Amp: Frontier Coding Agent for Terminal and Editor

What is Amp?

Amp is a frontier coding agent that runs in your terminal and integrates with your editor. It uses multiple AI models for different tasks:

Amp evolves with new model releases — when better models ship, Amp uses them automatically.

Key Features

• Unconstrained token usage — No artificial limits on context
• Multi-model architecture — Right model for each task
• Terminal-native — Works from your command line
• Editor integration — VS Code, JetBrains, and more
• Skill system — Extend with SKILL.md files

How Amp Skills Work

Skills in Amp are packages of instructions and resources that teach the agent how to perform specific tasks. Amp includes built-in skills and supports custom ones at both project and user levels.

When you invoke a skill, Amp loads its instructions on-demand. Skills can bundle:

• Markdown documentation
• Scripts and templates
• MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers

Skill Precedence

Skills are discovered in this order (first match wins):

1. ~/.config/agents/skills/ — Global cross-agent skills
2. ~/.config/amp/skills/ — Global Amp-specific skills
3. .agents/skills/ — Project-specific cross-agent
4. .claude/skills/ — Project-specific (Claude format)
5. ~/.claude/skills/ — Global (Claude format)

Project-specific skills override user-wide, and both override built-in skills.

How to Install Skills on Amp

Option 1: CLI Command (Recommended)

Use amp skill add to install skills directly from GitHub:

amp skill add agentskill-sh/learn

This installs the /learn command, giving you access to 40,000+ skills mid-conversation.

For skills in a subdirectory:

amp skill add ampcode/amp-contrib/tmux

Option 2: Command Palette

1. Press Ctrl+O (or Cmd+O on macOS) to open the command palette
2. Type "skill add"
3. Enter the GitHub URL or owner/repo path

Option 3: Git Clone

Clone directly to your skills directory:

# Global installation
git clone https://github.com/agentskill-sh/learn.git ~/.config/amp/skills/learn

# Project-specific
git clone https://github.com/agentskill-sh/learn.git .agents/skills/learn

Skill File Structure

Each skill requires a directory with SKILL.md:

---
name: my-skill
description: What this skill does
---

# My Skill Instructions

Detailed instructions for Amp to follow...

The name must be unique within your skill directories.

Adding MCP Servers to Skills

Skills can bundle MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers via mcp.json:

{
  "chrome-devtools": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y", "chrome-devtools-mcp@latest"],
    "includeTools": ["navigate_*", "take_screenshot"]
  }
}

This loads MCP tools only when the skill is invoked, keeping your default tool list clean.

Managing Skills

List installed skills

amp skill list

Remove a skill

amp skill remove skill-name

From the command palette: Ctrl+O → "skill: remove"

Create a new skill

Amp includes a built-in building-skills skill:

/building-skills

This guides you through creating custom skills interactively.

Popular Amp Skills

Amp vs Claude Code vs Cursor

Amp excels at complex reasoning tasks with its deep mode and multi-model approach. Claude Code offers tight Anthropic integration. Cursor provides the smoothest editor experience.

FAQ

Sources:

• Amp Manual
• Amp Agent Skills Documentation