Skills in plugins and desktop.
Read Skills (plugins) and the overlapping Build skills page. Each skill has a SKILL.md with name, description, and instructions. In an MCP-backed plugin, the skill teaches how to combine tools; a skill can also be instructions-only.
Standalone skills are available in the ChatGPT desktop app, Codex CLI, and the IDE extension. Plugin-bundled skills also show in Chat and Work on web, desktop, and mobile. In the ChatGPT desktop app, open Skills in the sidebar to view skills created across your projects.
No ~/.chatgpt/skills folder.
Those docs do not describe a ~/.chatgpt/skills directory. Do not invent one. For a local folder install, use Codex’s documented .agents/skills / $HOME/.agents/skills paths, or package the skill in a plugin you control.
Use the shop file, then your host’s install.
Open Browse skills, copy or download SKILL.md from the companion, and add it through ChatGPT desktop Skills / a plugin you author — or install the same folder in Cursor or Claude if you want a home-directory workflow those products document.
Confirm it loaded.
In ChatGPT, type @ to select a skill, or open Skills in the desktop sidebar. Implicit invocation still depends on a clear description.