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The repo ships three skills you can install independently: heygen-avatar, heygen-video, and heygen-translate. Most users want avatar + video together (they chain); install translate whenever you need to localize finished videos.
Fastest path — let the agent do it. Paste this into your agent and it handles everything (clone, auth, verify, first video):
Read https://raw.githubusercontent.com/heygen-com/skills/master/INSTALL_FOR_AGENTS.md
and follow it. Ask me for any API keys you need.

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Step 1 — Install the Skills

Works across 12+ agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, Copilot, Junie, Goose, OpenHands, Amp, Cline, OpenCode, Warp, and more). Requires GitHub CLI v2.90+. Writes to the correct directory for your agent automatically.
gh skill install heygen-com/skills heygen-avatar
gh skill install heygen-com/skills heygen-video
gh skill install heygen-com/skills heygen-translate
Project scope is the default. For user scope (every project on this machine), add --scope user. Pin to a release tag for reproducibility:
gh skill install heygen-com/skills heygen-avatar@v3.1.0 --pin

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Step 2 — Set Up Authentication

Pick the transport that matches how you want to be billed. The skills auto-detect which to use.
Recommended for agents, CI, and scripts. Get a key at app.heygen.com/api, then install the CLI and set the key:
curl -fsSL https://static.heygen.ai/cli/install.sh | bash
export HEYGEN_API_KEY=<your-key>
Verify:
heygen --version
heygen auth status
To persist the key across sessions, add the export line to your shell profile (~/.zshrc, ~/.bashrc), or run heygen auth login to store it at ~/.heygen/credentials. If HEYGEN_API_KEY is set, the skills use the CLI — no MCP probing.
Priority: If HEYGEN_API_KEY is set, the skills use the CLI. Otherwise they look for MCP tools. Set the key only if you want direct API access; otherwise use MCP. The skills require v3 only — never v1 or v2 endpoints.

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Step 3 — Create Your First Avatar and Video

With the skills installed and auth set, drive the full pipeline in two prompts:
1

Create your avatar

Use the heygen-avatar skill — from a description (default) or a photo:
Create my HeyGen avatar from this photo: [your photo]
The skill creates a persistent digital twin with a voice and saves an AVATAR-<NAME>.md file for reuse.
2

Make a video

Use the heygen-video skill — it picks up the avatar automatically:
Make a 30-60 second video of me introducing myself, casual tone.
The skill writes a script, runs the v3 Video Agent pipeline, and returns a share link.
3

(Optional) Localize it

Use the heygen-translate skill on any finished video:
Translate that video into Spanish and Japanese.
That’s it — the avatar persists, so every future video reuses it automatically.

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Requirements

  • A HeyGen account — sign in via MCP (OAuth) or with an API key for the CLI.
  • An AI agent that supports skills (Claude Code, OpenClaw, Codex, Cursor, or similar).
  • No runtime dependencies, packages, or build step.

Full install reference

Pinning, scopes, and per-agent paths are documented in the repo’s INSTALL.md.