diff --git a/.changeset/skill-install-frontmatter.md b/.changeset/skill-install-frontmatter.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9ec40f79
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/skill-install-frontmatter.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"clerk": patch
+---
+
+Fix `clerk skill install` failing with `No valid skills found` on published releases. The bundled skill's frontmatter now parses as strict YAML.
diff --git a/packages/cli-core/src/commands/skill/install.test.ts b/packages/cli-core/src/commands/skill/install.test.ts
index c3338677..73b13be1 100644
--- a/packages/cli-core/src/commands/skill/install.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli-core/src/commands/skill/install.test.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { test, expect, describe } from "bun:test";
 import { existsSync } from "node:fs";
 import { readFile, stat } from "node:fs/promises";
 import { join } from "node:path";
+import YAML from "yaml";
 import { buildSkillsArgs, renderSkillVersionPlaceholder, withStagedClerkSkill } from "./install.ts";
 
 describe("buildSkillsArgs", () => {
@@ -136,6 +137,27 @@ describe("withStagedClerkSkill version rendering", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("bundled SKILL.md frontmatter", () => {
+  // Regression guard: the upstream `skills` CLI parses SKILL.md frontmatter as
+  // strict YAML and silently drops skills whose frontmatter fails to parse.
+  // An unquoted `: ` inside the description (e.g. `raw HTTP: it handles`)
+  // triggers "Nested mappings are not allowed in compact mappings" and makes
+  // `clerk skill install` fail with "No valid skills found".
+  test("parses as YAML with name and description strings", async () => {
+    await withStagedClerkSkill(undefined, async (stageDir) => {
+      const content = await readFile(join(stageDir, "clerk/SKILL.md"), "utf8");
+      const frontmatter = content.match(/^---\n([\s\S]*?)\n---/)?.[1];
+      expect(frontmatter, "SKILL.md must have YAML frontmatter").toBeDefined();
+
+      const parsed = YAML.parse(frontmatter!);
+      expect(typeof parsed.name).toBe("string");
+      expect(typeof parsed.description).toBe("string");
+      expect(parsed.name.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+      expect(parsed.description.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    });
+  });
+});
+
 describe("renderSkillVersionPlaceholder", () => {
   test("replaces {{CLI_VERSION}} with the provided version", () => {
     const result = renderSkillVersionPlaceholder("Pinned: `bunx clerk@{{CLI_VERSION}}`.", "1.2.3");
diff --git a/skills/clerk/SKILL.md b/skills/clerk/SKILL.md
index 9d09b88f..0ce9f6f3 100644
--- a/skills/clerk/SKILL.md
+++ b/skills/clerk/SKILL.md
@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 ---
 name: clerk
-description: Operate the Clerk CLI (`clerk` binary) for authentication, user/org/session management, instance config, env keys, and any Clerk Backend or Platform API call. Use when the user mentions Clerk management tasks, "list clerk users", "create a clerk user", "update organization", "pull clerk config", "clerk env pull", "clerk doctor", "clerk api", or any ad-hoc Clerk API request. Prefer the CLI over raw HTTP: it handles auth, key resolution, app/instance targeting, and formatting automatically.
+description: >-
+  Operate the Clerk CLI (`clerk` binary) for authentication, user/org/session management,
+  instance config, env keys, and any Clerk Backend or Platform API call. Use when the user
+  mentions Clerk management tasks, "list clerk users", "create a clerk user", "update
+  organization", "pull clerk config", "clerk env pull", "clerk doctor", "clerk api", or
+  any ad-hoc Clerk API request. Prefer the CLI over raw HTTP: it handles auth, key
+  resolution, app/instance targeting, and formatting automatically.
 ---
 
 # Clerk CLI