Where Are Garden Skills Located for Cursor Agent: Complete File Structure Guide

Garden Skills for the Cursor agent are stored in the skills/ directory of the ConardLi/garden-skills repository, where each skill contains a SKILL.md system prompt file, a manifest.json metadata file, and optional agent configuration files.

The ConardLi/garden-skills repository provides a collection of plain-text skill definitions specifically designed for AI coding assistants like Cursor. Understanding the exact file locations and structure allows you to load these skills either by URL reference or local installation, giving Cursor access to specialized system prompts for tasks like web design, video presentation, and knowledge base retrieval.

Garden Skills Directory Structure

The skills/ Folder Layout

All Garden Skills reside under the top-level skills/ directory in the repository. According to the source code organization, this folder contains self-contained subdirectories—one for each individual skill. The repository follows a consistent naming convention where each subdirectory represents a specific capability, such as web-design-engineer or kb-retriever.

The location pattern is:

skills/
├── web-design-engineer/
├── web-video-presentation/
├── kb-retriever/
└── [other-skill-name]/

Each subdirectory functions as an isolated skill package that Cursor can ingest independently.

Core Files in Every Skill

Every skill directory contains at least two mandatory files that Cursor uses to understand and execute the skill:

• SKILL.md – The structured system prompt that defines the agent's behavior, constraints, and workflows. This is the primary file Cursor consumes when loading a Garden Skill.
• manifest.json – Metadata including the skill name, description, version, and tags, which allows Cursor to index and discover available skills.

Additionally, many skills include an agents/ subdirectory containing environment-specific configurations. For example, the Web Design Engineer skill includes agents/openai.yaml for OpenAI-compatible agent setups that Cursor can adapt.

Locating Specific Skills for Cursor

To load a specific capability, point Cursor to the corresponding subdirectory under skills/. The complete file paths follow the pattern skills/<skill-name>/<filename>.

Web Design Engineer (Core Cursor Skill):

• System prompt: skills/web-design-engineer/SKILL.md
• Metadata: skills/web-design-engineer/manifest.json
• Agent config: skills/web-design-engineer/agents/openai.yaml

Web Video Presentation:

• System prompt: skills/web-video-presentation/SKILL.md
• Metadata: skills/web-video-presentation/manifest.json

KB Retriever (Knowledge Base):

• System prompt: skills/kb-retriever/README.md (note: uses README instead of SKILL.md)
• Metadata: skills/kb-retriever/manifest.json

Because these are plain-text Markdown and JSON files hosted in a public repository, Cursor can access them directly via raw GitHub URLs or through local file system references when the repository is cloned.

How Cursor Loads Garden Skills

Cursor consumes Garden Skills by fetching the SKILL.md content and injecting it as a system prompt. You can load these skills programmatically or through Cursor's skill configuration interface.

Loading via JavaScript

In a Cursor-compatible environment, you can fetch and apply a skill using the skill's URL:

// Load the Web Design Engineer skill from the repository
import { loadSkill } from '@cursor/skill-loader';

const skillUrl = 'https://github.com/ConardLi/garden-skills/blob/main/skills/web-design-engineer/SKILL.md';

loadSkill(skillUrl).then(systemPrompt => {
  // Apply the loaded prompt to Cursor's LLM context
  cursor.run(systemPrompt, { temperature: 0.7 })
    .then(result => console.log('Skill output:', result));
});

CLI Installation Pattern

If using a hypothetical Cursor CLI or custom agent setup, you can register the skill by referencing its location:

# Register the Web Design Engineer skill from the garden-skills repository

cursor skill add https://github.com/ConardLi/garden-skills/blob/main/skills/web-design-engineer/SKILL.md

Both methods rely on the fact that Garden Skills are stored as accessible text files in the skills/ directory, making them portable across any agent that supports Markdown-based system prompts.

Summary

• Location: All Garden Skills for Cursor are located in the skills/ directory of the ConardLi/garden-skills repository.
• Key Files: Each skill requires SKILL.md (system prompt) and manifest.json (metadata) at minimum.
• Agent Configs: Optional agents/openai.yaml files provide OpenAI-compatible configurations for specialized setups.
• Access Method: Cursor loads skills by fetching these plain-text files directly from their paths under skills/<skill-name>/.
• Examples: skills/web-design-engineer/SKILL.md and skills/kb-retriever/README.md demonstrate the standardized storage pattern.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the exact path to the Web Design Engineer skill for Cursor?

The Web Design Engineer skill is located at skills/web-design-engineer/SKILL.md in the repository root. The complete GitHub path is https://github.com/ConardLi/garden-skills/blob/main/skills/web-design-engineer/SKILL.md, with metadata stored in the adjacent manifest.json file.

Can Cursor load Garden Skills from a local clone?

Yes. Since Garden Skills are plain-text files in the skills/ directory, you can clone the ConardLi/garden-skills repository locally and point Cursor to any skill's SKILL.md file using local file paths (e.g., file:///path/to/garden-skills/skills/web-design-engineer/SKILL.md).

Why do some skills use README.md instead of SKILL.md?

While most Garden Skills follow the SKILL.md naming convention (such as skills/web-video-presentation/SKILL.md), specific implementations like the KB Retriever use README.md at skills/kb-retriever/README.md. Cursor can parse both filenames as system prompts, though SKILL.md is the standard convention for agent-specific prompts in this repository.

What information does the manifest.json file contain?

The manifest.json file in each skill directory contains structured metadata including the skill name, description, version number, and applicable tags. Cursor uses this file to index available skills and display human-readable descriptions before loading the actual SKILL.md system prompt.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "instagit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "instagit@latest"]
    }
  }
}