Building on top of Autodesk Platform Services means navigating a rich but wide API surface. Getting any of it right the first time takes familiarity that developers new to APS rarely have on day one.
That's why the Autodesk Developer Advocacy team is launching a new open-source repository: https://github.com/autodesk-platform-services/skills, a growing collection of agent skills purpose-built for anyone who wants to build on top of our platform.
What are agent skills?
Agent skills are self-contained instruction sets (typically a collection of Markdown files) that teach an AI coding agent how to perform a specific, well-defined task. Think of them as portable domain expertise: instead of you re-explaining how APS authentication works every single time you start a new conversation, a skill carries that knowledge and guides the agent through the right steps automatically. Skills are composable, version-controllable, and shareable across a team. You can learn more about the format and best practices at agentskills.io.
Skills are supported by a growing number of AI coding agents. Claude Code has first-class support for them, and the broader ecosystem is converging on the same convention. You can also install and manage skills across agents using the skills CLI utility. Once a skill is installed, the agent can load and apply it automatically when your prompt calls for it, or you can trigger a skill explicitly using a command (e.g., /aps-mcp-server-gen).
Available skills
The collection is just getting started, but here's what's in it today:
aps-mcp-server-gen: Scaffold a custom MCP server for APS
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard for connecting AI agents to external tools and data sources. This skill generates a fully working MCP server that integrates with APS in your choice of:
- Language: Node.js/TypeScript, .NET/C#, or Python
- Transport: STDIO (for local clients like Claude Desktop) or Streamable HTTP (for cloud deployment)
- Authentication: 2-legged OAuth, Secure Service Accounts, or 3-legged OAuth
The skill doesn't produce a skeleton with TODOs. It generates complete, runnable code with auth setup, MCP tools, a test suite with mocked APS calls, and a README that walks you through connecting to an MCP client.
How to install skills
You can install skills globally (available in every project) or per-project.
Using the skills utility (recommended)
- Make sure you have Node.js installed, and the npx utility available in Bash or PowerShell
- Use the skills CLI to manage skills, for example:
# Install all APS skills globally
npx skills add --global autodesk-platform-services/skills
# ... or ...
# Install a single skill into the current project only
npx skills add --project autodesk-platform-services/skills --skill aps-mcp-server-gen
Manual installation on macOS
# Clone the skills repo
git clone https://github.com/autodesk-platform-services/skills.git aps-skills
# Install the aps-mcp-server-gen skill globally for Claude Code
cp -r aps-skills/skills/aps-mcp-server-gen ~/.claude/skills/
Manual installation on Windows
# Clone the skills repo
git clone https://github.com/autodesk-platform-services/skills.git aps-skills
# Install the aps-mcp-server-gen skill globally for Claude Code
Copy-Item -Recurse aps-skills\skills\aps-mcp-server-gen "$env:USERPROFILE\.claude\skills\"
Verify the installation
Once installed, simply describe what you want in your AI agent, something like "create an APS MCP server in Python", and the agent will automatically load the relevant skill and guide you through the rest.
See it in action
The video below shows a full walkthrough of installing the aps-mcp-server-gen skill and using it to scaffold a new MCP server from scratch in Claude Code: