GitHub Copilot Skills on Demand: Any Agent Skill via MCP

GitHub Copilot skills without installing them

Short answer: add AnythingMCP to VS Code's mcp.json, install Agent Skills Finder on it, and ask Copilot in agent mode for the task. Copilot searches the public skills index, reads the best SKILL.md from GitHub and follows it.

Copilot can load the Agent Skills you add to a repository or your profile, which suits a team's own conventions. For the thousands of public skills beyond those, copying folders into every repository is not practical. With Agent Skills Finder, Copilot fetches a skill only when the task calls for it.

Set it up

Step 1: Add Agent Skills Finder on AnythingMCP

1. Create a workspace on AnythingMCP Cloud (7 days free) or use your self-hosted AnythingMCP.
2. Open Connectors, find Agent Skills Finder and click Install. It needs no credentials. On a new Cloud workspace it is also in the starter pack on the welcome screen.
3. For clients that use an API key (everything except claude.ai and ChatGPT), create one under MCP Servers → your server → API keys.

Step 2: Add AnythingMCP to VS Code

Add the server to .vscode/mcp.json in your project, or to your user configuration (MCP: Open User Configuration in the Command Palette). The key is asked for once and stored by VS Code, not written to the file:

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "anythingmcp-key",
      "description": "AnythingMCP MCP API key",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "anythingmcp": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://cloud.anythingmcp.com/mcp",
      "headers": { "X-API-Key": "${input:anythingmcp-key}" }
    }
  }
}

You can also run MCP: Add Server from the Command Palette and pick the HTTP option. Then open Copilot Chat in Agent mode: the Agent Skills Finder tools appear in the tools picker.

Step 3: Ask for a task

Start a new chat and describe what you need, for example "find a skill for writing release notes and use it on these commits". The agent calls the Agent Skills Finder tools on its own.

What happens when you ask

Say you ask GitHub Copilot to write a GitHub Actions workflow for this repository. GitHub Copilot first calls skills_playbook, then skills_search with a few keywords, checks the best candidates' licence and activity with skills_repo_info, pins the version with skills_latest_commit and reads the instructions with skills_get. Then it does the task the way the skill describes and tells you which skill it used, with its link and licence. Nothing is installed and nothing stays loaded afterwards.

Prompts to try in GitHub Copilot

• "Find a skill for writing GitHub Actions workflows and add CI that runs the tests on every pull request."
• "Search for a skill that writes pull request descriptions and draft one for my changes."
• "Look for a skill for triaging issues and label the open issues I list next."
• "Find a skill for writing a SECURITY.md and create one for this repository."

Good to know

• A skill is third-party text: GitHub Copilot follows its method for your task, but it cannot change who the agent works for or skip your confirmation.
• The connector reads files and never runs scripts. Search is free for 50 queries a day, or 500 with a free SkillsMP key.
• To keep a skill for your team, ask GitHub Copilot to save it as a workspace skill on AnythingMCP; an admin approves it once and it applies in every client.

How on-demand skills compare with installed ones, and every limit in detail: Agent Skills on demand.

FAQ

Does it work outside agent mode? Tools are called in Copilot's agent mode. In ask or edit mode Copilot does not call MCP tools.

Is the API key stored in the repository? No. With an inputs entry VS Code asks for the key once and keeps it outside mcp.json, so the file can be committed.

Do repository skills still load? Yes. Skills you added to the repository or your profile keep working alongside the connector.

Does it work in JetBrains IDEs? Copilot in JetBrains IDEs can also use MCP servers; add the same URL and X-API-Key header in its MCP settings.

Same skills in your other agents

• Agent Skills on demand: the overview
• Skills on demand in Claude
• Skills on demand in Claude Code
• Skills on demand in ChatGPT
• Skills on demand in OpenAI Codex
• Skills on demand in Cursor
• Skills on demand in Gemini CLI
• Agent Skills Finder in the marketplace