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The open registry for OpenAI Codex CLI

Codex CLI Skills

Codex CLI skills are reusable SKILL.md instructions that extend OpenAI's Codex CLI with new capabilities. The same SKILL.md works in Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and any MCP-compatible tool. Install with one command.

$ npx @skills-hub-ai/cli install code-review --target codex

Why install skills in Codex CLI?

Codex CLI is a powerful agent runtime, but out of the box it has no knowledge of your team's conventions, your deployment targets, or the specific way you do code review. Skills fix that by encoding procedural knowledge as portable SKILL.md files.

Instead of writing the same prompts every time you start a Codex session, you install a skill once and Codex loads it on demand whenever the trigger matches the task. Your context window stays clean. Your workflows stay consistent across the team.

And because the SKILL.md format is open, the same skill that runs in Codex also runs in Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and any MCP-compatible tool. No lock-in to one CLI.

Best Codex CLI skills

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  1. 01code-review

    57 installs

    Thorough code review — checks correctness, security, performance, readability, and test coverage. Gives actionable feedback ranked by severity.

    Review
  2. 02quickstart

    22 installs

    Zero to power user in one invoke — detects OS, installs Homebrew/apt/Node.js/Python, sets up Claude Code, authenticates skills-hub CLI, connects MCP servers, and installs recommended skills based on your project. Cross-platform (macOS, Linux, WSL). Idempotent. Use when: 'quickstart', 'setup machine', 'new machine setup', 'install everything', 'get started', 'onboard me', 'setup skills-hub', 'fresh install'.

    Productivity
  3. 03Ralph Wiggum Ship It

    9 installs

    Stop overthinking. Ship the thing. The Ralph Wiggum approach to software delivery: naive boldness backed by the confidence that you can fix anything after it lands. For when your inner perfectionist needs to sit down.

    Build
  4. 04refactor

    8 installs

    Systematic code refactoring — extract functions, reduce complexity, eliminate duplication, improve naming, and split large files. Preserves behavior with tests.

    Review
  5. 05ci-cd

    6 installs

    Set up CI/CD pipelines — generates GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or Bitbucket Pipelines with lint, test, build, deploy stages. Detects stack automatically.

    Deploy
  6. 06security-audit

    5 installs

    Scan a codebase for security vulnerabilities — OWASP Top 10, secrets in code, dependency CVEs, auth flaws, injection risks, and misconfigurations. Fixes what it finds.

    Review
  7. 07Market Research to Launch

    5 installs

    Full product launch pipeline. Competitive analysis, positioning, landing page SEO, schema markup, social media content, and pitch deck. From idea to launched and marketed.

    Combo
  8. 08social-media-content-automator

    5 installs

    A comprehensive social media automation skill that monitors platforms like Reddit and other social media sites to generate, post, and reply with relevant content promoting your app. It ensures content relevance, adheres to platform policies, and incorporates best practices for engagement and safety.

    Productivity
  9. 09api-design

    3 installs

    Review or design REST/GraphQL APIs — checks naming, versioning, pagination, error handling, authentication, rate limiting, and consistency against industry standards.

    Review
  10. 10repo-health

    3 installs

    Repository health dashboard — scores your repo on tests, docs, CI, dependencies, security, code quality, and contributor experience. Actionable scorecard with fixes.

    Combo
  11. 11Legal Document Factory

    3 installs

    Generates and reviews a complete set of legal documents. NDAs, privacy policies, GDPR compliance, data processing agreements, and formatted legal documents ready for review.

    Combo
  12. 12rate-limiting

    2 installs

    Add rate limiting to APIs — configure per-user and per-IP limits, sliding window algorithms, tiered quotas, retry-after headers, and progressive abuse detection.

    Ops
  13. 13ship-check

    2 installs

    Pre-deploy safety check — runs tests, security audit, performance check, and dependency audit in sequence. Catches issues before they hit production.

    Combo
  14. 14Full Stack Quality Wall

    2 installs

    The ultimate quality gate. Unit tests, integration tests, load tests, security audit, OWASP check, accessibility, performance, SEO, code review, and PR summary. Nothing gets through without passing everything.

    Combo
  15. 15bug-hunt

    2 installs

    Systematic bug hunting — traces error reports through the code, reproduces with tests, identifies root cause, fixes, and adds regression guards. From report to resolution.

    Combo
  16. 16error-handling

    2 installs

    Add comprehensive error handling — try/catch, error boundaries, retry logic, user-facing error messages, and graceful degradation across the entire stack.

    QA
  17. 17api-health

    2 installs

    API health check pipeline — validates all endpoints, checks response schemas, tests error handling, verifies auth guards, and benchmarks response times.

    Combo
  18. 18Security Fortress

    2 installs

    The most thorough security audit possible. OWASP, penetration testing, dependency scanning, secret detection, HIPAA, GDPR compliance, custom Semgrep rules, and a generated security report.

    Combo

Installing a Codex CLI skill

# Install a single skill for Codex CLI
npx @skills-hub-ai/cli install code-review --target codex

# Install multiple skills (skill bundle)
npx @skills-hub-ai/cli install full-stack-dev-kit --target codex

# Verify the install
ls ~/.codex/skills/

The CLI writes SKILL.md files to ~/.codex/skills/ globally or to .codex/skills/ in your project root if you pass --scope project. The lockfile .skills.json tracks every install for reproducibility.

Frequently asked questions about Codex CLI skills

What are Codex CLI skills?

Codex CLI skills are reusable SKILL.md instructions that extend OpenAI's Codex CLI with specialized capabilities, code review, generating tests, deployment automation, security scanning. They follow the open Agent Skills standard, so the same SKILL.md works in Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and any MCP-compatible tool.

How do I install a skill in Codex CLI?

Run `npx @skills-hub-ai/cli install <skill-slug> --target codex`. The CLI writes the SKILL.md to your Codex skills directory and adds it to `.skills.json` so your team gets the same skills at the same versions.

Where does Codex CLI look for skills?

Codex CLI loads skills from the directory configured in your `codex.toml` (typically `~/.codex/skills/`) and from a `.codex/skills/` folder in your project root. The skills-hub CLI handles both locations automatically.

Are Codex skills compatible with Claude skills?

Yes, both follow the same Agent Skills standard. A skill written for Claude Code runs unchanged in Codex CLI. The CLI handles any tool-specific path conventions.