. (Codex web and iOS don't support explicit invocation yet, but you can still prompt Codex to use any skill checked into the repo.) [skills-sel][skills-sel] [skills-sel][skills-sel] 2. Implicit invocation: Codex can decide to use an available skill when the user's task matches the skill's description. In either method, Codex reads the full instructions of the invoked skills and any extra references checked into the skill. Where to save skills Codex loads skills from these locations. A skill's location defines its scope. When Codex loads available skills from these locations, it overwrites skills with the same name from a scope of lower precedence. The list below shows skill scopes and locations in order of precedence (high to low): Skill Location Suggested Use Scope $CWD/.codex/skills If in a repository or code environment, Current Working teams can check in skills most relevant REPO Directory: where you to a working folder here. For instance, launch Codex. skills only relevant to a microservice or a code module. $CWD/../.codex/skills If in a repository with nested folders, A folder above CWD organizations can check in skills most REPO when you launch Codex relevant to a shared area in a parent inside a git folder. repository. $REPO_ROOT/.codex/ If in a repository with nested folders, skills organizations can check in skills that REPO The top-most root are relevant to everyone using the folder when you repository. These serve as root skills launch Codex inside a that any subfolder in the repository can git repository. overwrite. $CODEX_HOME/skills (Mac/Linux default: ~ Use to curate skills relevant to a user USER /.codex/skills) that apply to any repository the user Any skills checked may work in. into the user's personal folder. /etc/codex/skills Any skills checked Use for SDK scripts, automation, and for ADMIN into the machine or checking in default admin skills container in a available to each user on the machine. shared, system location. Useful skills relevant to a broad audience such as the skill-creator and SYSTEM Bundled with Codex. plan skills. Available to everyone when they start Codex and can be overwritten by any layer above. Create a skill To create a new skill, use the built-in $skill-creator skill inside Codex. Describe what you want your skill to do, and Codex will start bootstrapping your skill. If you combine it with the $plan skill, Codex will first create a plan for your skill. You can also create a skill manually by creating a folder with a SKILL.md file inside a valid skill location. A SKILL.md must contain a name and description to help Codex select the skill: --- name: skill-name description: Description that helps Codex select the skill metadata: short-description: Optional user-facing description --- Skill instructions for the Codex agent to follow when using this skill. Codex skills build on the Agent Skills specification. Check out the documentation to learn more. Install new skills To expand on the list of built-in skills, you can download skills from a curated set of skills on GitHub using the $skill-installer skill: $skill-installer linear You can also prompt the installer to download skills from other repositories. Skill examples Plan a new feature Codex ships with a built-in $plan skill that's great to have Codex research and create a plan to build a new feature or solve a complex problem. Access Linear context for Codex tasks $skill-installer linear Have Codex access Notion for more context $skill-installer notion-spec-to-implementation