skillmd

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What this is

An Agent Skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file: YAML frontmatter (name, description) plus Markdown instructions an agent loads on demand. Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf and dozens of other agents read the same format, which is what makes a shared registry worth having. If the format is new to you, start with What is an Agent Skill? and the anatomy of a SKILL.md file.

skillmd.com is the open registry of those skills: 25,000+ skills from 470+ publishers, every one of them linted against the format, security-scanned for what it can do, and pinned to a commit. Verdicts, capability flags and independent scanner results sit on every skill page. Installing writes files and does nothing else.

This repository is everything that runs on your machine or in your CI, MIT-licensed:

Package	What it is	Install
skillmds	One npm package, two binaries: the skillmd CLI and the skillmds MCP server	npm i -g skillmds
@skillmds/core	The SKILL.md engine: parser, lint rules, security scanner, quality score, SARIF / JSON / GitHub formatters	npm i @skillmds/core
skillmds/skillmd/action	GitHub Action: lint every skill in a repo, results in GitHub Code Scanning	uses: skillmds/skillmd/action@v1

The registry applies the same engine, so a skill that passes locally passes on publish.

Quick start

# Search the registry and install a skill into every agent on your machine
npx skillmds search "pdf"
npx skillmds add anthropic/pdf

# Lint your own skill before you share it
npx skillmds lint ./my-skill

No account needed for any of the above. Skills land in each detected agent's own directory (.claude/skills/, .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, …). Per-agent walkthroughs: Claude Code · Cursor · Codex · Gemini CLI · GitHub Copilot · Windsurf · all agents.

The CLI: skillmd

npm i -g skillmds

Command	What it does
skillmd lint [path]	Validate SKILL.md files. Diagnostics, a 0–100 quality score, --fix for the mechanical ones.
skillmd scan [path]	What would this skill do? Reports scripts, network calls and secret access.
skillmd rules [id]	List the lint rules, or explain one.
skillmd init [name]	Scaffold a new skill from a template.
skillmd search <query>	Search the registry from the terminal.
skillmd add <source>	Install from a registry slug, a GitHub repo or a local path. Lints first, never executes scripts.
skillmd list / remove / update	Manage installed skills across agents.
skillmd publish [path]	Publish to skillmd.com. Blocked on lint errors.

skillmd lint . --format sarif > skillmd.sarif   # GitHub Code Scanning
skillmd lint . --strict                          # warnings fail too
skillmd add owner/repo -a claude-code -g         # one agent, global scope
skillmd add some/skill --deny executes_scripts   # refuse skills that run code

skillmd add detects 68 agents by their config directories: Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, Antigravity, Kiro, Warp, GitHub Copilot, Cline, Roo Code, Goose, Trae, Qwen Code, Amp, Zed, Continue, Devin, OpenHands, Replit and more. Agents that share the .agents/skills convention are written once. Running plain skillmd opens a guided menu.

Full reference: docs/cli.md · CLI docs on skillmd.com · How one SKILL.md works in every agent

The MCP server: skillmds

Give any MCP-capable agent the whole registry. It can search, inspect, lint and install skills mid-conversation.

# Claude Code
claude mcp add skillmd -- npx -y skillmds

// Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, … (examples/mcp/ has per-client files)
{ "mcpServers": { "skillmd": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "skillmds"] } } }

Or use the hosted remote server, zero install, streamable HTTP:

https://api.skillmd.com/mcp

Tool	What the agent gets
skillmd_search	Registry search with categories, ratings and install snippets
skillmd_get	Full skill detail: body, provenance, license, security flags
skillmd_install	Safe install: validated, SHA-256-verified, zip-slip-guarded, never executes scripts
skillmd_trending / skillmd_recommend	Leaderboard and similar-skill suggestions
skillmd_list_saved	Your saved skills (with SKILLMD_TOKEN)
skillmd_lint	Validate any SKILL.md content on the spot

Full reference: docs/mcp.md · MCP docs on skillmd.com · Using SkillMD over MCP · MCP registry entry: com.skillmd/skillmd

The engine: @skillmds/core

npm i @skillmds/core

import { lint } from "@skillmds/core";

const { ok, score, diagnostics, security } = lint(rawSkillMd, { slug: "my-skill" });

Nine lint rules, a line-aware security scanner, a 0–100 quality score and SARIF / JSON / GitHub-annotation formatters. ESM, typed, no runtime dependency beyond yaml, runs in Node, browsers and edge runtimes.

The scanner classifies every skill into capability flags you can filter or deny on install:

Flag	Meaning
docs_only	Nothing executable found. Pure instructions.
network_calls	Fetches, curls or otherwise talks to the network.
executes_scripts	Runs commands or bundled scripts.
reads_secrets	Touches env vars, tokens or credential files.
untrusted_install	Fetch-and-execute from a non-standard source.

Rules and scoring: docs/rules.md · Debugging skills: lint, scan, score · Common SKILL.md mistakes

CI for your skills

- uses: skillmds/skillmd/action@v1
  with:
    path: .

Lints every skill in the repo and uploads SARIF to GitHub Code Scanning, so findings show up in pull requests. Full example: examples/github-action.yml · action/README.md

Publishing a skill

skillmd login                   # token from your skillmd.com account
skillmd publish ./my-skill      # blocked on lint errors
skillmd publish ./my-skill --dry-run

Published skills get a page at skillmd.com/skills/<you>/<name>, a safety verdict, an install command for every agent, and a live README badge:

[![SkillMD](https://skillmd.com/badge/<you>/<name>.svg)](https://skillmd.com/skills/<you>/<name>)

Guides: Publishing a skill to the registry · Writing skills that get used · What a verified badge means · Skill packs

The registry API

Everything here is a thin client over the public API at api.skillmd.com (GET /v1/search?q=…, GET /v1/skills/<owner>/<name>, …). Described by docs/registry-api.md, skillmd.com/openapi.json and, for AI systems, skillmd.com/llms.txt. Every skill page also has a Markdown twin at …/<name>.md.

What's in the registry

Browse by category: Coding & Dev Tools · AI & ML · DevOps & Infra · Integrations & APIs · Security · Data & Analytics · Web & Frontend · Productivity · Docs & Writing · Design & Media

Or by publisher, official skills from verified publishers, the leaderboard, or what's new. Live counts: skillmd.com/stats.

Security model

Installing a skill writes files and does nothing else. No script execution, strict path containment (slug validation plus zip-slip guards), SHA-256 integrity verification against the registry's content-addressed store, and companion files pinned to GitHub raw hosts. Publishing runs the same lint and scan the CLI does, and every listed skill shows its verdict, capability flags and independent scanner results.

Details in SECURITY.md. Report vulnerabilities to hi@skillmd.com.

Learn more

• The complete guide to AI agent skills
• Agent Skills vs MCP servers
• Claude Code skills vs plugins vs subagents vs commands
• Cursor rules vs Cursor skills
• The case for an open skill format
• Glossary · The SKILL.md format · Getting started

Development

npm ci
npm run build      # @skillmds/core, then skillmds
npm test           # vitest across both packages, incl. an MCP stdio smoke test
npm run typecheck  # strict tsc

See CONTRIBUTING.md for layout, PR guidelines and the release process, and CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md.

License

MIT © SkillMD · skillmd.com · hi@skillmd.com