diff --git a/.changeset/22668-skills-readme-install.md b/.changeset/22668-skills-readme-install.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..50130190805
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/22668-skills-readme-install.md
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+---
+"@objectstack/skills": patch
+---
+
+docs(skills): both READMEs the package ships install the catalog from `@objectstack/skills` at the installed `@objectstack/spec`'s version, and name the GitHub path only as the `next` channel (#22668)
+
+Clause-②: no
+
+`README.md` (the npm page) and `dist/skills/README.md` (the catalog's front page, copied from the repository's `skills/README.md`) are the two READMEs this package ships. Both now give the same two-step install the docs give: `npm install --save-dev "@objectstack/skills@$(node -p "require('@objectstack/spec/package.json').version")"`, then `npx skills experimental_sync --agent claude-code -y` — the catalog's version is then the installed spec's.
+
+Before: the npm page taught a bare `npm install --save-dev @objectstack/skills`, which on a project depending on `@objectstack/spec` 17.x installs `18.0.0-next.0`, the next major's catalog (the registry's `latest`); its example named `@objectstack/skills@17.7.0`, a version that was never published; and it did not say that the sync skips every skill a `skills add` installed, which is every project `create-objectstack` scaffolded through `18.0.0-next.0`. The catalog's front page still taught `npx skills add objectstack-ai/objectstack/skills …` as the install command for existing projects.
+
+Both pages now state which versions exist (published from `18.0.0-next.0` on; no 17.x, so step 1 answers `ETARGET` there), the update story (bump `@objectstack/skills` with the other `@objectstack/*` packages, then re-run the sync), and the GitHub path once, as the `next` channel: the unreleased `main`, for trying the next version's skills, not for a released project. Nothing under `dist/skills/*/` changes.
diff --git a/packages/skills/README.md b/packages/skills/README.md
index 9c3611b1572..8c98f384b9d 100644
--- a/packages/skills/README.md
+++ b/packages/skills/README.md
@@ -11,34 +11,53 @@ that released this version.
 It is published from the Changesets `fixed` group, so its version is always the
 version of `@objectstack/spec`, `@objectstack/cli` and every other
 `@objectstack/*` package released with it. A project that depends on
-`@objectstack/skills@17.7.0` reads the skills written for `@objectstack/spec`
-17.7.0 — never the ones already teaching the next major, and never a catalog
-that has moved on since the project was created.
+`@objectstack/skills` at the version of its `@objectstack/spec` reads the skills
+written for that spec — never the ones already teaching the next major, and
+never a catalog that has moved on since the project was created.
 
 ## Installing the skills into an agent's directory
 
 The catalog is read from `node_modules`, so it follows the version the project
-depends on. With this package in `devDependencies`, the
-[skills CLI](https://www.npmjs.com/package/skills) syncs it into the detected
+depends on. Install it at the version of the `@objectstack/spec` your project
+has installed — the catalog's version is then your spec's — and let the
+[skills CLI](https://www.npmjs.com/package/skills) sync it into your coding
 agent's own skills directory (`.claude/skills/` for Claude Code, and so on):
 
 ```sh
-npm install --save-dev @objectstack/skills
-npx skills experimental_sync
+# 1 · the catalog, at the version of your installed @objectstack/spec
+npm install --save-dev "@objectstack/skills@$(node -p "require('@objectstack/spec/package.json').version")"
+
+# 2 · link it from node_modules into your agent's skills directory
+npx skills experimental_sync --agent claude-code -y
 ```
 
 `experimental_sync` discovers the skills at `dist/skills/<skill>/SKILL.md` of
-every dependency and links or copies them for the agent runtimes it detects
-(`--agent <name>` names one; `--copy` copies instead of linking). Re-running it
-after `pnpm up @objectstack/skills` — which moves with the rest of the
-`@objectstack/*` set — refreshes the installed catalog.
+every dependency and links each one into the named agent's skills directory
+(`--agent <name>` names the runtime — `codex`, `cursor`, …; `--copy` writes real
+files instead of links). Keep the version in step 1: a bare
+`npm install --save-dev @objectstack/skills` installs whichever version the
+registry tags `latest`, not your spec's.
+
+**Updating.** The catalog moves only with your ObjectStack version: bump
+`@objectstack/skills` with the other `@objectstack/*` packages, then re-run the
+sync (step 2, same flags).
+
+**Which versions exist.** The package is published from `18.0.0-next.0` on;
+there is no 17.x release of it, so on a project whose `@objectstack/spec` is
+17.x step 1 refuses with `ETARGET` (`No matching version found`).
+
+**Projects scaffolded by `create-objectstack`.** Through `18.0.0-next.0` the
+scaffolder installs the skills from the `next` channel below with `skills add`,
+and step 2 skips every skill a `skills add` installed (it prints `Skipped …
+installed with skills add`). Remove them first — `npx skills remove --all`, or
+name the `objectstack-*` skills if you added others — then run steps 1 and 2.
 
 ## The `next` channel
 
 The repository's `skills/` tree on `main` is the catalog of the **next**
 release. `npx skills add objectstack-ai/objectstack/skills --skill '*' --agent claude-code -y`
-reads it directly from GitHub — for trying the skills of the version that is
-not published yet, not for a released project.
+reads it straight from the repository's unreleased `main` — for trying the next
+version's skills, not for a released project.
 
 ## How the tree is produced
 
@@ -51,5 +70,5 @@ of truth, reviewed and gated there.
 
 ## Related
 
-- [Skills reference](https://objectstack.ai/docs/ai/skills-reference) — every skill in the catalog, with what it covers.
+- [Skills reference](https://objectstack.ai/docs/ai/skills-reference#installing-skills) — every skill in the catalog, with what it covers, and the install reference.
 - [`@objectstack/spec`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@objectstack/spec) — the schemas the skills point at (`node_modules/@objectstack/spec/src/**/*.zod.ts`), shipped at the same version.
diff --git a/skills/README.md b/skills/README.md
index 23a3453dd17..fca5f43e0d0 100644
--- a/skills/README.md
+++ b/skills/README.md
@@ -2,23 +2,25 @@
 
 Domain-scoped instructions for AI coding assistants (Claude Code, Copilot, Cursor)
 working in **any ObjectStack app** — this monorepo *and* third-party projects.
-`npm create objectstack` installs them into new apps automatically; existing
-projects add (or update) the bundle with:
+They ship as the npm package `@objectstack/skills`, released with the other
+`@objectstack/*` packages at one shared version. Install it at your installed
+`@objectstack/spec`'s version — the catalog's version is then your spec's — and
+sync it from `node_modules` into your agent's directory:
 
 ```bash
-npx skills add objectstack-ai/objectstack/skills --skill '*' --agent claude-code -y
+npm install --save-dev "@objectstack/skills@$(node -p "require('@objectstack/spec/package.json').version")"
+npx skills experimental_sync --agent claude-code -y
 ```
 
-Name your own runtime after `--agent` (`codex`, `cursor`, …) — the bundle is
-byte-identical whichever you name, and it lands **once**, in that agent's own
-directory (`.claude/skills/` for `claude-code`). Replacing
-`--skill '*' --agent claude-code -y` with `--all` is the multi-runtime opt-in:
-it installs for every runtime the CLI knows and writes the bundle to **three**
-destinations instead of one — a full real copy in **both** `.agents/` and
-`agent/`, plus `.claude/` symlinks pointing into `.agents/`.
+Name your own runtime after `--agent` (`codex`, `cursor`, …). To update, bump
+`@objectstack/skills` with the other `@objectstack/*` packages, then re-run the
+sync. The package is published from `18.0.0-next.0` on (there is no 17.x release);
+`--copy`, projects scaffolded by `npm create objectstack` and the rest are in the
+[Skills reference](https://objectstack.ai/docs/ai/skills-reference#installing-skills).
 
-The `/skills` subpath matters: it is the published catalog boundary — pointing
-the skills CLI at the repo root would also pick up repo-internal skills.
+**The `next` channel.** `npx skills add objectstack-ai/objectstack/skills --skill '*' --agent claude-code -y`
+reads the catalog straight from the repository's unreleased `main` — for trying
+the next version's skills, not for a released project.
 
 Each **domain** skill is self-contained: a `SKILL.md` with YAML frontmatter, plus a
 `references/_index.md` that points into the authoritative Zod sources in