Install SurgePix Skills

SurgePix Skills let your AI agent—Claude Code, Cursor, and others—call SurgePix design tools directly from your workflow: generate presentations and posters, remove backgrounds, and more.

There are two installation routes. Pick one—the two configure your API key differently, so don't mix them.

Before you start

• Local AI Agent installed — Claude Code/Codex CLI /Cursor/Gemini CLI/OpenClaw or another agent supporting the SKILL.md standard installed.
• Node.js installed — node -v should print a version.
• A SurgePix API key — create one at surgepix.ai.
• Network access to GitHub and api.surgepix.ai .

Route A — npx (recommended)

The quickest way, and the easiest to keep updated.

1. Install

npx skills add SurgePix/agent-skills

The installer asks a few questions:

When you see Installation complete, you're done.

2. Add your API key (environment variable)

With npx, store your key as an environment variable so it works everywhere.

Windows (PowerShell):

[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("SURGEPIX_API_KEY", "your-key", "User")

Close and reopen PowerShell for it to take effect.

macOS / Linux (zsh):

echo 'export SURGEPIX_API_KEY=your-key' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

3. Verify

echo $env:SURGEPIX_API_KEY

(macOS / Linux: echo $SURGEPIX_API_KEY.) If your key prints, you're set.

Updating

npx skills add SurgePix/agent-skills

Re-run to pull the latest—no clone or copy needed.

Route B — Manual clone

Use this if you want the configuration to live with a project. It sets the key with a .env file.

1. Clone and enter the repo

git clone https://github.com/SurgePix/agent-skills.git
cd agent-skills

2. Copy the skills to your agent's folder

Example for Claude Code on Windows:

Get-ChildItem skills\surgepix-* -Directory | Copy-Item -Destination "$env:USERPROFILE\.claude\skills" -Recurse -Force

Target folders by agent:

3. Add your API key (.env file)

Do this inside the agent-skills repo folder—that's where .env.example lives.

cp .env.example .env

Open .env, find this line, and put your key right after the = (no quotes, no spaces):

SURGEPIX_API_KEY=sk-your-actual-key

Save and close.

4. Verify

node surgepix-setup/scripts/check_env.mjs

This verify command only works in the manually cloned repo (the script lives inside it). If you installed with npx, the folder layout differs and this will report Cannot find module—use Route A's environment-variable check instead.

Updating

git pull

Then copy the skills again.

Which route should I use?

Don't mix the two routes' key setup and verification. If you installed with npx, verify with the environment variable; only the cloned repo can run check_env.mjs.

Keep your API key private

Your API key works like a password. Never share it or let it appear in screenshots, recordings, or public repositories. If a key is ever exposed, revoke and reset it immediately at surgepix.ai.

Source and feedback: github.com/SurgePix/agent-skills