Claude Code and Cursor are the two most popular AI coding tools in 2026, and both support SKILL.md instruction files. But how do they compare when it comes to agent skills?
This comparison breaks down skill file formats, discovery methods, security scanning support, and marketplace availability between the two platforms. We also show you which skills work with both tools and which are platform-specific.
The good news: most SKILL.md files are cross-platform. A skill written for Claude Code will work in Cursor and vice versa — the open standard ensures interoperability.
Run, watch, debug, and extend OpenClaw QA testing with qa-lab and qa-channel. Use when Codex needs to execute the repo-backed QA suite, inspect live QA artifacts, debug failing scenarios, add new QA scenarios, or explain the OpenClaw QA workflow. Prefer the live OpenAI lane with regular openai/gpt-5.4 in fast mode; do not use gpt-5.4-pro or gpt-5.4-mini unless the user explicitly overrides that policy.
developmentMaintainer workflow for OpenClaw releases, prereleases, changelog release notes, and publish validation. Use when Codex needs to prepare or verify stable or beta release steps, align version naming, assemble release notes, check release auth requirements, or validate publish-time commands and artifacts.
developmentEnd-to-end Parallels smoke, upgrade, and rerun workflow for OpenClaw across macOS, Windows, and Linux guests. Use when Codex needs to run, rerun, debug, or interpret VM-based install, onboarding, gateway smoke tests, latest-release-to-main upgrade checks, fresh snapshot retests, or optional Discord roundtrip verification under Parallels.
developmentMaintainer-only workflow for handling GitHub Secret Scanning alerts on OpenClaw. Use when Codex needs to triage, redact, clean up, and resolve secret leakage found in issue comments, issue bodies, PR comments, or other GitHub content.
development# Lobster Lobster executes multi-step workflows with approval checkpoints. Use it when: - User wants a repeatable automation (triage, monitor, sync) - Actions need human approval before executing (send, post, delete) - Multiple tool calls should run as one deterministic operation ## When to use Lobster | User intent | Use Lobster? | | ------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------
toolsUse when work should span one or more detached tasks but still behave like one job with a single owner context. TaskFlow is the durable flow substrate under authoring layers like Lobster, ACPX, plugins, or plain code. Keep conditional logic in the caller; use TaskFlow for flow identity, child-task linkage, waiting state, revision-checked mutations, and user-facing emergence.
toolsExample TaskFlow authoring pattern for inbox triage. Use when messages need different treatment based on intent, with some routes notifying immediately, some waiting on outside answers, and others rolling into a later summary.
data-ai# Lobster Lobster executes multi-step workflows with approval checkpoints. Use it when: - User wants a repeatable automation (triage, monitor, sync) - Actions need human approval before executing (send, post, delete) - Multiple tool calls should run as one deterministic operation ## When to use Lobster | User intent | Use Lobster? | | ------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------
toolsMaintainer workflow for OpenClaw releases, prereleases, changelog release notes, and publish validation. Use when Codex needs to prepare or verify stable or beta release steps, align version naming, assemble release notes, check release auth requirements, or validate publish-time commands and artifacts.
developmentRun, watch, debug, and extend OpenClaw QA testing with qa-lab and qa-channel. Use when Codex needs to execute the repo-backed QA suite, inspect live QA artifacts, debug failing scenarios, add new QA scenarios, or explain the OpenClaw QA workflow. Prefer the live OpenAI lane with regular openai/gpt-5.4 in fast mode; do not use gpt-5.4-pro or gpt-5.4-mini unless the user explicitly overrides that policy.
developmentMaintainer-only workflow for handling GitHub Secret Scanning alerts on OpenClaw. Use when Codex needs to triage, redact, clean up, and resolve secret leakage found in issue comments, issue bodies, PR comments, or other GitHub content.
developmentEnd-to-end Parallels smoke, upgrade, and rerun workflow for OpenClaw across macOS, Windows, and Linux guests. Use when Codex needs to run, rerun, debug, or interpret VM-based install, onboarding, gateway smoke tests, latest-release-to-main upgrade checks, fresh snapshot retests, or optional Discord roundtrip verification under Parallels.
developmentSet up and use 1Password CLI (op). Use when installing the CLI, enabling desktop app integration, signing in (single or multi-account), or reading/injecting/running secrets via op.
toolsManage Apple Notes via the `memo` CLI on macOS (create, view, edit, delete, search, move, and export notes). Use when a user asks OpenClaw to add a note, list notes, search notes, or manage note folders.
toolsInvestigate `pnpm test` memory growth, Vitest worker OOMs, and suspicious RSS increases in OpenClaw using the `scripts/test-parallel.mjs` heap snapshot tooling. Use when Codex needs to reproduce test-lane memory growth, collect repeated `.heapsnapshot` files, compare snapshots from the same worker PID, triage likely transformed-module retention versus likely runtime leaks, and fix or reduce the impact by patching cleanup logic or isolating hotspot tests.
toolsGenerate spectrograms and feature-panel visualizations from audio with the songsee CLI.
toolsUse when you need to control Slack from OpenClaw via the slack tool, including reacting to messages or pinning/unpinning items in Slack channels or DMs.
toolsA CLI tool for making authenticated requests to the X (Twitter) API. Use this skill when you need to post tweets, reply, quote, search, read posts, manage followers, send DMs, upload media, or interact with any X API v2 endpoint.
toolsElevenLabs text-to-speech with mac-style say UX.
toolsTriage GitHub security advisories for OpenClaw with high-confidence close/keep decisions, exact tag and commit verification, trust-model checks, optional hardening notes, and a final reply ready to post and copy to clipboard.
toolsTavily web search, content extraction, and research tools.
toolsGitHub operations via `gh` CLI: issues, PRs, CI runs, code review, API queries. Use when: (1) checking PR status or CI, (2) creating/commenting on issues, (3) listing/filtering PRs or issues, (4) viewing run logs. NOT for: complex web UI interactions requiring manual browser flows (use browser tooling when available), bulk operations across many repos (script with gh api), or when gh auth is not configured.
toolsMonitor blogs and RSS/Atom feeds for updates using the blogwatcher CLI.
toolsFeishu permission management for documents and files. Activate when user mentions sharing, permissions, collaborators.
documentationCLI to manage emails via IMAP/SMTP. Use `himalaya` to list, read, write, reply, forward, search, and organize emails from the terminal. Supports multiple accounts and message composition with MML (MIME Meta Language).
toolsUse CodexBar CLI local cost usage to summarize per-model usage for Codex or Claude, including the current (most recent) model or a full model breakdown. Trigger when asked for model-level usage/cost data from codexbar, or when you need a scriptable per-model summary from codexbar cost JSON.
toolsHost security hardening and risk-tolerance configuration for OpenClaw deployments. Use when a user asks for security audits, firewall/SSH/update hardening, risk posture, exposure review, OpenClaw cron scheduling for periodic checks, or version status checks on a machine running OpenClaw (laptop, workstation, Pi, VPS).
testingUse the mcporter CLI to list, configure, auth, and call MCP servers/tools directly (HTTP or stdio), including ad-hoc servers, config edits, and CLI/type generation.
toolsFeishu cloud storage file management. Activate when user mentions cloud space, folders, drive.
devopsDiscord ops via the message tool (channel=discord).
toolsUse the ClawHub CLI to search, install, update, and publish agent skills from clawhub.com. Use when you need to fetch new skills on the fly, sync installed skills to latest or a specific version, or publish new/updated skill folders with the npm-installed clawhub CLI.
toolsGoogle Workspace CLI for Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Contacts, Sheets, and Docs.
toolsQQBot 定时提醒。支持一次性和周期性提醒的创建、查询、取消。当通过 QQ 通道通信且涉及提醒/定时任务时使用。
toolsTerminal Spotify playback/search via spogo (preferred) or spotify_player.
developmentiMessage/SMS CLI for listing chats, history, and sending messages via Messages.app.
toolsBest practices for using the oracle CLI (prompt + file bundling, engines, sessions, and file attachment patterns).
toolsFeishu knowledge base navigation. Activate when user mentions knowledge base, wiki, or wiki links.
documentationSearch and analyze your own session logs (older/parent conversations) using jq.
toolsQuery Google Places API (New) via the goplaces CLI for text search, place details, resolve, and reviews. Use for human-friendly place lookup or JSON output for scripts.
toolsDelegate coding tasks to Codex, Claude Code, or Pi agents via background process. Use when: (1) building/creating new features or apps, (2) reviewing PRs (spawn in temp dir), (3) refactoring large codebases, (4) iterative coding that needs file exploration. NOT for: simple one-liner fixes (just edit), reading code (use read tool), thread-bound ACP harness requests in chat (for example spawn/run Codex or Claude Code in a Discord thread; use sessions_spawn with runtime:"acp"), or any work in ~/clawd workspace (never spawn agents here). Claude Code: use --print --permission-mode bypassPermissions (no PTY). Codex/Pi/OpenCode: pty:true required.
toolsCreate, search, and manage Bear notes via grizzly CLI.
toolsEdit PDFs with natural-language instructions using the nano-pdf CLI.
toolsBluOS CLI (blu) for discovery, playback, grouping, and volume.
toolsCapture and automate macOS UI with the Peekaboo CLI.
toolsLocal text-to-speech via sherpa-onnx (offline, no cloud)
devopsWork with Obsidian vaults (plain Markdown notes) and automate via obsidian-cli.
toolsDiagnose OpenClaw node connection and pairing failures for Android, iOS, and macOS companion apps. Use when QR/setup code/manual connect fails, local Wi-Fi works but VPS/tailnet does not, or errors mention pairing required, unauthorized, bootstrap token invalid or expired, gateway.bind, gateway.remote.url, Tailscale, or plugins.entries.device-pair.config.publicUrl.
toolsQQ 频道管理技能。查询频道列表、子频道、成员、发帖、公告、日程等操作。使用 qqbot_channel_api 工具代理 QQ 开放平台 HTTP 接口,自动处理 Token 鉴权。当用户需要查看频道、管理子频道、查询成员、发布帖子/公告/日程时使用。
developmentGet current weather and forecasts via wttr.in or Open-Meteo. Use when: user asks about weather, temperature, or forecasts for any location. NOT for: historical weather data, severe weather alerts, or detailed meteorological analysis. No API key needed.
developmentManage Trello boards, lists, and cards via the Trello REST API.
development