Deno Development Skills

Modern Deno development knowledge for AI coding assistants. These skills teach your AI assistant how to build Deno applications using current best practices.

Skills

Skill	Description
deno	Core skill: dependency management, permissions, deno.json, the built-in toolchain, publishing
migrate-to-deno	Moving a Node, npm, Yarn, pnpm, or Bun project to Deno
deno-deploy	Deployment workflows for Deno Deploy
deno-frontend	Fresh framework, Preact components, Tailwind CSS
deno-sandbox	Safe code execution with @deno/sandbox

Targets Deno 2.9+.

Changed in 2.0

deno-guidance, deno-expert, and deno-project-templates have been merged into the single deno skill. Their content overlapped heavily, and project scaffolding is now handled by deno init rather than by pasted templates. If you installed any of the three individually, install deno instead.

Key Principles

1. Deno works like npm and bun - deno install reads package.json, deno add express installs from npm, node_modules and node: built-ins work. Migration is not a rewrite.
2. npm and JSR both work - use whichever has the package you need; JSR is a good default for new Deno-first code and the standard library (@std/*).
3. Built-in tools - deno fmt, deno lint, deno test, deno check replace prettier, eslint, jest, and tsc with no dependencies.
4. Permissions are the real difference - prefer scoped grants like --allow-net=example.com over -A.

Versioning

This project uses Semantic Versioning. When contributing changes:

When to Bump Versions

Change Type	Version Bump	Example
Breaking changes	MAJOR (1.0 → 2.0)	Fundamentally altering how a skill works
New features, significant updates	MINOR (1.1 → 1.2)	Adding new guidance, updating documentation
Typo fixes, small clarifications	PATCH (1.1.0 → 1.1.1)	Fixing formatting, correcting typos

Files to Update

When making changes, update the appropriate version numbers:

1. Skill-specific changes - Update the skill's version in its SKILL.md frontmatter
2. Plugin releases - Update version in both:
   • .claude-plugin/plugin.json
   • .claude-plugin/marketplace.json

For Contributors

• Include version bumps in your PRs when changing skill content
• Use conventional commits (e.g., feat:, fix:, docs:) to indicate change type
• When in doubt, bump the MINOR version for content changes

Installation

These skills follow the Agent Skills Specification.

Claude Code

Option 1: Install as a plugin

# Step 1: Add the marketplace
/plugin marketplace add denoland/skills

# Step 2: Install the plugin
/plugin install deno-skills@denoland-skills

Option 2: npx skills

Works across Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, and other skills-compatible agents:

# All skills
npx skills add denoland/skills

# Or just one
npx skills add denoland/skills --skill deno

Option 3: Manual installation

Copy the skills you want to use:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/denoland/skills.git /tmp/deno-skills

# Copy individual skills to your personal skills directory
cp -r /tmp/deno-skills/skills/deno ~/.claude/skills/
cp -r /tmp/deno-skills/skills/deno-deploy ~/.claude/skills/
# ... or copy all skills
cp -r /tmp/deno-skills/skills/* ~/.claude/skills/

# Or for project-specific installation
cp -r /tmp/deno-skills/skills/* .claude/skills/

Cursor

Note: Agent Skills in Cursor are currently only available in v2.4+.

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/denoland/skills.git /tmp/deno-skills

# Copy skills to your Cursor skills directory
cp -r /tmp/deno-skills/skills/* ~/.cursor/skills/

# Or for project-specific installation
cp -r /tmp/deno-skills/skills/* .cursor/skills/

VS Code with GitHub Copilot

Note: Agent Skills require the chat.useAgentSkills setting to be enabled (currently in preview).

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/denoland/skills.git /tmp/deno-skills

# Copy skills to your project's skills directory
mkdir -p .github/skills
cp -r /tmp/deno-skills/skills/* .github/skills/

# Or for personal installation
cp -r /tmp/deno-skills/skills/* ~/.copilot/skills/

To enable Agent Skills in VS Code:

1. Open VS Code Settings (Cmd/Ctrl + ,)
2. Search for chat.useAgentSkills
3. Enable the setting

Other Platforms

For other AI coding assistants that support the Agent Skills specification, copy the skill directories from skills/ to your platform's skills directory. Check your platform's documentation for the correct location.

Usage

Once installed, your AI assistant will automatically apply Deno best practices when:

• Working in projects with a deno.json file
• Creating new Deno applications
• Adding dependencies
• Deploying to Deno Deploy
• Building Fresh web applications
• Running user code in sandboxes

Documentation Resources

• Deno Documentation
• Fresh Framework
• JSR Package Registry
• Deno Deploy
• Agent Skills Specification

License

MIT License - see LICENSE