Use the Appllama MCP (mcp.appllama.io) well — research real top-grossing mobile apps, their screens, flows, and UI elements, then build from what you learn. Load when the Appllama MCP is connected and
Install
The skill file stays in the publisher's repository.
Paste the copied command in a terminal. It installs this SKILL.md into that agent.
npx skills add Appllama/appllama-skills --skill appllama-usage -a cursor -y
Use the Appllama MCP (mcp.appllama.io) well — research real top-grossing mobile apps, their screens, flows, and UI elements, then build from what you learn. Load when the Appllama MCP is connected and the task involves building a mobile app or screen, researching app design patterns, studying onboarding/paywall/feature flows, improving an existing screen, or whenever an appllama_* / search_apps / list_app_screens tool is available. Covers the tool map, pagination, expiring media, and the full build-from-research playbooks.
name: appllama-usage
description: Use the Appllama MCP (mcp.appllama.io) well — research real top-grossing mobile apps, their screens, flows, and UI elements, then build from what you learn. Load when the Appllama MCP is connected and the task involves building a mobile app or screen, researching app design patterns, studying onboarding/paywall/feature flows, improving an existing screen, or whenever an appllama_* / search_apps / list_app_screens tool is available. Covers the tool map, pagination, expiring media, and the full build-from-research playbooks.
license: MIT
metadata:
author: Appllama (appllama.io)
version: 1.1.0
Appllama Usage Skill
Appllama is the design library of top-grossing mobile apps — their real
screens, flows, and UI patterns, with revenue and download context. The MCP
puts that library in an agent's hands: not just a research tool, a builder's
tool. You study what already wins, then you build something better.
Pair this skill with appllama-app-design-skill for every design/implementation
step — this skill tells you what to study; that one tells you how to build.
Ground rules (read first)
Start with get_credits — it's free. It tells you the balance,
limits, and reset date. Pro includes 1,500 credits a month (they reset in
full on the 1st, UTC); every other call spends 1 credit.
Go deep. Design language lives in the whole journey, not a sample —
walk every screen of the apps that matter for the task, images included.
That is exactly what the library is for. The one thing that's against the
terms is harvesting: sweeping the catalog to extract the dataset itself
rather than to answer a real task. That isn't research, and it's detected
server-side.
Media URLs expire in ~1 hour. Download/view what you study promptly.
If links died mid-task, re-request that page for fresh ones — screen ids
are durable, links are not.
Ignore the watermark. Every Appllama image and video carries a small
Appllama watermark in the top-left corner. It is provenance, not part of
the screen — don't let it skew your read of that corner (status bar,
back button, title), and never reproduce it in anything you build.
Pagination is sequential. Every list response carries next_cursor;
pass it back to continue. You cannot jump to page N — and a cursor only
works for the same query that minted it. If a cursor errors, drop it and
restart from page one.
If you hit a rate limit, wait it out. The per-minute and per-day
limits sit far above real research; on the rare hit, wait the stated
time — don't retry-hammer.
Errors are instructions. Tool errors are written to be acted on
(expired cursor → restart; out of credits → tell the user their credits
reset on the 1st and they can request more in Settings → Usage).
One app in full: ratings breakdown, category rank, IAP pricing, top countries, flows
Decide if an app deserves a deep study
list_app_screens
10 screens/page in journey order (welcome → onboarding → paywall → product), each with media URL, flow, UI elements, colors. Filter by flow or section
Walk an app screen by screen
search_screens
Screens across the whole library. mode="keyword" matches screen names + filters (flow, screen_type, element, app_id); mode="semantic" searches by meaning/visual language
Gather design references for one screen type
get_screen
One screen in full + up to 5 visually similar screens from other apps. Accepts screen_ref = app_id/screen_id (what appllama.io's "Copy Screen ID" produces)
The user pasted a screen ref; or drill into one reference
list_flows
The flow taxonomy with screen/app counts
Discover what flows exist for a category
get_flow_apps
Apps containing a flow, top revenue first
Find the best examples of one flow
list_ui_elements
~38 UI-element families with counts (one call)
Vocabulary for element-level research
get_element_screens
Screens featuring an element family
Study how winners build one component
list_my_boards
The member's own appllama.io boards (screens / apps / flows)
Find their curation first
get_board
A board's full contents: screens with media, app profiles, or (app, flow) pairs
When the member curated a board for the task, START from it
The screen_ref handshake: members can click "Copy Screen ID" on any
screen at appllama.io and paste it to you. It looks like
1393061654/spl_9i075 — feed it straight to
get_screen(screen_ref=...) and you're looking at exactly the screen they
mean, plus its closest siblings across the library.
The playbooks
Scenario
Reference
Build an app from scratch (e.g. "build me a habit tracker")
Both build playbooks end the same way: the simulator loop from
appllama-app-design-skill, repeated until you cannot find a flaw. Research
without that loop is decoration.
Local reference boards
When you pull screens for study, save them into a local working structure —
links expire in about an hour, but your notes and downloads don't:
research/
<category>/
apps.md # the shortlist: metrics, flows, verdicts
<app-name>/
screens.md # per-screen notes: id, name, flow, elements, colors
img/ # downloaded screens, in journey order
patterns.md # cross-app synthesis: the category's design language
Download the screens as you study them — synthesis happens with the images
side by side, not from metadata. Notes and screen IDs are durable; re-fetch
a fresh link from the ID if you ever need the pixels again.
How do I install appllama-usage?
Download skills/appllama-usage/SKILL.md from the publisher, or copy the path and open the repository. PlugMCP lists the skill and does not host the file.
Where does appllama-usage live?
The publisher keeps it at https://github.com/Appllama/appllama-skills.
Which agents can use appllama-usage?
Claude, Cursor, and Codex can read a SKILL.md you add from the publisher's repository.