Agent Skills (TanStack Intent)

You're building with TanStack Hotkeys and using an AI coding agent such as Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, or Codex. The agent keeps writing keydown listeners that check event.metaKey, adds isMac checks for shortcut labels, or builds its own shortcut registry next to the library. By the end of this guide, your agent will load TanStack Hotkeys' bundled skills automatically whenever you work on keyboard shortcuts, and those skills will stay in sync with whichever TanStack Hotkeys version your project installs.

What are Agent Skills?#

Agent Skills are markdown documents (SKILL.md) that ship inside npm packages and tell AI coding agents how to use a library correctly: which functions to use, which patterns to avoid, and when to reach for a particular feature. The format is an open standard supported by Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Codex, and others.

TanStack Hotkeys publishes skills inside its packages so the guidance travels with npm update instead of being pinned in a model's training data or copied into an agent configuration file manually.

Skills Shipped by TanStack Hotkeys#

The skills available to your agent depend on which packages your project installs:

Adapter skills exist for React, Preact, Solid, Angular, Vue, Svelte, Lit, Alpine, Ember, and Octane.

Each skill lives under node_modules/<package>/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md once the package is installed. Its references/ directory contains guidance for specific tasks. For example, nested and stacked scopes live in @tanstack/hotkeys/skills/hotkeys-core/references/scopes.md.

The entry point tells the agent when to read each reference. Building a settings screen loads the app hotkeys and recording guidance; scope and testing references stay unloaded until a task needs them. Adapter skills load hotkeys-core first and then explain their own bindings.

Intent lists entry points and loads one requested SKILL.md at a time. The agent follows its prerequisite instructions and reads relevant references. A React project has three Hotkeys entry points: hotkeys-core, app-hotkeys, and react-hotkeys. Other installed libraries add their own entries.

Step 1: Install TanStack Hotkeys#

If you haven't already, install the adapter for your framework. See Installation for the full package list.

pnpm add @tanstack/react-hotkeys

Framework adapters install @tanstack/hotkeys as a dependency, so both the framework-specific and core skills are available to the installer. Don't install @tanstack/hotkeys separately alongside an adapter.

Step 2: Run intent install#

From the root of your project, run:

npx @tanstack/intent@latest install

The CLI writes lightweight skill-loading guidance into your agent's config file. That guidance tells the agent to discover skills from the packages installed in your project and load the most relevant one before it starts a substantial task.

By default the guidance lands in AGENTS.md. The CLI can also update:

• CLAUDE.md for Claude Code
• .cursorrules for Cursor
• .github/copilot-instructions.md for GitHub Copilot

Step 3: Review the Generated Guidance#

The install command appends (or creates) an intent-skills block that looks like this:

<!-- intent-skills:start -->

## Skill Loading

Before editing files for a substantial task:

- Run `npx @tanstack/intent@latest list` from the workspace root to see available local skills.
- If a listed skill matches the task, run `npx @tanstack/intent@latest load <package>#<skill>` before changing files.
- Use the loaded `SKILL.md` guidance while making the change.
- Monorepos: when working across packages, run the skill check from the workspace root and prefer the local skill for the package being changed.
- Multiple matches: prefer the most specific local skill for the package or concern you are changing; load additional skills only when the task spans multiple packages or concerns.

<!-- intent-skills:end -->

Keep the block near the top of the config file so your agent sees it before task-specific instructions.

You can inspect and load Hotkeys skills yourself with the same commands:

npx @tanstack/intent@latest list
npx @tanstack/intent@latest load @tanstack/react-hotkeys#react-hotkeys
npx @tanstack/intent@latest load @tanstack/hotkeys#hotkeys-core

For dialogs that stack or nest scopes, follow the loaded entry point's link to references/scopes.md. The load command resolves relative Markdown links to the installed package, including when your package manager uses nested dependency paths.

If you prefer explicit task-to-skill entries, run npx @tanstack/intent@latest install --map. Mapping mode scans your installed intent-enabled packages and writes compact id, run, and for entries into the managed block.

Step 4: Confirm It's Wired Up#

Open a fresh session in your coding agent and ask it to build something with TanStack Hotkeys, for example: "Add Mod+S to save the document, and a dialog that closes with Escape, using TanStack Hotkeys."

You should see:

• The agent registers shortcuts with the adapter API, such as useHotkey('Mod+S', ...), instead of a keydown listener.
• It uses Mod and formatForDisplay instead of isMac checks and hand-written ⌘/Ctrl labels.
• It relies on the defaults for text inputs and preventDefault instead of reimplementing them.
• The dialog's Escape is registered inside an exclusive scope with a per-instance name, instead of a "shortcuts enabled" flag.
• Shortcuts that need a help dialog carry meta: { name }, or are declared as app hotkeys.

If the agent still writes its own key handling, reopen its config file and confirm the intent-skills block is present. You can also run intent list to confirm that the installed Hotkeys packages are detected and intent load to inspect the matching guidance directly.

Keeping Skills Current#

Skills are versioned with each package. When you update your TanStack Hotkeys packages, the SKILL.md files under node_modules update with them. No CLI rerun is needed. If you use explicit mappings, rerun npx @tanstack/intent@latest install --map after adding another intent-enabled package, or when you want to refresh the mappings.

Using Skills Without the CLI#

If you'd rather wire skills in yourself, reference them directly from node_modules in any agent config file. The minimum your agent needs is a pointer to the relevant files:

When working on keyboard shortcuts with TanStack Hotkeys, read and follow:
node_modules/@tanstack/hotkeys/skills/hotkeys-core/SKILL.md
node_modules/@tanstack/react-hotkeys/skills/react-hotkeys/SKILL.md

With pnpm, @tanstack/hotkeys isn't hoisted to the top-level node_modules, so the first path doesn't exist. Use the CLI, or point at the core package inside node_modules/.pnpm.

The CLI is recommended because it discovers installed packages automatically and stays consistent with the Agent Skills standard, but the underlying file paths are stable.

Learn More#

• TanStack Intent documentation, the CLI's full reference, including scaffold, validate, and CI setup for library maintainers.
• Agent Skills registry, where you can browse other intent-enabled packages.