# Matt Pocock's skills: a trending AI skills publisher Matt Pocock's mattpocock/skills repository contains 38 agent skills in the skill-sets.md directory, 13 of them in the top 25. Here is what they do and how they rank, from directory data on 28 October 2026. Author: Harry Martin Published: 2026-10-28 Tags: publishers, trending, engineering URL: https://skill-sets.md/articles/publishers/matt-pocock-skills/ --- One repository of AI skills keeps appearing at the top of the [skill-sets.md skills directory](https://skill-sets.md/skills/): `mattpocock/skills`, published by Matt Pocock, the TypeScript educator behind Total TypeScript. This article looks at what the repository contains and how its skills rank, using the directory's public data. > **About the figures** > > Every figure here comes from the skill-sets.md directory on 28 October 2026. Figures and ranks may change over time. ## The repository at a glance On 28 October 2026 we tracked **38 skills** from `mattpocock/skills`. Of those: - **13** were in the top 25, and **23** in the top 100; - **20** had passed 700,000 total installs; - every one of the 38 have gained **meteoric** status, which marks skills that have recently become very popular. The most installed, `grill-me`, ranked **2nd** in our directory with 1.4m+ installs, behind only `vercel-labs/skills/find-skills`. ## The most installed skills | Rank | Skill | Installs | Last 7 days | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 2 | grill-me | 1.4m+ | +30k | | 6 | grill-with-docs | 1.2m+ | +30k | | 7 | improve-codebase-architecture | 1.1m+ | +30k | | 8 | tdd | 1.1m+ | +30k | | 11 | setup-matt-pocock-skills | 1m+ | +20k | | 12 | handoff | 1m+ | +30k | | 15 | triage | 1m+ | +20k | | 17 | prototype | 1m+ | +20k | | 18 | grilling | 1m+ | +30k | | 21 | domain-modeling | 890k+ | +30k | | 22 | teach | 870k+ | +20k | | 23 | codebase-design | 860k+ | +30k | | 24 | diagnosing-bugs | 850k+ | +20k | ## What the skills do The descriptions below are quoted or closely paraphrased from each skill's own description in the directory. ### Interviewing and planning The best-known skills question the user before any code is written. - Skill: [grill-me](https://skill-sets.md/skills/mattpocock/skills/grill-me/) `grill-me` is "a relentless interview to sharpen a plan or design". `grill-with-docs` runs the same interview and "also creates docs (ADR's and glossary) as we go". `grilling` stress-tests "a plan, decision, or idea", and `loop-me` grills the user "about specs for the workflows I want to build". A group of skills turns that thinking into work items. `to-spec` turns the current conversation into a spec and publishes it to the project issue tracker. `to-tickets` breaks a plan or spec into "tracer-bullet tickets", each declaring its blocking edges. `wayfinder` plans "a huge chunk of work (more than one agent session can hold)" as a map of decision tickets, and `to-questionnaire` turns an open decision into a questionnaire for someone else to fill in. ### Engineering practice - Skill: [tdd](https://skill-sets.md/skills/mattpocock/skills/tdd/) `tdd` is for building features or fixing bugs test-first. `improve-codebase-architecture` scans a codebase for "deepening opportunities" and presents them as an HTML report. `codebase-design` gives a shared vocabulary for designing deep modules, and `setup-ts-deep-modules` wires dependency-cruiser into a TypeScript repository to enforce them. `diagnosing-bugs` is a diagnosis loop for hard bugs and performance regressions, `code-review` reviews changes against the repository's standards and its spec, and `domain-modeling` maintains a project's glossary and architecture decision records. ### Working with agents `handoff` compacts the current conversation into a document for another agent, and `claude-handoff` hands the conversation to a fresh background agent. `triage` moves issues and pull requests through a state machine and writes "agent-ready briefs". `ask-matt` is a router that suggests which skill fits the situation, and `setup-matt-pocock-skills` configures a repository (issue tracker, triage labels, domain docs) before the other skills are used. ### Writing and teaching `teach` teaches a new skill or concept within the workspace. Three writing skills split drafting into stages: `writing-fragments` (explore raw material), `writing-shape` and `writing-beats` (shape it into an article). `writing-for-agents` covers writing skills and files such as AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md. ## What is gaining ground The newest additions are lower in the all-time table but growing quickly. On 28 October 2026, `chief-of-staff`, which pursues "a long-running goal in a single session by co-ordinating subagents", had 20k+ installs and had grown by about 25% in seven days. `implement-spec` and `retro` had each passed 50k installs, and `pr`, for writing pull request bodies, had 3k+. ## Translations and community We fold copies of a skill into data point. Matt Pocock's skills have been popular enough to drive community translations, such as `vinvcn/mattpocock-skills-zh-cn`, with 34 skills listed in the directory. ## Security and licence Each skill page lists the directory's own scan and partner audits. For `grill-me`, on 28 October 2026, our's, and all five external scans (Gen Agent Trust Hub, Socket, Snyk, Runlayer and ZeroLeaks) had passed. The skill has two files, declares no external dependencies and no `allowed-tools`, and does not declare a licence. Check the licence and the audits for each skill you plan to use, because they differ from skill to skill. ## Installing the skills A single skill installs with the command on its page, for example: ```sh npx skills add mattpocock/skills --skill grill-me ``` Several of these skills are also pinned, at release v1.2.3, in the hosted [codebase-quality-toolkit](https://skill-sets.md/sets/codebase-quality-toolkit/) skill-set: `diagnosing-bugs`, `improve-codebase-architecture`, `code-review`, `codebase-design`, `grill-me`, `grilling` and `wayfinder`. The set installs in one command: - Skill-set: [codebase-quality-toolkit](https://skill-sets.md/sets/codebase-quality-toolkit/) ```sh npx @skill-set/cli add codebase-quality-toolkit ``` To see the current figures, search the [skills directory](https://skill-sets.md/skills/?q=mattpocock&search=exact) for `mattpocock`, or ask an agent connected to the [skill-sets MCP server](https://skill-sets.md/mcp-connection-guide/) to get up-to-date metrics at any time.