Skilldeck

SkillDeck Manager

Manage AI coding agent skills through natural language. This skill teaches you how to install, update, delete, and assign skills using SkillDeck's filesystem conventions.

SkillDeck is a macOS GUI app that manages skills across 14 AI agents. Skills are stored as directories containing SKILL.md files. This skill lets you perform the same operations from the terminal.

Filesystem Layout

~/.agents/
├── skills/                    # Canonical storage (real files live here)
│   ├── my-skill/
│   │   ├── SKILL.md           # Skill definition (YAML frontmatter + markdown)
│   │   └── ...                # Other files (scripts, templates, etc.)
│   └── another-skill/
│       └── SKILL.md
├── .skill-lock.json           # Lock file (v3, shared with npx skills)
└── .skilldeck-cache.json      # SkillDeck's private cache (do not modify)

~/.claude/skills/              # Claude Code skills (symlinks → canonical)
~/.codex/skills/               # Codex skills (symlinks → canonical, also reads ~/.agents/skills/)
~/.gemini/skills/              # Gemini CLI skills
~/.copilot/skills/             # Copilot CLI skills (also reads ~/.claude/skills/)
~/.config/opencode/skills/     # OpenCode skills (also reads ~/.claude/skills/ and ~/.agents/skills/)
~/.cursor/skills/              # Cursor skills (also reads ~/.claude/skills/)
~/.kiro/skills/                # Kiro skills
~/.codebuddy/skills/           # CodeBuddy skills
~/.openclaw/skills/            # OpenClaw skills
~/.trae/skills/                # Trae skills
~/.qoder/skills/               # Qoder skills
~/.qclaw/skills/               # QClaw skills
~/.workbuddy/skills/           # WorkBuddy skills
~/.gemini/antigravity/skills/  # Antigravity skills

Key rules:

• The real copy of every skill lives in ~/.agents/skills//
• Each agent gets a symlink pointing to the canonical directory
• Example: ~/.claude/skills/my-skill → ~/.agents/skills/my-skill
• Some agents can read other agents' directories (cross-directory inheritance):
• Codex reads ~/.agents/skills/ natively (no symlink needed)
• Copilot reads ~/.claude/skills/
• OpenCode reads ~/.claude/skills/ and ~/.agents/skills/
• Cursor reads ~/.claude/skills/

Default Agent Configuration

When installing a skill, you need to decide which agents to assign it to. The recommended approach:

1. Auto-detect installed agents — check which CLI commands exist on the system
2. Assign to all detected agents — unless the user specifies a subset

The following script detects installed agents and builds a list of their skills directories:

# Agent detection map: CLI command → skills directory
declare -A AGENT_DIRS=(
  ["claude"]="$HOME/.claude/skills"
  ["codex"]="$HOME/.codex/skills"
  ["gemini"]="$HOME/.gemini/skills"
  ["opencode"]="$HOME/.config/opencode/skills"
  ["antigravity"]="$HOME/.gemini/antigravity/skills"
  ["cursor"]="$HOME/.cursor/skills"
  ["kiro"]="$HOME/.kiro/skills"
  ["codebuddy"]="$HOME/.codebuddy/skills"
  ["openclaw"]="$HOME/.openclaw/skills"
  ["trae"]="$HOME/.trae/skills"
  ["qoder"]="$HOME/.qoder/skills"
  ["qclaw"]="$HOME/.qclaw/skills"
  ["workbuddy"]="$HOME/.workbuddy/skills"
)

# Detect which agents are installed
INSTALLED_DIRS=()
for CMD in "${!AGENT_DIRS[@]}"; do
  if which "$CMD" &>/dev/null; then
    INSTALLED_DIRS+=("${AGENT_DIRS[$CMD]}")
    echo "Detected: $CMD → ${AGENT_DIRS[$CMD]}"
  fi
done

# Copilot CLI is a GitHub CLI extension (gh copilot), not a standalone binary.
# `which gh` only confirms GitHub CLI is installed, not Copilot specifically.
# Check for the copilot extension explicitly.
if which gh &>/dev/null && gh extension list 2>/dev/null | grep -q copilot; then
  INSTALLED_DIRS+=("$HOME/.copilot/skills")
  echo "Detected: copilot → $HOME/.copilot/skills"
fi

echo "Found ${#INSTALLED_DIRS[@]} installed agents"

Use INSTALLED_DIRS as the default target when installing. If the user says "only install for Claude Code", filter to just $HOME/.claude/skills.

Lock File Format

Location: ~/.agents/.skill-lock.json (version 3)

{
  "version": 3,
  "skills": {
    "skill-name": {
      "source": "owner/repo",
      "sourceType": "github",
      "sourceUrl": "https://github.com/owner/repo.git",
      "skillPath": "skills/skill-name/SKILL.md",
      "skillFolderHash": "abc123...",
      "installedAt": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z",
      "updatedAt": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z"
    }
  },
  "dismissed": {},
  "lastSelectedAgents": []
}

Fields:

• source: Repository identifier (e.g., "crossoverJie/skills") or local path
• sourceType: "github", "local", or "clawhub"
• sourceUrl: Full git URL
• skillPath: Relative path to SKILL.md within the source
• skillFolderHash: Git tree hash for update detection (can be empty string for local)
• installedAt / updatedAt: ISO 8601 timestamps

Helper Functions

These reusable snippets are referenced in the operations below.

List all agent skills directories

# All 14 agent skills directories (for symlink scanning)
ALL_AGENT_SKILLS=(
  "$HOME/.claude/skills"
  "$HOME/.codex/skills"
  "$HOME/.gemini/skills"
  "$HOME/.copilot/skills"
  "$HOME/.config/opencode/skills"
  "$HOME/.gemini/antigravity/skills"
  "$HOME/.cursor/skills"
  "$HOME/.kiro/skills"
  "$HOME/.codebuddy/skills"
  "$HOME/.openclaw/skills"
  "$HOME/.trae/skills"
  "$HOME/.qoder/skills"
  "$HOME/.qclaw/skills"
  "$HOME/.workbuddy/skills"
)

Find which agents have a skill installed

# Usage: find_skill_agents "my-skill" "$HOME/.agents/skills/my-skill"
find_skill_agents() {
  local SKILL_NAME="$1"
  local CANONICAL="$2"
  for DIR in "${ALL_AGENT_SKILLS[@]}"; do
    local LINK="$DIR/$SKILL_NAME"
    if [ -L "$LINK" ]; then
      local RESOLVED=$(python3 -c "import os; print(os.path.realpath('$LINK'))")
      if [ "$RESOLVED" = "$CANONICAL" ]; then
        echo "$DIR"
      fi
    fi
  done
}

Create symlinks for multiple agents

# Usage: create_symlinks "my-skill" "$HOME/.agents/skills/my-skill" "${TARGET_DIRS[@]}"
create_symlinks() {
  local SKILL_NAME="$1"
  local CANONICAL="$2"
  shift 2
  local TARGET_DIRS=("$@")
  for DIR in "${TARGET_DIRS[@]}"; do
    mkdir -p "$DIR"
    if [ ! -L "$DIR/$SKILL_NAME" ]; then
      ln -s "$CANONICAL" "$DIR/$SKILL_NAME"
      echo "  Symlink: $DIR/$SKILL_NAME"
    fi
  done
}

Remove symlinks from multiple agents

# Usage: remove_symlinks "my-skill" "$HOME/.agents/skills/my-skill"
remove_symlinks() {
  local SKILL_NAME="$1"
  local CANONICAL="$2"
  for DIR in "${ALL_AGENT_SKILLS[@]}"; do
    local LINK="$DIR/$SKILL_NAME"
    if [ -L "$LINK" ]; then
      local RESOLVED=$(python3 -c "import os; print(os.path.realpath('$LINK'))")
      if [ "$RESOLVED" = "$CANONICAL" ]; then
        rm "$LINK"
        echo "  Removed: $LINK"
      fi
    fi
  done
}

Operations

1. Install a Skill from GitHub

Steps:

1. Clone the repository to a temporary directory
2. Locate the SKILL.md file and the skill directory
3. Detect installed agents (or use user-specified targets)
4. Copy the skill directory to ~/.agents/skills//
5. Create symlinks for target agents
6. Update the lock file

# === Configuration ===
SKILL_NAME="my-skill"
REPO_SOURCE="owner/repo"
REPO_URL="https://github.com/owner/repo.git"
SKILL_FOLDER_PATH="skills/$SKILL_NAME"  # path to skill directory within repo

# === 1. Clone repo ===
TMPDIR=$(mktemp -d)
git clone --depth 1 "$REPO_URL" "$TMPDIR/repo"

# === 2. Locate skill directory ===
# Two path concepts (matching SkillManager's convention):
#   SKILL_FOLDER_PATH — directory containing SKILL.md (for git tree hash)
#   SKILL_FILE_PATH   — path to SKILL.md itself (for lock file's skillPath)
# Examples:
#   Sub-directory: folder="skills/foo", file="skills/foo/SKILL.md"
#   Root-level:    folder="",            file="SKILL.md"
SOURCE_DIR="$TMPDIR/repo/$SKILL_FOLDER_PATH"
if [ ! -f "$SOURCE_DIR/SKILL.md" ]; then
  # Fallback: search for SKILL.md
  FOUND=$(find "$TMPDIR/repo" -name "SKILL.md" -maxdepth 3 | head -1)
  if [ -n "$FOUND" ]; then
    SOURCE_DIR=$(dirname "$FOUND")
    # Derive folder path as relative path from repo root (empty string for root-level)
    SKILL_FOLDER_PATH="${SOURCE_DIR#$TMPDIR/repo/}"
    # Remove trailing slash if present (root case: "$TMPDIR/repo/" → "")
    SKILL_FOLDER_PATH="${SKILL_FOLDER_PATH%/}"
  else
    echo "❌ SKILL.md not found in repository"
    rm -rf "$TMPDIR"
    exit 1
  fi
fi

# Derive SKILL_FILE_PATH for lock entry: folder path + "/SKILL.md", or just "SKILL.md" at root
if [ -z "$SKILL_FOLDER_PATH" ]; then
  SKILL_FILE_PATH="SKILL.md"
else
  SKILL_FILE_PATH="$SKILL_FOLDER_PATH/SKILL.md"
fi

# === 3. Check not already installed ===
CANONICAL="$HOME/.agents/skills/$SKILL_NAME"
if [ -d "$CANONICAL" ]; then
  echo "❌ Skill '$SKILL_NAME' already exists. Use update instead."
  rm -rf "$TMPDIR"
  exit 1
fi

# === 4. Detect target agents (auto-detect all installed) ===
declare -A AGENT_DIRS=(
  ["claude"]="$HOME/.claude/skills"
  ["codex"]="$HOME/.codex/skills"
  ["gemini"]="$HOME/.gemini/skills"
  ["opencode"]="$HOME/.config/opencode/skills"
  ["antigravity"]="$HOME/.gemini/antigravity/skills"
  ["cursor"]="$HOME/.cursor/skills"
  ["kiro"]="$HOME/.kiro/skills"
  ["codebuddy"]="$HOME/.codebuddy/skills"
  ["openclaw"]="$HOME/.openclaw/skills"
  ["trae"]="$HOME/.trae/skills"
  ["qoder"]="$HOME/.qoder/skills"
  ["qclaw"]="$HOME/.qclaw/skills"
  ["workbuddy"]="$HOME/.workbuddy/skills"
)

TARGET_DIRS=()
for CMD in "${!AGENT_DIRS[@]}"; do
  if which "$CMD" &>/dev/null; then
    TARGET_DIRS+=("${AGENT_DIRS[$CMD]}")
  fi
done

# Copilot CLI is a gh extension, not a standalone binary — check explicitly
if which gh &>/dev/null && gh extension list 2>/dev/null | grep -q copilot; then
  TARGET_DIRS+=("$HOME/.copilot/skills")
fi

echo "Installing for ${#TARGET_DIRS[@]} agents: ${TARGET_DIRS[*]}"

# === 5. Copy to canonical directory ===
mkdir -p "$HOME/.agents/skills"
cp -R "$SOURCE_DIR" "$CANONICAL"

# === 6. Create symlinks ===
for DIR in "${TARGET_DIRS[@]}"; do
  mkdir -p "$DIR"
  ln -s "$CANONICAL" "$DIR/$SKILL_NAME"
  echo "  Symlink: $DIR/$SKILL_NAME"
done

# === 7. Update lock file ===
cd "$TMPDIR/repo"
# SKILL_FOLDER_PATH is empty for root-level skills; git rev-parse HEAD: returns root tree hash
TREE_HASH=$(git rev-parse HEAD:$SKILL_FOLDER_PATH 2>/dev/null || echo "")
NOW=$(date -u +"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ")

# Export variables so python3 can read them via os.environ
export SKILL_NAME REPO_SOURCE REPO_URL SKILL_FILE_PATH TREE_HASH NOW
python3 /dev/null || echo "")
NOW=$(date -u +"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ")

export SKILL_NAME SKILL_FILE_PATH TREE_HASH NOW
python3 /dev/null)
  echo "  - $NAME: $DESC"
done

5. Assign / Unassign Skill to Agent

SKILL_NAME="my-skill"
AGENT_SKILLS_DIR="$HOME/.claude/skills"  # change to target agent
CANONICAL="$HOME/.agents/skills/$SKILL_NAME"

# Assign
mkdir -p "$AGENT_SKILLS_DIR"
[ -L "$AGENT_SKILLS_DIR/$SKILL_NAME" ] || ln -s "$CANONICAL" "$AGENT_SKILLS_DIR/$SKILL_NAME"

# Unassign
[ -L "$AGENT_SKILLS_DIR/$SKILL_NAME" ] && rm "$AGENT_SKILLS_DIR/$SKILL_NAME"

6. Search for Skills

# skills.sh registry
curl -s "https://skills.sh/api/search?q=your-query" | python3 -m json.tool

# ClawHub
curl -s "https://api.clawhub.com/v1/skills/search?q=your-query" | python3 -m json.tool

Important Notes

1. SkillDeck auto-refreshes: The GUI watches ~/.agents/skills/ and all agent directories. Changes via shell are reflected in the GUI within 0.5s.

1. Lock file compatibility: Format is v3 (shared with npx skills). Always preserve version: 3 and existing entries.

1. Cross-directory inheritance: Symlinks in ~/.claude/skills/ are also visible to Copilot, OpenCode, and Cursor. Don't create redundant symlinks.

1. Codex special case: Reads ~/.agents/skills/ natively. Symlink in ~/.codex/skills/ is optional but consistent.

1. Never modify: ~/.agents/.skilldeck-cache.json (SkillDeck private cache)

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: crossoverJie
• Source: crossoverJie/SkillDeck
• License: MIT
• Homepage: http://crossoverjie.top/SkillDeck/

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.