Skills extend AI agent capabilities with specialized knowledge and workflows. The Flows builder skills help your AI coding agents build and deploy Flows custom apps for Cognite Data Fusion (CDF). They capture Cognite best practices, API guidance, and opinionated workflows so agents such as Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, and any agent that follows the Agent Skills standard stay aligned from the first prompt.
How skills are delivered
When you run npx @cognite/cli@latest apps create, the CLI fetches skills automatically from the cognitedata/builder-skills repository and writes them into your app. No extra install or configuration — compatible agents read the skill files from your workspace.
The generated app places skills in two directories so that compatible agents can locate them automatically:
| Directory | Supported coding agents |
|---|
.agents/skills/ | Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Continue.dev, Aider, OpenHands, Devin, and any agent following the Agent Skills standard |
.claude/skills/ | Claude Code (Anthropic) — dedicated path for Claude Code skill files |
| File | Supported coding agents |
|---|
AGENTS.md | Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Cline, Aider, OpenHands, Devin, and most other agents |
CLAUDE.md | Claude Code — project memory file loaded at the start of every Claude Code session |
Keep skills up to date
Cognite updates the builder-skills repository regularly. To pull the latest skills into an existing app, run:
npx @cognite/cli@latest apps skills pull
npx @cognite/cli@latest apps skills pull --skill <name>
Pull skills after upgrading @cognite/cli or when starting new work that touches authentication, data modeling, or Atlas agents — areas where Cognite updates skills most often.
Example skills
The following table lists skills that ship with new apps.
| Skill | Purpose |
|---|
setup-flows-auth | Wire up connectToHostApp and authenticated CDF access. |
integrate-atlas-chat | Add a streaming Atlas Agent chat interface to your app. |
create-client-tool | Generate an AtlasTool and integrate it with useAtlasChat. |
design | Apply Aura UI components, tokens, layouts, and accessibility guidance. |
dm-limits-and-best-practices | Follow CDF data modeling concurrency and batching guidance. |
performance | Optimize for speed, render counts, and bundle size. |
security | Review for credentials, user input, and external data vulnerabilities. |
flows-app-brief | Coach you through the App Brief before you build. |
flows-code-review | Run the technical review and surface Must Fix items. |
flows-design-review | Score the app against the 10 design quality questions. |
flows-external-app-submit | Verify all artifacts and submit for Application certification. |
cognitedata/builder-skills.
Supported AI development environments
Flows custom apps work with any modern AI coding agent. Every generated app includes builder skills that agents detect and use automatically without manual configuration.
Claude Code is fully supported. Every generated app includes a dedicated .claude/skills/ directory and a CLAUDE.md project context file, giving Claude Code immediate, structured access to Cognite development guidelines.
AGENTS.md.
| Agent / Environment | Vendor | Skills directory | Project context file | MCP support | Status |
|---|
| Cursor | Anysphere | .agents/skills/ | AGENTS.md | Yes (.cursor/mcp.json) | Recommended |
| Claude Code | Anthropic | .claude/skills/ | CLAUDE.md | Yes | Fully supported |
| GitHub Copilot | Microsoft / GitHub | .agents/skills/ | AGENTS.md | Limited (VS Code only) | Supported |
| Windsurf | Codeium | .agents/skills/ | AGENTS.md | Yes | Supported |
| Google Gemini (Antigravity) | Google | .agents/skills/ | AGENTS.md | Planned | Supported |
| Amazon Q Developer | Amazon | .agents/skills/ | AGENTS.md | Limited | Supported |
| Continue.dev | Continue | .agents/skills/ | AGENTS.md | Yes | Supported |
| Cline | Community / Anthropic | .agents/skills/ | AGENTS.md | Yes | Supported |
| Aider | Aider-chat | .agents/skills/ | AGENTS.md | No | Supported |
| OpenHands | All Hands AI | .agents/skills/ | AGENTS.md | No | Supported |
| Devin | Cognition AI | .agents/skills/ | AGENTS.md | No | Supported |
| JetBrains AI Assistant | JetBrains | .agents/skills/ | AGENTS.md | No | Partial |
| Zed AI | Zed Industries | .agents/skills/ | AGENTS.md | Yes | Partial |
| VS Code (Copilot Chat) | Microsoft | .agents/skills/. | AGENTS.md | Limited | Supported |
| Gemini CLI | Google | .agents/skills/ | AGENTS.md | Yes | Supported |
| Amp | Sourcegraph | .agents/skills/ | AGENTS.md | Yes | Supported |
- Skills directory — where the agent reads builder skill files from the generated app
- Project context file — the root-level file the agent reads for project-wide instructions
- MCP support — whether the environment supports Model Context Protocol tool servers, useful for connecting to CDF APIs directly from your agent
Skills are included in both .agents/skills/ (for Cursor and the Agent Skills standard) and .claude/skills/ (for Claude Code). To update skills, run npx @cognite/cli@latest apps skills pull. Further reading
