ConardLi/garden-skills installation guide

Install Garden Skills for Claude Code on macOS Tahoe (Apple silicon)

What this repository is

[`ConardLi/garden-skills`](https://github.com/ConardLi/garden-skills) is a public, MIT-licensed collection of Agent Skills. It is not a standalone macOS application and does not run a separate server. Each skill is primarily a `SKILL.md` package containing task-specific guidance that Claude Code can load on demand; some skills also include scripts, references, templates, and assets.

**Claude Code classification:**

• **Install mode:** Claude Code extension
• **Primary mechanism:** context injection through `SKILL.md`
• **Additional mechanism:** tool surface, because several skills expose bundled shell, JavaScript, or Python helpers
• **Setup effort:** low for basic installation; individual workflows may need extra tools or credentials

The repository describes five skills:

1. `web-video-presentation` — creates click-driven 16:9 web presentations.
2. `web-design-engineer` — guides polished front-end and interface design.
3. `gpt-image-2` — writes image prompts and, when configured, generates or edits images.
4. `kb-retriever` — retrieves evidence from a local knowledge directory.
5. `beautiful-article` — turns source material into a designed, self-contained article.

There is a documentation inconsistency worth knowing about: the repository badge and skill sections show **five** skills, while some installation comments say “four.” The Claude Code marketplace table currently lists only four plugin packs and does not list `beautiful-article`.

Before you begin

You need a working Claude Code installation. The supplied repository files do not document how to install Claude Code itself, so this guide does not provide an unsupported installation command for it.

The repository marks Claude Code compatibility as tested, but it does not provide a macOS-version or CPU-architecture test matrix. No Tahoe-specific or Apple-silicon-specific adjustment is documented. For the basic plugin installation, follow the same repository-supported Claude Code procedure below.

Open Claude Code in the project where you want to use the skills. The slash commands in the next section belong in the **Claude Code interactive prompt**, not in macOS Terminal.

Recommended method: Claude Code plugin marketplace

This is the repository’s dedicated installation path for Claude Code. First, add the Garden Skills marketplace by pasting this into Claude Code:

/plugin marketplace add ConardLi/garden-skills

Then install whichever plugin packs you need. You may install one pack or all four. Paste each selected command separately into Claude Code:

/plugin install presentation-skills@garden-skills

This pack contains `web-video-presentation`.

/plugin install web-design-skills@garden-skills

This pack contains `web-design-engineer`.

/plugin install knowledge-base-skills@garden-skills

This pack contains `kb-retriever`.

/plugin install image-generation-skills@garden-skills

This pack contains `gpt-image-2`.

These are the only plugin-pack names documented in the supplied first-party files. Do not guess a `beautiful-article` plugin name: no corresponding marketplace pack is listed.

After installation, use ordinary natural-language requests. Claude Code decides whether to activate a skill from the `description` in that skill’s frontmatter. For example, request a landing page to exercise `web-design-engineer`, ask to turn a script into a web presentation for `web-video-presentation`, or ask a question against a local knowledge directory for `kb-retriever`.

Alternative: install through the `skills` CLI

The repository also documents the agent-agnostic `npx skills` CLI. It says this CLI auto-detects Claude Code and places skills in the appropriate directory. Use this route if you want the repository as a whole, need a skill not represented in the marketplace table, or prefer project/global skill management.

Run the following in **Terminal**, from the root of the project where you use Claude Code:

npx skills add ConardLi/garden-skills

The README describes this as installing the whole repository from the latest commit on `main`. Because the same README has the four-versus-five count inconsistency, verify what the CLI actually installed:

npx skills list

To install only the documented web-design skill instead, use:

npx skills add ConardLi/garden-skills -s web-design-engineer

The repository also provides a Claude-Code-targeted example for the knowledge-base skill:

npx skills add ConardLi/garden-skills -s kb-retriever -a claude-code

For a global image skill installation rather than a project-local installation, the documented command is:

npx skills add ConardLi/garden-skills -s gpt-image-2 --global

The README says the default project location is `./.skills` and the global location is `~/.skills`. Claude Code’s directly scanned project location is also documented as `.claude/skills/<name>/`; let the CLI perform its advertised agent detection rather than manually relocating its output unless you deliberately choose the manual method below.

Useful documented maintenance commands are:

npx skills list
npx skills find web-design
npx skills update
npx skills remove kb-retriever

`update` advances installed skills, while `remove` removes the named example skill.

Alternative for contributors: clone and manually copy

Use this method when you want to inspect or modify the skill source. In Terminal, run the repository’s documented clone command:

git clone https://github.com/ConardLi/garden-skills.git

The supplied manual-copy example installs `web-design-engineer` into a project’s Claude Code skill directory:

cp -r garden-skills/skills/web-design-engineer  your-project/.claude/skills/

Replace `your-project` with your real project path before running it. The repository says Claude Code discovers the skill the next time it scans the workspace. This method follows the moving `main` branch rather than pinning an immutable release.

Reproducible pinned installation

For a fixed version, the repository documents tag-scoped installation. Its supplied example pins `web-design-engineer` to version `1.0.0`:

npx skills add ConardLi/garden-skills/tree/web-design-engineer-v1.0.0/skills/web-design-engineer

The README also links immutable release ZIPs and SHA-256 checksum files. Its complete example downloads, verifies, and expands `web-design-engineer` version `1.0.0` into the project-local Claude Code directory:

SKILL=web-design-engineer
VERSION=1.0.0

curl -fsSL -o "${SKILL}.zip" \
  "https://github.com/ConardLi/garden-skills/releases/download/${SKILL}-v${VERSION}/${SKILL}-${VERSION}.zip"

curl -fsSL -o "${SKILL}.zip.sha256" \
  "https://github.com/ConardLi/garden-skills/releases/download/${SKILL}-v${VERSION}/${SKILL}-${VERSION}.zip.sha256"
shasum -a 256 -c "${SKILL}.zip.sha256"

unzip -q "${SKILL}.zip" -d .claude/skills/

Use the exact release links shown in the repository when selecting other versions; do not invent a version number.

Skill-specific setup boundaries

Basic installation does not guarantee that every optional workflow can execute:

• **`gpt-image-2`:** advisor mode can write prompts without an image tool. Local generation requires `ENABLE_GARDEN_IMAGEGEN` and `OPENAI_API_KEY`; the repository provides no macOS credential-setup command suitable for inclusion here.
• **`kb-retriever`:** you must provide your own `knowledge/` directory or name another path. PDF and Excel work assumes access to `grep`, windowed file reading, `pdftotext` or `pdfplumber`, and `pandas`. No source-supported macOS installation commands for those dependencies were supplied.
• **`beautiful-article`:** its workflow uses shell commands, npm builds, and optionally Python MarkItDown, sub-agents, and a headless-browser PDF path. Those are workflow requirements, not prerequisites for merely installing the skill.
• **`web-video-presentation`:** optional narration can depend on a chosen TTS provider and credentials.

If a later workflow reports a missing dependency, consult that skill’s own README and references. Avoid substituting an undocumented Homebrew or environment-configuration command merely because you are on Apple silicon.

Final check

For the marketplace route, confirm Claude Code accepted each marketplace and plugin command without an error, then make a request matching the installed pack. For the CLI route, use:

npx skills list

A successful basic installation means the desired skill is available to Claude Code. API access, local document-processing tools, article build dependencies, and optional audio providers are separate, task-specific setup steps.