skilldirs

v0.2.2

Published

11 days ago

The open agent skills ecosystem

skills

The CLI for the open agent skills ecosystem.

Supports OpenCode, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and 50 more.

Install a Skill

npx skilldirs add RobinWM/ship-skills

Source Formats

# GitHub shorthand (owner/repo)
npx skilldirs add RobinWM/ship-skills

# Full GitHub URL
npx skilldirs add https://github.com/RobinWM/ship-skills

# Direct path to a skill in a repo
npx skilldirs add https://github.com/RobinWM/ship-skills/tree/main/skills/web-design-guidelines

# GitLab URL
npx skilldirs add https://gitlab.com/org/repo

# Any git URL
npx skilldirs add [email protected]:RobinWM/ship-skills.git

# Local path
npx skilldirs add ./my-local-skills

Options

| Option | Description | | ------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | -g, --global | Install to user directory instead of project | | -a, --agent <agents...> | Target specific agents (e.g., claude-code, codex). See Supported Agents | | -s, --skill <skills...> | Install specific skills by name (use '*' for all skills) | | -l, --list | List available skills without installing | | --copy | Copy files instead of symlinking to agent directories | | -y, --yes | Skip all confirmation prompts | | --all | Install all skills to all agents without prompts |

Examples

# List skills in a repository
npx skilldirs add RobinWM/ship-skills --list

# Install specific skills
npx skilldirs add RobinWM/ship-skills --skill frontend-design --skill skill-creator

# Install a skill with spaces in the name (must be quoted)
npx skilldirs add owner/repo --skill "Convex Best Practices"

# Install to specific agents
npx skilldirs add RobinWM/ship-skills -a claude-code -a opencode

# Non-interactive installation (CI/CD friendly)
npx skilldirs add RobinWM/ship-skills --skill frontend-design -g -a claude-code -y

# Install all skills from a repo to all agents
npx skilldirs add RobinWM/ship-skills --all

# Install all skills to specific agents
npx skilldirs add RobinWM/ship-skills --skill '*' -a claude-code

# Install specific skills to all agents
npx skilldirs add RobinWM/ship-skills --agent '*' --skill frontend-design

Installation Scope

| Scope | Flag | Location | Use Case | | ----------- | --------- | ------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | | Project | (default) | ./<agent>/skills/ | Committed with your project, shared with team | | Global | -g | ~/<agent>/skills/ | Available across all projects |

Installation Methods

When installing interactively, you can choose:

| Method | Description | | ------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Symlink (Recommended) | Creates symlinks from each agent to a canonical copy. Single source of truth, easy updates. | | Copy | Creates independent copies for each agent. Use when symlinks aren't supported. |

Other Commands

| Command | Description | | ------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | | npx skilldirs list | List installed skills (alias: ls) | | npx skilldirs find [query] | Search for skills interactively or by keyword | | npx skilldirs remove [skills] | Remove installed skills from agents | | npx skilldirs update [skills] | Update installed skills to latest versions | | npx skilldirs init [name] | Create a new SKILL.md template |

`skilldirs list`

List all installed skills. Similar to npm ls.

# List all installed skills (project and global)
npx skilldirs list

# List only global skills
npx skilldirs ls -g

# Filter by specific agents
npx skilldirs ls -a claude-code -a cursor

`skilldirs find`

Search for skills interactively or by keyword.

# Interactive search (fzf-style)
npx skilldirs find

# Search by keyword
npx skilldirs find typescript

`skilldirs update`

# Update all skills (interactive scope prompt)
npx skilldirs update

# Update a single skill by name
npx skilldirs update my-skill

# Update multiple specific skills
npx skilldirs update frontend-design web-design-guidelines

# Update only global or project skills
npx skilldirs update -g
npx skilldirs update -p

# Non-interactive (auto-detects scope: project if in a project, else global)
npx skilldirs update -y

| Option | Description | | --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | -g, --global | Only update global skills | | -p, --project | Only update project skills | | -y, --yes | Skip scope prompt (auto-detect: project if in a project dir, else global) | | [skills...] | Update specific skills by name instead of all |

`skilldirs init`

# Create SKILL.md in current directory
npx skilldirs init

# Create a new skill in a subdirectory
npx skilldirs init my-skill

`skilldirs remove`

Remove installed skills from agents.

# Remove interactively (select from installed skills)
npx skilldirs remove

# Remove specific skill by name
npx skilldirs remove web-design-guidelines

# Remove multiple skills
npx skilldirs remove frontend-design web-design-guidelines

# Remove from global scope
npx skilldirs remove --global web-design-guidelines

# Remove from specific agents only
npx skilldirs remove --agent claude-code cursor my-skill

# Remove all installed skills without confirmation
npx skilldirs remove --all

# Remove all skills from a specific agent
npx skilldirs remove --skill '*' -a cursor

# Remove a specific skill from all agents
npx skilldirs remove my-skill --agent '*'

# Use 'rm' alias
npx skilldirs rm my-skill

| Option | Description | | -------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | | -g, --global | Remove from global scope (~/) instead of project | | -a, --agent | Remove from specific agents (use '*' for all) | | -s, --skill | Specify skills to remove (use '*' for all) | | -y, --yes | Skip confirmation prompts | | --all | Shorthand for --skill '*' --agent '*' -y |

What are Agent Skills?

Agent skills are reusable instruction sets that extend your coding agent's capabilities. They're defined in SKILL.md files with YAML frontmatter containing a name and description.

Skills let agents perform specialized tasks like:

Generating release notes from git history
Creating PRs following your team's conventions
Integrating with external tools (Linear, Notion, etc.)

Discover skills at skills.sh

Supported Agents

Skills can be installed to any of these agents:

| Agent | --agent | ------------------------------------- | --------------------- | AiderDesk | aider-desk | Amp, Kimi Code CLI, Replit, Universal | amp, | Antigravity | antigravity | Augment | augment | IBM Bob | bob | Claude Code | claude-code | OpenClaw | openclaw | Cline, Dexto, Warp | cline, | CodeArts Agent | codearts-agent | CodeBuddy | codebuddy | Codemaker | codemaker | Code Studio | codestudio | Codex | codex | Command Code | command-code | Continue | continue | Cortex Code | cortex | Crush | crush | Cursor | cursor | Deep Agents | deepagents | Devin for Terminal | devin | Droid | droid | Firebender | firebender | ForgeCode | forgecode | Gemini CLI | gemini-cli | GitHub Copilot | github-copilot | Goose | goose | Junie | junie | iFlow CLI | iflow-cli | Kilo Code | kilo | Kiro CLI | kiro-cli | Kode | kode | MCPJam | mcpjam | Mistral Vibe | mistral-vibe | Mux | mux | OpenCode | opencode | OpenHands | openhands | Pi | pi | Qoder | qoder | Qwen Code | qwen-code | Rovo Dev | rovodev | Roo Code | roo | Tabnine CLI | tabnine-cli | Trae | trae | Trae CN | trae-cn | Windsurf | windsurf | Zencoder | zencoder | Neovate | neovate | Pochi | pochi | AdaL | adal | Project Path | Global Path | ------------------- | ------------------------ | ------------------------------- | | .aider-desk/skills/ | ~/.aider-desk/skills/ | kimi-cli, replit, universal | .agents/skills/ | ~/.config/agents/skills/ | | .agents/skills/ | ~/.gemini/antigravity/skills/ | | .augment/skills/ | ~/.augment/skills/ | | .bob/skills/ | ~/.bob/skills/ | | .claude/skills/ | ~/.claude/skills/ | | skills/ | ~/.openclaw/skills/ | dexto, warp | .agents/skills/ | ~/.agents/skills/ | | .codeartsdoer/skills/ | ~/.codeartsdoer/skills/ | | .codebuddy/skills/ | ~/.codebuddy/skills/ | | .codemaker/skills/ | ~/.codemaker/skills/ | | .codestudio/skills/ | ~/.codestudio/skills/ | | .agents/skills/ | ~/.codex/skills/ | | .commandcode/skills/ | ~/.commandcode/skills/ | | .continue/skills/ | ~/.continue/skills/ | | .cortex/skills/ | ~/.snowflake/cortex/skills/ | | .crush/skills/ | ~/.config/crush/skills/ | | .agents/skills/ | ~/.cursor/skills/ | | .agents/skills/ | ~/.deepagents/agent/skills/ | | .devin/skills/ | ~/.config/devin/skills/ | | .factory/skills/ | ~/.factory/skills/ | | .agents/skills/ | ~/.firebender/skills/ | | .forge/skills/ | ~/.forge/skills/ | | .agents/skills/ | ~/.gemini/skills/ | | .agents/skills/ | ~/.copilot/skills/ | | .goose/skills/ | ~/.config/goose/skills/ | | .junie/skills/ | ~/.junie/skills/ | | .iflow/skills/ | ~/.iflow/skills/ | | .kilocode/skills/ | ~/.kilocode/skills/ | | .kiro/skills/ | ~/.kiro/skills/ | | .kode/skills/ | ~/.kode/skills/ | | .mcpjam/skills/ | ~/.mcpjam/skills/ | | .vibe/skills/ | ~/.vibe/skills/ | | .mux/skills/ | ~/.mux/skills/ | | .agents/skills/ | ~/.config/opencode/skills/ | | .openhands/skills/ | ~/.openhands/skills/ | | .pi/skills/ | ~/.pi/agent/skills/ | | .qoder/skills/ | ~/.qoder/skills/ | | .qwen/skills/ | ~/.qwen/skills/ | | .rovodev/skills/ | ~/.rovodev/skills/ | | .roo/skills/ | ~/.roo/skills/ | | .tabnine/agent/skills/ | ~/.tabnine/agent/skills/ | | .trae/skills/ | ~/.trae/skills/ | | .trae/skills/ | ~/.trae-cn/skills/ | | .windsurf/skills/ | ~/.codeium/windsurf/skills/ | | .zencoder/skills/ | ~/.zencoder/skills/ | | .neovate/skills/ | ~/.neovate/skills/ | | .pochi/skills/ | ~/.pochi/skills/ | | .adal/skills/ | ~/.adal/skills/ |

[!NOTE] Kiro CLI users: The default agent automatically loads skills from .kiro/skills/ and ~/.kiro/skills/ — no configuration needed. If you use a custom agent, add skills to its resources in .kiro/agents/<agent>.json:
{
  "resources": ["skill://.kiro/skills/**/SKILL.md"]
}

The CLI automatically detects which coding agents you have installed. If none are detected, you'll be prompted to select which agents to install to.

Creating Skills

Skills are directories containing a SKILL.md file with YAML frontmatter:

---
name: my-skill
description: What this skill does and when to use it
---

# My Skill

Instructions for the agent to follow when this skill is activated.

## When to Use

Describe the scenarios where this skill should be used.

## Steps

1. First, do this
2. Then, do that

Required Fields

name: Unique identifier (lowercase, hyphens allowed)
description: Brief explanation of what the skill does

Optional Fields

metadata.internal: Set to true to hide the skill from normal discovery. Internal skills are only visible and installable when INSTALL_INTERNAL_SKILLS=1 is set. Useful for work-in-progress skills or skills meant only for internal tooling.

---
name: my-internal-skill
description: An internal skill not shown by default
metadata:
  internal: true
---

Skill Discovery

The CLI searches for skills in these locations within a repository:

Root directory (if it contains SKILL.md)
skills/
skills/.curated/
skills/.experimental/
skills/.system/
.aider-desk/skills/
.agents/skills/
.augment/skills/
.bob/skills/
.claude/skills/
.codeartsdoer/skills/
.codebuddy/skills/
.codemaker/skills/
.codestudio/skills/
.commandcode/skills/
.continue/skills/
.cortex/skills/
.crush/skills/
.devin/skills/
.factory/skills/
.forge/skills/
.goose/skills/
.junie/skills/
.iflow/skills/
.kilocode/skills/
.kiro/skills/
.kode/skills/
.mcpjam/skills/
.vibe/skills/
.mux/skills/
.openhands/skills/
.pi/skills/
.qoder/skills/
.qwen/skills/
.rovodev/skills/
.roo/skills/
.tabnine/agent/skills/
.trae/skills/
.windsurf/skills/
.zencoder/skills/
.neovate/skills/
.pochi/skills/
.adal/skills/

Plugin Manifest Discovery

If .claude-plugin/marketplace.json or .claude-plugin/plugin.json exists, skills declared in those files are also discovered:

// .claude-plugin/marketplace.json
{
  "metadata": { "pluginRoot": "./plugins" },
  "plugins": [
    {
      "name": "my-plugin",
      "source": "my-plugin",
      "skills": ["./skills/review", "./skills/test"]
    }
  ]
}

This enables compatibility with the Claude Code plugin marketplace ecosystem.

If no skills are found in standard locations, a recursive search is performed.

Compatibility

Skills are generally compatible across agents since they follow a shared Agent Skills specification. However, some features may be agent-specific:

| Feature | OpenCode | OpenHands | Claude Code | Cline | CodeBuddy | Codex | Command Code | Kiro CLI | Cursor | Antigravity | Roo Code | Github Copilot | Amp | OpenClaw | Neovate | Pi | Qoder | Zencoder | | --------------- | -------- | --------- | ----------- | ----- | --------- | ----- | ------------ | -------- | ------ | ----------- | -------- | -------------- | --- | -------- | ------- | --- | ----- | -------- | | Basic skills | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | allowed-tools | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | | context: fork | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | | Hooks | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |

Troubleshooting

"No skills found"

Ensure the repository contains valid SKILL.md files with both name and description in the frontmatter.

Skill not loading in agent

Verify the skill was installed to the correct path
Check the agent's documentation for skill loading requirements
Ensure the SKILL.md frontmatter is valid YAML

Permission errors

Ensure you have write access to the target directory.

Environment Variables

| Variable | Description | | ------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | INSTALL_INTERNAL_SKILLS | Set to 1 or true to show and install skills marked as internal: true | | DISABLE_TELEMETRY | Set to disable anonymous usage telemetry | | DO_NOT_TRACK | Alternative way to disable telemetry |

# Install internal skills
INSTALL_INTERNAL_SKILLS=1 npx skilldirs add RobinWM/ship-skills --list

Telemetry

This CLI collects anonymous usage data to help improve the tool. No personal information is collected.

Telemetry is automatically disabled in CI environments.

License

MIT