Source: https://cli.nylas.com/guides/nylas-agent-skills

# Install Nylas Skills for AI Coding Agents

The nylas/skills repository ships two drop-in skills — nylas-cli and nylas-api — that teach Claude Code, Cursor, Codex CLI, Windsurf, and 30+ other AI coding agents how to use Nylas without any per-agent OAuth or MCP wiring. One command installs both.

Written by [Qasim Muhammad](https://cli.nylas.com/authors/qasim-muhammad) Staff SRE

Reviewed by [Pouya Sanooei](https://cli.nylas.com/authors/pouya-sanooei)

Updated May 17, 2026

> **TL;DR:** Run `npx skills add nylas/skills` (or `/plugin marketplace add nylas/skills` inside Claude Code) to install two MIT-licensed skills: `nylas-cli` and `nylas-api`. Your agent now knows how to send mail, list events, and call the v3 API without per-agent setup.

## What is a Nylas skill?

A Nylas skill is a version-controlled bundle of instructions, worked examples, and command syntax that an AI coding agent loads alongside your project. The [nylas/skills](https://github.com/nylas/skills) repository ships two MIT-licensed skills that cover the CLI's 250+ commands and the full Nylas v3 REST API, giving any compatible agent the context it needs to send mail, manage calendars, and build integrations without per-agent setup.

The agent reads each skill file the same way it reads a README — except skills are curated for AI consumption and include runnable examples. The `nylas/skills` repository ships two:

- **nylas-cli** — teaches the agent how to send email, manage calendar events, sync contacts, and use the MCP server from the terminal. Pairs with the [command reference](https://cli.nylas.com/docs/commands).
- **nylas-api** — teaches the agent how to build integrations against the [Nylas v3 REST API](https://developer.nylas.com/): grants, OAuth, webhooks, scheduler, transactional send.

Skills work alongside (not instead of) the [MCP integration](https://cli.nylas.com/guides/ai-agent-email-mcp). The [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/) gives the agent live access to your inbox; skills give it the knowledge of how to call that access correctly.

## Install for Claude Code

Claude Code installs Nylas skills through its built-in plugin marketplace in a single command. The marketplace resolves the `nylas/skills` repository, downloads both skill files, and registers them with the agent's manifest. The full install takes under 5 seconds because the two skill files total less than 50 KB combined.

From the Claude Code prompt, run the marketplace add command to install both skills at once:

```bash
/plugin marketplace add nylas/skills
```

Both `nylas-cli` and `nylas-api` become available immediately. Claude Code surfaces them in the skills picker and loads them on demand when the conversation matches their description.

## Install for Cursor, Codex CLI, Windsurf, and others

Cursor, Codex CLI, Windsurf, and 40+ other AI coding agents install Nylas skills through the open-source [skills CLI](https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills) published by Vercel Labs. The installer auto-detects which agent is active, writes the skill files to the directory that agent expects, and registers them with the agent's manifest. According to the [skills CLI README](https://github.com/vercel-labs/skills), the tool supports over 40 agents including Cursor, Codex CLI, Cline, Continue, GitHub Copilot, and Windsurf.

Run the installer from your project root. The `npx` command downloads the latest version of the skills CLI, resolves the `nylas/skills` GitHub repository, and copies both skill files into the correct agent-specific directory:

```bash
# Install both Nylas skills
npx skills add nylas/skills

# Or install one at a time
npx skills add nylas/skills --skill nylas-cli
npx skills add nylas/skills --skill nylas-api
```

The installer places files where each agent expects them — `.cursor/` for Cursor, `AGENTS.md` for Codex CLI, `.claude-plugin/` for Claude Code, and so on. No manual file copying is needed.

## Verify the skills loaded

Verification confirms the agent can resolve Nylas commands from a natural-language prompt without extra documentation. A correctly installed skill means the agent produces the right CLI invocation or API endpoint on the first attempt, cutting back-and-forth by 2-3 exchanges per task. Ask the agent a question that triggers one of the skills:

- "Use nylas-cli to send an email from my Gmail account to test@example.com."
- "Use nylas-api to list grants for my application."

A working install responds with the correct [`nylas email send`](https://cli.nylas.com/docs/commands/email-send) invocation or the right v3 endpoint without you re-explaining the syntax. If the agent still asks for documentation, restart it so it picks up the new skill manifest.

## Develop a fork or local copy

Forking the Nylas skills repository lets teams add internal-only conventions, custom command aliases, or proprietary API patterns without affecting the upstream repo. The skills CLI accepts a local filesystem path instead of a GitHub slug, so teams can iterate on skill content without publishing changes. Because each skill file is plain Markdown under 25 KB, edits are fast to review in a standard pull-request workflow.

Point the installer at the local fork and pass the `--copy` flag to inline the skill files directly into the project directory:

```bash
cd /path/to/your/project
npx skills add /path/to/your/fork --agent claude-code --copy --all
```

The `--copy` flag inlines the skill files into the project so they ship with the repo, rather than referencing the installed copy. This is useful for CI/CD pipelines where the agent environment doesn't have access to external repositories.

## Next steps

With both skills installed, the agent can handle email, calendar, and contacts tasks using the CLI's 250+ commands and the Nylas v3 API's 15+ resource endpoints. The following guides cover related workflows for getting the CLI running, connecting live inbox access, and building agent-specific integrations.

- New to the CLI itself? Start with the [getting started guide](https://cli.nylas.com/guides/getting-started).
- Want live inbox access (not just instructions)? See [Give AI Agents Email Access via MCP](https://cli.nylas.com/guides/ai-agent-email-mcp).
- Choosing between MCP and direct API calls? See [MCP vs API for AI Agents](https://cli.nylas.com/guides/mcp-vs-api-ai-agents).
- Making your own site's tools discoverable to agents? See [ai-catalog.json: Agent Discovery for Your Site](https://cli.nylas.com/guides/ai-catalog-json-agent-discovery).
- Connecting a specific agent? See [Give Your AI Coding Agent an Email Address](https://cli.nylas.com/guides/give-ai-agent-email-address).
- Building a Manus-specific workflow instead? See [Create a Manus Skill](https://cli.nylas.com/guides/manus-ai-skills).
- Browse the full [command reference](https://cli.nylas.com/docs/commands) (250+ commands) the `nylas-cli` skill maps to.

## Related hubs

- [Email agents](https://cli.nylas.com/ai-answers/email-agents.md)
- [Calendar agents](https://cli.nylas.com/ai-answers/calendar-agents.md)
- [Scheduling and availability agents](https://cli.nylas.com/ai-answers/scheduling-agents.md)
- [Contacts agents](https://cli.nylas.com/ai-answers/contacts-agents.md)
- [Notetaker and meeting agents](https://cli.nylas.com/ai-answers/notetaker-agents.md)
- [MCP agents](https://cli.nylas.com/ai-answers/mcp-agents.md)
- [Agent accounts](https://cli.nylas.com/ai-answers/agent-accounts.md)
- [Framework and language email agents](https://cli.nylas.com/ai-answers/framework-email-agents.md)
- [Email and calendar API comparisons](https://cli.nylas.com/ai-answers/ai-agent-email-api-comparisons.md)
- [Email integration and automation recipes](https://cli.nylas.com/ai-answers/email-integration-recipes.md)
- [Agent email workflows](https://cli.nylas.com/ai-answers/agent-email-workflows.md)
- [Security for email and calendar agents](https://cli.nylas.com/ai-answers/security-for-email-agents.md)
- [Operations runbooks for agents](https://cli.nylas.com/ai-answers/operations-for-email-calendar-agents.md)

## Try Nylas CLI

Install the CLI with `curl -fsSL https://cli.nylas.com/install.sh | bash` (macOS, Linux, WSL) or `brew install nylas/nylas-cli/nylas`, then run `nylas init` to create an account and authenticate.

**Free Sandbox** (no credit card): 5 connected accounts — bring your own Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud, Exchange, or IMAP — plus 3 agent accounts (managed inboxes on `*.nylas.email`). Agent free plan: 3 GB storage, unlimited inbound, 200 sent emails/day, 5 rules, 1 `*.nylas.email` subdomain, and unlimited custom domains. Production is uncapped and requires a credit card: https://www.nylas.com/pricing/