Add Layer's skills to your AI assistant

Last updated: October 12, 2026

Install Layer Agent Skills in Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, VS Code or any assistant that reads SKILL.md files, so that when you ask it for game art, video, audio or 3D through Layer, it already knows which model suits the task, what a prompt has to name and how to price a run before it spends Creative Units.

Before you start

  • Connect the assistant to Layer first. The skills tell the assistant how to work; the Layer MCP server is what does the work, so the skills do nothing without it. See Connect an AI assistant to Layer.
  • The skills are free and open source (MIT), at github.com/layerai/skills. Generations the assistant runs while following them use your workspace's Creative Units, as they do in the browser.

Install the skills

Claude Code

  1. In Claude Code, run /plugin marketplace add layerai/skills. This adds the skills and the Layer MCP server in one step.

  2. Run /mcp, select Layer and choose Authenticate if you have not signed in to Layer from Claude Code before.

Cursor, Codex, VS Code and other assistants

  1. In a terminal, in the project where you use the assistant, run npx skills add layerai/skills --skill "*". Keep --skill "*": without it the installer opens a picker with nothing selected and installs nothing.

  2. Restart the assistant, or open a new chat, so it reads the new skills.

What the skills cover

The assistant loads each skill only when your request needs it.

Getting started

layer: the core loop every other skill builds on. Choosing a model, pricing a run before it spends Creative Units, uploading references, waiting for results and recovering when a call fails.

Direction

layer-art-direction: moodboards, storyboards, a pinned palette, and naming a style or era precisely enough to generate against.

Images

layer-image for concept art, key art, icons and marketing stills. layer-image-editing for masked edits, outpainting, reframing, relighting, restyling, background removal, layers and upscaling.

Game art

layer-game-assets for characters that stay on model, environments, parallax layers and UI. layer-pixel-art for sprites on a real grid, walk cycles and sprite sheets. layer-textures for materials that tile without a seam.

Video and audio

layer-video for animating stills, camera motion, loops, lip sync and multi-shot ads. layer-audio for sound effects, music and voice. layer-video-timeline for cutting shots, captions, a logo and a CTA into one finished video.

3D

layer-3d: text or image to mesh, quads or triangles, polygon budgets, PBR textures, rigging and animation.

Consistency and pipelines

layer-reference-sets for training and using your own styles. layer-workflows for running the workflows your team has built. layer-workflow-import for rebuilding a pipeline from another tool as a Layer workflow.

Review

layer-quality: scoring a batch against your workspace's rules and choosing which candidate to deliver.

Result

Ask the assistant for an asset as you would ask a colleague, for example "Make a 32 x 32 pixel art knight with a 6-frame walk cycle and pack it into a sheet." It loads the pixel art skill, picks a model, tells you the cost, runs the generation in your Layer workspace and returns the files. Everything it makes is in your workspace, where the rest of the team can find it.

Production tips

  • Pair them with your studio's own skills. Layer's skills cover the craft; your rules (sizes, naming, art bible) are yours. Write those as SKILL.md files in your repository so the assistant reads them alongside Layer's, and import the same files into Layer so the Layer agent follows them too. See Import a skill.
  • Let the assistant script the batch. A coding assistant with these skills can generate a full icon set from a spreadsheet of names, then write the files into your project with your naming convention.
  • Ask for the estimate on big runs. The skills price a run before starting it and stop for confirmation above a threshold. Say how much you are willing to spend for large batches.
  • Update now and then. Run the install command again to pick up new and improved skills.

If something goes wrong

  • The installer finishes but no skills appear. The command ran without --skill "*". Run it again with the flag.
  • The assistant describes what it would do but does not generate anything. The Layer MCP server is not connected or not signed in. See Connect an AI assistant to Layer.
  • The assistant does not seem to use a skill. Start a new chat after installing, and name the kind of asset in your request ("pixel art", "tileable texture") so the right skill matches.

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