Skills

Personal Cursor Agent Skills. This directory is the global skills folder (~/.cursor/skills).

Locations

Type	Path	Scope
Global (personal)	~/.cursor/skills/skill-name/	Available across all projects
Project	.cursor/skills/skill-name/	Shared with anyone using that repository

Do not put custom skills in ~/.cursor/skills-cursor/. That directory is reserved for Cursor's built-in skills and is managed by the system.

Skill layout

Each skill is a directory with a required SKILL.md:

skill-name/
├── SKILL.md       # Required: frontmatter + instructions
├── reference.md   # Optional: detailed reference
├── examples.md    # Optional: examples
└── scripts/       # Optional: helper scripts

SKILL.md starts with YAML frontmatter:

---
name: skill-name
description: What the skill does and when to use it
---

# Skill name

Instructions for the agent...

Field	Rules
name	Max 64 chars; lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens only
description	Max 1024 chars; say what it does and when to apply it

Set disable-model-invocation: true when the skill should load only if named explicitly. Omit it when the agent should pick the skill up from context (for example writing style guidance).

Best practices

• Keep SKILL.md under about 500 lines. Put long word lists and edge cases in linked files such as reference.md.
• Write the description in third person and include trigger terms so the agent can discover the skill.
• Prefer concise, actionable instructions over background essays. Assume the agent is capable; teach what it would not already know.
• Link supporting files one level deep from SKILL.md (no nested reference chains).
• Use specific skill directory names (ai-writing, not helper or utils).
• Match specificity to the task: tight checklists for fragile workflows; looser guidance when judgment matters.
• Prefer project skills when the practice should be shared with a repository; keep personal defaults here.

Skills in this directory

Skill	Purpose
ai-writing	Avoid common LLM writing tells in docs, READMEs, copy and other prose
fecfile	Analyze FEC campaign finance filings (contributions, disbursements, committees)
gis-datasets	Defaults for stilesdata.com/gis, gis/korea and la-geography layers
graphics-style	Chart and map design standards (Roboto charts, chorokit / Barlow maps)
hangarbay	Query FAA aircraft registry by N-number, owner or fleet
jupyter-notebook	Scaffold JupyterLab notebooks with uv, live fetches and the _template layout
stock-market	Fetch stock prices, indices, commodities, Fear & Greed and economic indicators
streetview-dl	Download Google Street View panoramas from Maps URLs
weather-forecast	Fetch 7-day forecasts from Open-Meteo (coordinates then forecast)

Creating a skill

1. Add a directory under this folder (or under .cursor/skills/ in a project).
2. Write SKILL.md with name, description and clear agent instructions.
3. Add reference.md or scripts only when they keep the main file short.
4. Point Cursor at the skill by name when you want it applied on demand.