ask-techsoup

An AI skill that answers questions about technology discounts and donations available to nonprofits worldwide — a catalog vetted and maintained by TechSoup — by querying the live product catalog, never from memory.

Answers questions about technology discounts and donations available to nonprofits — no matter where they are — by querying the live product catalog at https://offercenter.techsoup.org/resources/data/products.json. This catalog is third-party vendor offers that TechSoup vets and maintains (not TechSoup's own technology offerings). Eligibility is per-offer: most are open worldwide, some are restricted to specific countries — the skill always checks each offer's own eligible_countries rather than assuming one. It never answers from memory: pricing, discount tiers, and eligibility change, so it always fetches fresh.

Currently private to TechSoup and invited partners; the plan is to open this up more broadly (other orgs, or a public release) once it's proven out here. This repo is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 — see LICENSE — so anyone it's shared with is free to reuse and adapt it as long as derivatives carry the same license and give attribution.

Get started

Pick the AI tool you use — each is a separate install, and none of them sync with each other:

I use...	It's a...	Go to
Claude Code	developer terminal tool	Claude Code
Claude Desktop / claude.ai	regular chat app	Claude Desktop / claude.ai
Gemini CLI	developer terminal tool	Gemini CLI
Google Antigravity	developer/agentic IDE	Google Antigravity
Codex CLI	developer terminal tool	Codex CLI (OpenAI)
GitHub Copilot	developer terminal tool / IDE	GitHub Copilot
ChatGPT	regular chat app	ChatGPT (Custom GPT)
Microsoft 365 Copilot (Word, Excel, SharePoint, OneDrive)	regular chat app, built into Office	Microsoft 365 Copilot — untested

Not sure which is yours? If you type commands in a terminal, use the CLI/IDE row for your tool. If you just open a website or app and type in a chat box, use Claude Desktop/claude.ai, ChatGPT, or Microsoft 365 Copilot.

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Claude Code

Distributed as a Claude Code plugin via this repo's marketplace manifest.

Requires:

• Read access to this repo on GitHub.
• Git installed and on PATH. If /plugin marketplace add fails with Command 'git' not found, git is either not installed or wasn't added to PATH. On Windows, this happens if the Git for Windows installer's PATH option was set to something other than the recommended one — re-run the Git for Windows installer and choose "Git from the command line and also from 3rd-party software", or add C:\Program Files\Git\cmd to PATH yourself via Environment Variables — then fully close and reopen your terminal (and Claude Code) before retrying. (No git, or don't want to deal with it? See the fallback below.)

Enter these one command at a time — type or paste only the first line, press Enter, wait for it to confirm, then do the second. Pasting both lines together can make some terminals merge them into a single invalid command:

1. /plugin marketplace add TechSoup/ask-techsoup
2. /plugin install ask-techsoup@ask-techsoup

After a new push, run /plugin install ask-techsoup@ask-techsoup again to pull the latest version — /plugin marketplace update alone only refreshes the marketplace listing, it doesn't update a plugin you've already installed.

Use it with:

/ask-techsoup what security tools are discounted for nonprofits?

No git, or the plugin install is giving you trouble?

Skip the marketplace entirely and add it as a plain skill folder instead — no git, no GitHub clone, no plugin system involved:

1. Download two files from this repo on GitHub, each via the download icon at the top right of the file view (next to "Raw") — save both to your Downloads folder:

   • SKILL.md
   • references/takeaway-template.md

2. In the same terminal where Claude Code is running, just ask Claude directly to place them for you:

   Move SKILL.md from my Downloads folder to ~/.claude/skills/ask-techsoup/SKILL.md, and move takeaway-template.md to ~/.claude/skills/ask-techsoup/references/takeaway-template.md, creating any folders that don't exist.

   Claude Code has file access and will create the folders and move the files for you — no manual navigation, no git required.

3. Close and reopen Claude Code so it picks up the new skill.

4. Use it the same way — ask a question, or /ask-techsoup <question>.

Source: SKILL.md, references/takeaway-template.md

Claude Desktop / claude.ai

Skills are added per-person — there's no org-wide install yet, so each person repeats these steps. This skill is two files (SKILL.md plus a references/ folder), so it's installed as a zip regardless of which upload path you use below.

1. Build the zip

1. Download both files from GitHub, each via the download icon at the top right of the file view (next to "Raw") — don't use "Download ZIP" from the repo's main page, that downloads the whole repo, which you don't need:
   • SKILL.md
   • references/takeaway-template.md
2. Create a folder named exactly ask-techsoup, put SKILL.md directly inside it, then create a references subfolder inside that and put takeaway-template.md there — so you end up with:

   ask-techsoup/
     SKILL.md
     references/
       takeaway-template.md
   

3. Compress the ask-techsoup folder:
   • Mac: right-click ask-techsoup → Compress "ask-techsoup" → this creates ask-techsoup.zip next to it.
   • Windows: right-click ask-techsoup → Send to → Compressed (zipped) folder → this creates ask-techsoup.zip next to it.

2. Upload it

• Claude Desktop app, if you have "Customize" in the left sidebar: Customize → add a skill → upload ask-techsoup.zip.
• claude.ai in a browser, or no "Customize" yet: Settings → Features → Skills → + → Create skill → upload ask-techsoup.zip.

3. Turn on network access

The skill needs this to reach offercenter.techsoup.org for live pricing/eligibility: Settings → Capabilities → turn on "Code execution and file creation" → also turn on network access for code execution. If this is greyed out, your workspace admin controls it — ask them to enable network access for code execution.

Using it

Just ask Claude a question about TechSoup offers — no slash command, it triggers automatically when relevant.

If it doesn't work: if Claude replies that it can't reach the TechSoup catalog, network access for code execution is almost certainly off — see step 3 above, or ask your workspace admin to enable it org-wide.

Source: SKILL.md, references/takeaway-template.md

Gemini CLI

Uses the same Agent Skills folder convention as Claude Code.

1. Download both SKILL.md and references/takeaway-template.md from this repo (open each on GitHub, click the download icon at the top right of the file view, next to "Raw").
2. Create a folder named ask-techsoup, put SKILL.md inside it, and put takeaway-template.md inside a references subfolder within it (so ask-techsoup/references/takeaway-template.md). Place that folder at ~/.gemini/skills/ask-techsoup/ (available in every project) or .gemini/skills/ask-techsoup/ inside one project (that project only).
3. Restart Gemini CLI if it doesn't pick the skill up immediately.

Use it by asking a question about TechSoup offers — it triggers automatically when relevant.

Source: SKILL.md, references/takeaway-template.md

Google Antigravity

Also uses the Agent Skills folder convention.

1. Download both SKILL.md and references/takeaway-template.md from this repo (open each on GitHub, click the download icon at the top right of the file view, next to "Raw").
2. Create a folder named ask-techsoup, put SKILL.md inside it, and put takeaway-template.md inside a references subfolder within it (so ask-techsoup/references/takeaway-template.md). Place that folder at .agent/skills/ask-techsoup/ inside your project (shareable with your team via git) or ~/.gemini/antigravity/skills/ask-techsoup/ for every project on your machine.

Use it by asking a question about TechSoup offers — it triggers automatically when relevant.

Source: SKILL.md, references/takeaway-template.md

Codex CLI (OpenAI)

Codex CLI also supports the same SKILL.md convention.

1. Download both SKILL.md and references/takeaway-template.md from this repo (open each on GitHub, click the download icon at the top right of the file view, next to "Raw").
2. Create a folder named ask-techsoup, put SKILL.md inside it, and put takeaway-template.md inside a references subfolder within it (so ask-techsoup/references/takeaway-template.md). Place that folder at ~/.codex/skills/ask-techsoup/ (every project) or .agents/skills/ask-techsoup/ inside one project.
3. Restart Codex CLI if it doesn't pick the skill up immediately.

Use it by asking a question about TechSoup offers — it triggers automatically when relevant.

Source: SKILL.md, references/takeaway-template.md

GitHub Copilot

Copilot added support for the same SKILL.md convention in April 2026. Works the same way in both GitHub Copilot CLI and GitHub Copilot in VS Code.

1. Download both SKILL.md and references/takeaway-template.md from this repo (open each on GitHub, click the download icon at the top right of the file view, next to "Raw").
2. Create a folder named ask-techsoup, put SKILL.md inside it, and put takeaway-template.md inside a references subfolder within it (so ask-techsoup/references/takeaway-template.md). Place that folder at ~/.copilot/skills/ask-techsoup/ (every project) or .github/skills/ask-techsoup/ inside one project (shareable with your team via git; also recognized: .claude/skills/ or .agents/skills/).
3. Restart Copilot (CLI) or reload the window (VS Code) if it doesn't pick the skill up immediately.

Use it by asking a question about TechSoup offers — it triggers automatically when relevant.

Source: SKILL.md, references/takeaway-template.md

ChatGPT (Custom GPT)

The most different of the bunch — ChatGPT doesn't run a terminal, so instead of fetching the data itself it calls a pre-defined Action (basically a single API call) that's already set up for you. No coding required, just copy/paste into ChatGPT's builder.

Full click-by-click steps: chatgpt/README.md

Source: chatgpt/instructions.md and chatgpt/action-schema.yaml

Microsoft 365 Copilot (untested)

⚠️ These steps haven't been run end-to-end against a real tenant yet. They're written from Microsoft's documentation, not from a confirmed working setup — expect to troubleshoot. Update this section (and remove this warning) once someone's verified it works.

A different product from GitHub Copilot, and from every other row in this table — it's the Copilot built into Word, Excel, SharePoint, and OneDrive. It doesn't read SKILL.md; it needs an agent built in Microsoft Copilot Studio, with instructions plus a tool that calls the live TechSoup feed — architecturally closer to the ChatGPT Custom GPT above than to the SKILL.md surfaces. Unlike the ChatGPT version, this isn't self-serve per employee: it requires a Copilot Studio maker license to build and a Microsoft 365 admin's sign-off to publish org-wide.

Full click-by-click steps: m365-copilot/README.md

Source: m365-copilot/instructions.md and m365-copilot/api-spec.yaml

---

Repo layout

SKILL.md                                                            # single source of truth for the skill's logic — every
                                                                     # surface except ChatGPT points straight at this file
references/takeaway-template.md                                     # loaded on demand (progressive disclosure) — only read when
                                                                     # actually building a takeaway document, see SKILL.md §5

scripts/sync-skills.sh                                              # regenerates the Claude Code plugin copy from SKILL.md + references/

.claude-plugin/marketplace.json                                     # Claude Code marketplace manifest
plugins/ask-techsoup/.claude-plugin/plugin.json                     # Claude Code plugin manifest
plugins/ask-techsoup/skills/ask-techsoup/SKILL.md                   # generated — required by the Claude Code plugin system,
                                                                     # which needs the file at this exact path
plugins/ask-techsoup/skills/ask-techsoup/references/                # generated — mirrored verbatim from references/

chatgpt/instructions.md                            # hand-maintained — ChatGPT Custom GPT (no shell, calls an Action instead)
chatgpt/action-schema.yaml                          # the Action's OpenAPI schema
chatgpt/README.md                                  # click-by-click GPT setup

m365-copilot/instructions.md                       # hand-maintained — Microsoft 365 Copilot (untested), calls a Tool instead
m365-copilot/api-spec.yaml                          # the Tool's OpenAPI v2 (Swagger) schema
m365-copilot/README.md                             # click-by-click Copilot Studio setup

To change what the skill does or how it answers: edit SKILL.md and/or references/takeaway-template.md, then run ./scripts/sync-skills.sh and commit the regenerated plugins/ask-techsoup/skills/ask-techsoup/ contents — don't hand-edit anything under that path, it'll be overwritten next sync. Every other tool's instructions in this README link straight to the root SKILL.md and references/, so there's nothing else to regenerate. chatgpt/instructions.md and m365-copilot/instructions.md can't be auto-generated (neither ChatGPT nor Microsoft 365 Copilot has filesystem/bash access, so their "fetch the data" step calls an Action/Tool instead of running curl, and neither produces standalone takeaway pages) — update both by hand to match whenever SKILL.md's schema or answering logic changes.

Updating

• Claude Code users: run /plugin install ask-techsoup@ask-techsoup after a push (/plugin marketplace update alone won't update an already-installed plugin). If you used the no-git fallback method instead, re-download both SKILL.md and references/takeaway-template.md and ask Claude to replace them at ~/.claude/skills/ask-techsoup/SKILL.md and ~/.claude/skills/ask-techsoup/references/takeaway-template.md.
• Claude Desktop / claude.ai users: rebuild the zip with fresh copies of both files, then remove the old version of the skill before adding the new one.
• Gemini CLI, Antigravity, Codex CLI, GitHub Copilot users: re-download both SKILL.md and references/takeaway-template.md and replace your local copies (there's no auto-update for these surfaces).
• ChatGPT users: re-copy chatgpt/instructions.md into the GPT's Instructions box and save.
• Microsoft 365 Copilot users: whoever maintains the agent in Copilot Studio re-copies m365-copilot/instructions.md into its instructions box and republishes.