Agent skills

An agent skill is a playbook that teaches an AI coding agent to build one kind of thing in one finished, named style: a product launch video rendered from HTML, a slide deck, a landing page or a whole site, a set of editorial images. Each skill is a folder, popnow-<slug>/, with a SKILL.md the agent reads, plus the scripts, reference files and assets it needs.

Skills are free. When a skill needs a picture, a video clip, music or a voiceover, it makes it through PopNow at the usual credit prices, and it always tells you the price before anything is spent. Browse every skill with previews at popnow.ai/skills/agent-skills.

There are two ways in:

• From a chat (recommended). With PopNow connected as an MCP server, say what you want to make. The assistant shows a few styles with previews, you pick one, and PopNow hands that skill to the assistant to carry out.
• Install it yourself. Paste an install prompt into your agent, download the ZIP, or fetch it with curl and your API key.

At a glance

Pick a skill in a chat

Connect PopNow once (Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor and others) and ask for the result you want. The assistant uses two free tools:

1. find_skills matches what you asked for against the catalog and returns up to four styles, best first, each with a one-line description of the look, what it is best for, a preview video and cover image, which media it can make with PopNow, what it needs on your machine (Node.js, Python 3, FFmpeg, Chrome) and its page.
2. You pick one.
3. use_skill returns that skill's full playbook (SKILL.md), a download link for the whole package that works for a few minutes, the exact commands to install it in your agent's skills folder, and how to make its images, video, music and voice with the PopNow tools in the same connection.

You:        Make a product launch video for my note-taking app.
Assistant:  (calls find_skills with intent "product launch video for a note-taking app")
            Here are four styles:
            1. Device Mockup Launch Video: your real app screen on a device in a dark studio. [preview]
            2. Seamless App Promo Sting: a 10–13 second promo that flows as one camera move. [preview]
            3. AI Chat Product Demo Video: a narrated demo inside a chat app. [preview]
            4. Developer Tool Launch Reel: one prompt in four places, then your install command. [preview]
            Which one do you like?
You:        The first one.
Assistant:  (calls use_skill with slug "device-mockup-launch-video" and agent "claude-code")
            (downloads and unzips the package into ~/.claude/skills, then follows the playbook)
            I need two screenshots of your app. The background music is about 72 credits. Shall I make it?
You:        Yes.
Assistant:  (calls create_music, renders the video locally, saves launch.mp4)

• Media through PopNow. Skills ship with a small helper script for the REST API. Over MCP no API key is needed: wherever the playbook calls the script, the assistant uses create_image, edit_image, create_video, create_music, create_speech, add_sound, compose_video, upscale, remove_background or run_model instead. Each one quotes first, and anything over your auto-confirm limit waits for your yes, as described in Prices and confirmation.
• Which agent. Leave agent out and PopNow guesses from the app you connected with. In ChatGPT or Claude.ai (agent: "chat") there is no file system: image skills still work there through create_image, while websites, decks and rendered videos need a coding agent; the assistant can plan with you and make the media, and gives you the download link for later.
• Limits. find_skills 240 and use_skill 120 calls per account per hour. Both are free and read-only. A new skill picked with use_skill counts toward your skill limit like a download does; using one you already have never does.

Install it yourself

With a prompt

Every skill page has Copy install prompt. Paste it into your agent; the agent reads the install guide, picks its own skills folder and fetches the package with your key:

Install the PopNow skill "Dark SaaS Landing Page" (dark-saas-landing-page) for me by following https://popnow.ai/skills/install.md. My PopNow API key is in the POPNOW_API_KEY environment variable.

Download the ZIP

Signed in on popnow.ai, Download ZIP on the skill's page saves popnow-<slug>.zip. Unzip it into one of the folders below.

With curl

Create a key in the API console, export it as POPNOW_API_KEY, then:

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cd ~/.claude/skills
curl -fL -H "Authorization: Bearer $POPNOW_API_KEY" \
  https://api.popnow.ai/api/v1/agent-skills/dark-saas-landing-page/download -o popnow-dark-saas-landing-page.zip
unzip -o popnow-dark-saas-landing-page.zip && rm popnow-dark-saas-landing-page.zip

The archive holds one folder, popnow-<slug>/, with SKILL.md inside. Some agents load new skills only in a new session.

The personal folder makes the skill available in every project; the project folder only in that repository.

Limits

Skills are free, with a cap on how many different skills one account adds. The website's Download ZIP, the download endpoint and use_skill over MCP all share it.

• Re-downloading is free. A skill you already added can be downloaded, reinstalled or picked again with use_skill any time, on any device, and never counts again.
• The 24 hours roll. Each new skill frees up a slot 24 hours after you added it. When you hit the cap, the message says when the next slot opens.
• Your copy is yours. Each package you download carries a license ID for your account (in LICENSE.txt and popnow-<slug>/.popnow-license.json). It doesn't change how the skill works; it is how we tell your licensed copy from a leaked one, so please don't publish the packages.

Over the cap, the download endpoint answers 429 with business code 42901:

{
  "code": 42901,
  "msg": "You've added 5 new skills in the last 24 hours, the daily limit for free accounts. You can add another in about 3 hours (at 13:00 on Oct 23 UTC). Skills you already added can be downloaded again anytime. Accounts that have bought credits can add 30 a day: popnow.ai/pricing",
  "data": {
    "reason": "skill_quota",
    "scope": "daily",
    "limit": 5,
    "used": 5,
    "paid": false,
    "retryAfter": 10800,
    "resetAt": "2026-10-23T13:00:00Z",
    "upgradeUrl": "https://popnow.ai/pricing"
  },
  "request_id": "req_..."
}

scope is daily (with retryAfter in seconds, resetAt and a Retry-After header) or lifetime (the 20-skill total for free accounts; nothing to wait for). Over MCP, use_skill says the same thing in plain words instead of returning the skill.

REST API

All three endpoints take your API key as a Bearer token. They return the catalog and install steps; the playbook itself comes with the package (or through use_skill over MCP).

List and search

curl "https://api.popnow.ai/api/v1/agent-skills?type=slides&q=pitch%20deck" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $POPNOW_API_KEY"

Every filter is optional. type is video, image, slides or web; task keeps skills tagged with one task (such as landing-page or pitch-deck); q ranks by relevance to free text and leaves out skills that match none of its words. Without filters you get the whole catalog, best first.

{
  "code": 200,
  "msg": "success",
  "data": {
    "items": [
      {
        "slug": "dark-saas-landing-page",
        "name": "Dark SaaS Landing Page",
        "summary": "A dark, motion-rich marketing site for a software product, delivered as one self-contained HTML file.",
        "bestFor": ["Launch pages for SaaS and developer tools", "A full marketing site that has to look shipped on day one"],
        "type": "web",
        "tasks": ["landing-page"],
        "popnow": ["image"],
        "popnowRequired": false,
        "requires": ["node", "python3", "chrome"],
        "version": "1.0.0",
        "updated": "2026-10-22",
        "url": "https://popnow.ai/skills/dark-saas-landing-page",
        "preview": {
          "video": "https://media.popnow.ai/skills/library/dark-saas-landing-page/cover.9cfd8efc.mp4",
          "image": "https://popnow.ai/skills/library/media/dark-saas-landing-page/poster.webp"
        },
        "distribution": "popnow"
      }
    ],
    "total": 1
  }
}

popnow lists the media the skill can make through PopNow; popnowRequired is true when the skill can't finish without them. requires lists the tools it runs on your machine.

One skill with install steps

curl https://api.popnow.ai/api/v1/agent-skills/dark-saas-landing-page \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $POPNOW_API_KEY"

The response has the same fields plus install: the folder name inside the package, the download path, the install prompt, the install guide, and one entry per agent with its folders, how to call the skill, and a ready-to-run command for the personal folder.

{
  "code": 200,
  "msg": "success",
  "data": {
    "slug": "dark-saas-landing-page",
    "name": "Dark SaaS Landing Page",
    "type": "web",
    "url": "https://popnow.ai/skills/dark-saas-landing-page",
    ...
    "install": {
      "folder": "popnow-dark-saas-landing-page",
      "downloadPath": "/api/v1/agent-skills/dark-saas-landing-page/download",
      "downloadUrl": "https://api.popnow.ai/api/v1/agent-skills/dark-saas-landing-page/download",
      "prompt": "Install the PopNow skill \"Dark SaaS Landing Page\" (dark-saas-landing-page) for me by following https://popnow.ai/skills/install.md. My PopNow API key is in the POPNOW_API_KEY environment variable.",
      "guide": "https://popnow.ai/skills/install.md",
      "agents": [
        {
          "id": "claude-code",
          "name": "Claude Code",
          "personalDir": "~/.claude/skills",
          "projectDir": ".claude/skills",
          "invoke": "/popnow-dark-saas-landing-page",
          "docs": "https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills",
          "command": "mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills && cd ~/.claude/skills\ncurl -fL -H \"Authorization: Bearer $POPNOW_API_KEY\" \\\n  https://api.popnow.ai/api/v1/agent-skills/dark-saas-landing-page/download -o popnow-dark-saas-landing-page.zip\nunzip -o popnow-dark-saas-landing-page.zip && rm popnow-dark-saas-landing-page.zip"
        },
        ...
      ]
    }
  }
}

To install for one repository only, run the command with projectDir in place of personalDir.

Download

curl -fL https://api.popnow.ai/api/v1/agent-skills/dark-saas-landing-page/download \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $POPNOW_API_KEY" \
  -o popnow-dark-saas-landing-page.zip

The endpoint answers 302 with a signed link to the ZIP that expires after a few minutes, so always follow the redirect (-L) and never store the link.

Errors and limits

Do agent skills cost anything?

No. Finding, installing and running a skill is free. Only the images, video clips, music and voiceovers a skill makes through PopNow cost credits, at the same prices as the website, and the skill quotes each one and waits for your yes.

How many skills can I get?

Free accounts can add 5 new skills a day and 20 in total; once you have bought credits, 30 new skills a day with no total limit. Downloading a skill you already have never counts. See Limits.

Do I need a coding agent?

For websites, decks and rendered videos, yes: the skill runs scripts and builds files on your machine. Image skills also work in ChatGPT or Claude.ai once PopNow is connected over MCP, because the pictures are made with create_image right in the chat.

Do I need an API key?

Not over MCP: the connection is already signed in, use_skill gives a download link, and media goes through the PopNow tools. For the REST API, curl installs and the skill's own helper script, set POPNOW_API_KEY to a key from the API console.

Can I share a skill or put it in my repository?

Use skills for your own work and for clients, and keep what you build with them. Don't publish, resell or redistribute the packages themselves; send teammates the skill's page so they install their own copy. Every downloaded package carries a license ID for the account that downloaded it.

How is this different from popnow-skills on GitHub?

popnow-skills is an open-source set that teaches agents to call the PopNow API in general. Agent skills are finished styles for one kind of result each, with previews, picked from the catalog on popnow.ai. See SDKs, CLI and open-source tools.

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