Brandedflow skill-sources

Explains where Cursor skills come from: built-in vs personal vs project sources, storage locations, and how skills are discovered. Use when the user asks where skills come from, where skills are stored, or how to add or find skills.

install

source · Clone the upstream repo

git clone https://github.com/JenCW/brandedflow

Claude Code · Install into ~/.claude/skills/

T=$(mktemp -d) && git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/JenCW/brandedflow "$T" && mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cp -r "$T/.cursor/skills/skill-sources" ~/.claude/skills/jencw-brandedflow-skill-sources && rm -rf "$T"

manifest: .cursor/skills/skill-sources/SKILL.md

source content

Where Cursor Skills Come From

Quick Answer

Cursor skills come from three sources:

Source	Path	Scope
Built-in	`~/.cursor/skills-cursor/`	Cursor-managed, always available
Personal	`~/.cursor/skills/<skill-name>/`	Available across all your projects
Project	`.cursor/skills/<skill-name>/`	Shared with anyone using the repository

Built-in Skills

Live in
```
~/.cursor/skills-cursor/
```
Managed automatically by Cursor (do not edit or create here)
Examples: create-skill, create-rule, update-cursor-settings
Always loaded; no installation needed

Personal Skills

Live in
```
~/.cursor/skills/<skill-name>/
```
You create or install them
Available in every project you open
Use for workflows you want everywhere (e.g., commit message format, personal coding standards)

Project Skills

Live in
```
.cursor/skills/<skill-name>/
```
inside a project
Committed to the repo; shared with teammates
Use for team conventions, project-specific workflows, or PR review standards

How Skills Are Discovered

Location: Cursor scans the three paths above for directories containing
```
SKILL.md
```
Description: Each skill's
```
description
```
(in YAML frontmatter) is used to decide when to apply it
Matching: The agent matches the description to the user's request and context

How to Add Skills

Create: Use the create-skill skill or manually add a
```
skill-name/SKILL.md
```
directory
Personal: Create in
```
~/.cursor/skills/
```
Project: Create in
```
.cursor/skills/
```
and commit to the repo

Summary

Skills are markdown files in

SKILL.md

inside skill directories. They come from Cursor (built-in), your user directory (personal), or the project (project). The agent discovers them by path and applies them when the description matches the task.