# Agent skills

Install the Asterdoc agent skills into Claude Code, Claude.ai, or any agent that supports the Agent Skills specification

Canonical URL: https://docs.asterdoc.com/ai/skills/

Asterdoc ships two agent skills. A skill is a reference package that teaches an AI coding assistant how to use Asterdoc, so it does not need to read the docs site mid-task. The assistant loads only the references the current task needs.

| Skill                                         | Use it for                                                                                                                                                                |
| --------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `asterdoc`                                    | Authoring, filling, validating, rendering, and sealing artifacts with the TypeScript SDK, the `asterdoc` CLI, raw JSON/YAML, the AI agent tools, or the hosted MCP server |
| [`asterdoc-react`](/ai/skills/asterdoc-react) | Composing, checking, previewing, rendering, and sealing documents written in React with `@asterdoc/react` and `@asterdoc/react-pdf`                                       |

Install `asterdoc-react` on its own when composing documents in React is the only Asterdoc work in play. Install both when you also author the artifacts.

## The asterdoc skill

The `asterdoc` skill has three kinds of references:

| Kind         | Files                                                                                                                                                             | What they cover                                                                                                         |
| ------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Surface**  | `sdk`, `cli`, `schemas`, `ai-tools`, `mcp`                                                                                                                        | How to work on each surface: TypeScript SDK, `asterdoc` CLI, raw JSON/YAML, AI agent tools in your own code, hosted MCP |
| **Topic**    | `artifacts`, `fields`, `parties`, `annexes`, `logic`, `layers`, `templates`, `pdf`, `rendering`, `formatting`, `instructions`, `filling`, `sealing`, `essentials` | Concepts that apply on every surface                                                                                    |
| **Workflow** | `workflow-author-form`                                                                                                                                            | A staged pipeline for creating a form from requirements or converting a PDF form                                        |

The skill activates when the assistant sees Asterdoc work: `@asterdoc/*` imports, the `asterdoc` CLI, JSON/YAML artifacts, the AI tool packages, or `mcp.asterdoc.com`.

## Installation

**Claude Code**

```bash
npx skills add https://github.com/asterdoc/asterdoc --skill asterdoc
npx skills add https://github.com/asterdoc/asterdoc --skill asterdoc-react
```

To install manually:

```bash
git clone https://github.com/asterdoc/asterdoc.git
cp -r framework/skills/skills/asterdoc ~/.claude/skills/
cp -r framework/skills/skills/asterdoc-react ~/.claude/skills/
```

**Claude.ai**

Add a skill to your project knowledge:

1. Clone the [Asterdoc repository](https://github.com/asterdoc/asterdoc)
2. Upload `skills/skills/asterdoc/SKILL.md` (or `skills/skills/asterdoc-react/SKILL.md`) and the relevant files from its `references/` folder to your Claude.ai project knowledge

**Other agents**

The skills follow the [Agent Skills specification](https://agentskills.io/specification.md), so they work with any agent that supports the spec (Cursor, Windsurf, Codex, and others).

```bash
git clone https://github.com/asterdoc/asterdoc.git
```

Point your agent's skill loader at `skills/skills/asterdoc/SKILL.md` and `skills/skills/asterdoc-react/SKILL.md`.

## Fetch the skills from the site

An agent with no clone of the repository can read the skills from `https://docs.asterdoc.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json`, which follows the [Agent Skills discovery index](https://github.com/cloudflare/agent-skills-discovery-rfc). Each entry gives a `.tar.gz` archive with `SKILL.md` and every reference, and a `sha256` digest of the archive bytes to check before use. The same index is served at `https://asterdoc.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json`.

## Pairing with MCP

The skills and the hosted MCP server do different jobs:

|              | Skills                                       | MCP                                                                 |
| ------------ | -------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Provides** | Reference and workflow guidance              | Runtime tools: `validate`, `fill`, `render`, and the registry tools |
| **Loaded**   | On demand by the agent                       | Connected as a tool server                                          |
| **Needs**    | Nothing                                      | An Asterdoc credential: an OAuth sign-in or an API key              |
| **Best for** | Writing code, designing artifacts, debugging | Browsing the registry, rendering live artifacts                     |

To give your own agent Asterdoc tools in code, use the [AI tool packages](/ai) instead of MCP.

## Source

The skills live in the Asterdoc repository under [`skills/`](https://github.com/asterdoc/asterdoc/tree/main/skills). Issues and contributions are welcome there.