---
title: Agent Skills
url: "https://native-sdk.dev/docs/skills"
docs_index: /llms.txt
lastUpdated: 2026-10-16
---

> For an index of all documentation, see [/llms.txt](/llms.txt).

Native SDK ships its agent guidance as skills: curated, versioned `SKILL.md` documents that the CLI delivers to coding agents.

Use the installed CLI to retrieve guidance for that SDK version.

## Install for your agent

One command sets an agent up:

```sh
npx skills add vercel-labs/native
```

It installs the Native SDK discovery skill into your agent's skills directory: a compact entry point that orients the agent and teaches it to load the full, version-matched skill content from the installed CLI with the `native skills` commands below. Install once — because the deep guidance is always read from the CLI, the agent stays current with whatever toolkit version each project uses.

## Getting skills from the CLI

The CLI itself serves the full skill content. This is the layer the installed discovery skill reads from, and the direct path when you want to print a skill or deliver one by hand — it needs nothing beyond the installed CLI, so it also works offline:

```sh
native skills list                    # list built-in skills
native skills get core                # print a skill
native skills get native-ui           # default app views and app loop
native skills get ts-core             # default TypeScript app core
native skills get ts-services         # compiled TypeScript services
native skills get core --full         # include its reference files
native skills get --all [--full]      # print every skill
```

For a normal app created by `native init`, give the agent both `native-ui` and `ts-core`: TypeScript + Native markup is the primary authoring path. Load `ts-services` for imperative TypeScript under `src/services/`. Load `core --full` when the task reaches shared runtime wiring, WebViews, packaging, or native capabilities; load `zig` for an existing Zig-core app or toolkit-extension work.

`skills get` prints the skill to stdout, so delivering one to an agent is a single redirect into wherever your agent loads skills from:

```sh
mkdir -p .claude/skills/native-ui
native skills get native-ui > .claude/skills/native-ui/SKILL.md
```

`native init` does not copy skills into the workspace — delivery is always explicit, so the skill in the workspace is exactly what the installed CLI serves. The repository's own eval harness gives fresh agents the `native-ui` skill this same way before grading what they build.

## What ships

<dl>
  <dt>
    `core`
  </dt>

  <dd>
    The shared foundation and task router: it establishes TypeScript + Native markup as the default, then covers project structure, app manifests, lower-level App and Runtime patterns, frontend integration, web engines, the JavaScript bridge, permissions, windows, WebViews, dialogs, packaging, debugging, and testing.

    `--full`

    appends its five reference files.
  </dd>

  <dt>
    `native-ui`
  </dt>

  <dd>
    The view half of primary app authoring:

    `.native`

    markup views, bindings and message dispatch, the

    `Model`

    /

    `Msg`

    /

    `update`

    loop, testing markup views, hot reload, and verification through the automation harness.
  </dd>

  <dt>
    `ts-core`
  </dt>

  <dd>
    The logic half of primary app authoring:

    <a href="/docs/typescript">TypeScript app cores</a>

    , the app-core subset, every checker rule by ID with its idiomatic fix, text-is-bytes, the full

    `Cmd`

    /

    `Sub`

    effect vocabulary, and the node dev loop.
  </dd>

  <dt>
    `ts-services`
  </dt>

  <dd>
    Compiled

    <a href="/docs/typescript/services">TypeScript services</a>

    : typed requests and results, vendored npm packages, streaming, cancellation, and service authority.
  </dd>

  <dt>
    `automation`
  </dt>

  <dd>
    Driving and verifying a running app through

    `native automate`

    : snapshots, readiness waits, assertions, bridge round-trips, and smoke tests.
  </dd>

  <dt>
    `zig`
  </dt>

  <dd>
    Zig 0.16 idioms indexed by compile error, for fixing code written against older Zig:

    `std.Io`

    file IO and writers,

    `ArrayList`

    , spawning, clocks, formatting, and

    `build.zig`

    shapes, each as the SDK writes them. The human version is

    <a href="/docs/zig">Zig 0.16 Notes</a>

    .
  </dd>
</dl>

## Skills in the agent workflow

Use skills for API and authoring guidance, the [CLI](/docs/cli) for checks and builds, and [automation](/docs/automation) to inspect and test a running app.

---

For a semantic overview of all documentation, see [/sitemap.md](/sitemap.md)

For an index of all available documentation, see [/llms.txt](/llms.txt)

For agent-facing discovery, including API and MCP surfaces, see [/agents.md](/agents.md)