pnpm-plugin-skills

A pnpm plugin that automatically installs agent skills during pnpm install.

How It Works

This plugin hooks into pnpm's preResolution lifecycle to run skill installation before dependency resolution. On every pnpm install, it:

1. Reads skills.json from the workspace root
2. Resolves the manifest into an in-memory installation plan
3. Materializes skills into the configured installDir
4. Creates symlinks for configured linkTargets

Setup

Install as a config dependency:

pnpm add pnpm-plugin-skills --config

Then create a skills.json in your project root:

{
  "installDir": ".agents/skills",
  "linkTargets": [".claude/skills"],
  "skills": {
    "my-skill": "github:owner/repo#abc1234&path:/skills/my-skill"
  }
}

Now pnpm install will automatically install your skills.

Architecture

The plugin is built as a single CJS bundle (via Rslib with autoExternal: false) that inlines all dependencies including skills-package-manager. This ensures it works as a standalone pnpmfile.cjs plugin without any external runtime dependencies.

pnpm-plugin-skills/
├── pnpmfile.cjs     # Plugin entry — exports { hooks: { preResolution } }
├── src/
│   └── index.ts     # Imports installCommand from skills-pm
└── dist/
    └── index.js     # Bundled CJS output (~350 kB, all deps inlined)

Build

pnpm build    # Builds with Rslib (CJS bundle mode)