Install and update skills

Areca skills are instruction folders copied into your agent's skill directories. They do not update automatically when you update the site SDK or restart the CMS. After updating the files, reload your agent so it can discover them.

You can install with either the Areca installer or the skills.sh CLI. Choose one manager for a given installation and keep using it for updates. The Areca installer can also configure the MCP connector; skills add installs the instructions, so you configure MCP separately.

For the client, site, tokens and account setup that comes first, see Developer setup with Areca skills. For what each of the four skills does, see Agent skills.

Install with the Areca packageCopy Anchor Link

From the website repository, run:

npx @areca-cms/skills@latest

Select your agents, the skills to install, and the scope:

• This project: installs into this repository. Commit the skill folders so teammates receive the same instructions.
• Me, in every project: installs into your user directories. Repeat on each machine you use.

Optionally provide the connector URL from the site's Connect AI page. Complete browser authentication in the agent afterward. See Connect AI.

Update an existing Areca-package installationCopy Anchor Link

Run the latest installer again, in the same website repository, and select the same agents and scope. Select every skill you want, including any newly released skills:

npx @areca-cms/skills@latest

The installer replaces the selected areca-* folders with copies bundled in the latest published package. It has no separate update command. Save any local customizations elsewhere before updating: edits inside the selected folders are overwritten.

For example, install or refresh all bundled skills for Codex and Claude Code in the current project:

npx @areca-cms/skills@latest add -a codex,claude-code -y

For a global Codex installation instead:

npx @areca-cms/skills@latest add -a codex --global -y

Without -s, these noninteractive examples select all bundled skills. If you previously installed only areca-sdk, rerunning with -s areca-sdk will refresh that skill alone; it will not add areca-quickstart, areca-mcp or areca-visual-editing.

@latest explicitly requests the current published installer. The package contains a bundled copy of the skills; repository changes become available through this route after a package release. npx @areca-cms/skills@latest list shows the skills bundled in that release and supported agent directories; it is not an inventory of your installed copies.

Install with skills.shCopy Anchor Link

The skills CLI installs directly from the Areca GitHub repository. Use a Node.js version supported by the current CLI; its README currently requires Node.js 22.20 or later.

From the website repository, run:

npx skills@latest add seirai-dev/areca-cms

Choose the Areca skills and agents in the prompts. Project installation is the default; add -g for a global installation. To explicitly select the four Areca skills and Codex:

npx skills@latest add seirai-dev/areca-cms --skill areca-sdk --skill areca-mcp --skill areca-quickstart --skill areca-visual-editing -a codex

This installs instruction files. Add the site's MCP connector separately using Connect AI, then authenticate. Installing areca-mcp does not itself give the agent CMS access.

Check and update skills.sh installationsCopy Anchor Link

Run these commands from the project where you installed the skills:

# Inspect project installations
npx skills@latest list

# Inspect global installations
npx skills@latest list -g

# Check for available updates
npx skills@latest check

# Update installed skills (choose scope when prompted)
npx skills@latest update

update refreshes skills already tracked by the CLI. It can update skills from other sources too. To limit the update to an Areca skill, name it:

npx skills@latest update areca-sdk

For explicit project or global scope, use update -p or update -g. See the upstream command reference for current options.

To add a newly released skill, run add again. Do not rely on updating existing skills to discover and install additional skill names. Rerun the interactive repository install and select the new skill, or request it explicitly:

npx skills@latest add seirai-dev/areca-cms --skill areca-visual-editing -a codex

Keep the same scope: append -g if your existing installation is global. Review and commit project skill and CLI tracking-file changes together.

Make the updated skills visible to your agentCopy Anchor Link

1. Finish the installation or update and check that it targeted the agent you actually use. Some agents share .agents/skills; others use their own directory. The installer output shows the destination.
2. Check scope and location. A project installation belongs in the website repository you open in the agent. Updating a different repository or a global copy will not necessarily replace the copy the current session uses.
3. Reload the agent window or start a new session in that repository. Agents may discover skills only when a session starts; an existing conversation may still have old instructions loaded.
4. Ask the agent to use a skill by name, for example: “Use the areca-visual-editing skill to inspect this project's preview setup.” Slash-command availability depends on the agent; a missing slash command alone does not prove the files are missing.
5. If the skill is found but CMS tools are missing, check MCP configuration and authentication separately. Ask the agent to call get_site_info on the intended site.

For chat app uploads, regenerate the archives with:

npx @areca-cms/skills@latest export --out ./areca-skills

Upload the refreshed ZIPs using the app's skill settings. Preserve your own project guidance outside installed skill folders so future updates can replace the upstream files cleanly.