# Skill Enable

> >-

- **Type:** Skill
- **Install:** `agentstack add skill-thorwhalen-skill-skill-enable`
- **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior
- **Seller:** [thorwhalen](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/thorwhalen)
- **Installs:** 0
- **Category:** [Agent Skills](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/agent-skills)
- **Latest version:** 0.1.0
- **License:** MIT
- **Upstream author:** [thorwhalen](https://github.com/thorwhalen)
- **Source:** https://github.com/thorwhalen/skill/tree/master/skills/skill-enable
- **Website:** https://thorwhalen.github.io/skill/

## Install

```sh
agentstack add skill-thorwhalen-skill-skill-enable
```

Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent.

## About

# Skill enablement — shipping skills via pip

How to ship a package's **consumer** skills with `pip install your-package`, and
how to decide which skills qualify. Layout and spec compliance are owned by the
**skill-package-setup** skill — read it first if you haven't picked a layout.

## Where pip-shipped skills go (and why it just works)

To ride along with `pip install`, skill files must live **inside the importable
package**: `{pkg}/data/skills//`. That's the only place a wheel reliably
ships non-code data.

Bonus: `{pkg}/data/skills/` is **also a first-class `gh skill` source** —
`gh skill` discovers any non-hidden `**/skills/*/SKILL.md`, and `{pkg}/data/skills/`
contains a `skills/` dir under the non-hidden prefix `{pkg}/data/`. So one real
location serves **both** channels: `pip install ` (bundled, offline) **and**
`gh skill install / ` (cross-agent). Claude Code reads neither
directly, so commit a relative symlink per skill in `.claude/skills/` (the bridge
that skill-package-setup sets up).

> Use `{pkg}/data/skills/` only when you actually want skills in the wheel. Pure
> dev/maintainer skills belong in top-level `skills/` instead (skill-package-setup
> rule). Never put the *same* skill in both — `gh skill` would report duplicates.

## Step 1: decide which skills to ship (audience classification)

Not every skill should ship with `pip install`. Two audiences:

- **Consumer skills** (`metadata.audience: users`) — help people *use* the
  package. These ship (`{pkg}/data/skills/`). E.g. "how to search for skills",
  "how to build storage interfaces with dol".
- **Contributor skills** (`metadata.audience: developers`) — help people
  *develop/contribute*. These stay in top-level `skills/` and do NOT ship. E.g.
  "run the test suite", "set up the dev environment", "CI/CD workflow".

Some serve both — mark `metadata.audience: both`.

> Spec note: `audience` is **not** a top-level spec field — put it under
> `metadata:`. A bare top-level `audience:` fails `gh skill publish` validation.

### How to classify

**If the skill has `metadata.audience`, respect it.** Otherwise infer from name,
description, and body:

**Developer-only signals** — if *most* apply and *no* consumer signals do →
`developers`:

- **Name** contains: `dev`, `debug`, `ci`, `lint`, `contrib`, `internal`,
  `test`, `setup-dev`, `release`
- **Description**: "contribute to", "develop the package", "maintain the
  codebase", "internal tooling", "run the test suite", "CI/CD pipeline for this
  project", "set up a development environment"
- **Body** primarily references: dev setup (virtualenv, editable installs),
  running tests (pytest/tox/nox), linting/formatting (ruff/black/mypy), git/PR
  workflow, CI config (`.github/workflows/`), release processes, contributor-only
  internals
- **Only makes sense with the repo checked out** — not just the installed package

**Consumer signals** — if any apply, likely for users:

- **Description** focuses on what users *do with the package*: "use this skill
  when", "how to search/build/configure"
- **Body** references the public API available after `pip install`
- **Works for someone who only has the installed package** (no repo checkout)

**When in doubt, include it** — classify `users` unless clearly developer-only.

### Applying it

Ship only consumer skills (`users`/`both`) from `{pkg}/data/skills/`; keep
developer-only skills in top-level `skills/`. For each excluded skill, tell the user:

> "Keeping `{name}` in top-level `skills/` (not pip-shipped) — classified
> developer-only because {reason}. To ship it anyway, set
> `metadata.audience: both`."

## Step 2: layout (delegate to skill-package-setup)

```
your-package/
├── your_pkg/
│   └── data/skills/                 ← pip-shipped consumer skills (real files)
│       ├── your-pkg-feature-a/SKILL.md
│       └── your-pkg-feature-b/
│           ├── SKILL.md
│           └── references/api-guide.md
├── skills/                          ← dev/maintainer skills (real files, not shipped)
│   └── your-pkg-dev-task/SKILL.md
├── .claude/skills/                  ← relative symlinks into BOTH of the above
│   ├── your-pkg-feature-a -> ../../your_pkg/data/skills/your-pkg-feature-a
│   └── your-pkg-dev-task  -> ../../skills/your-pkg-dev-task
├── pyproject.toml
└── README.md
```

(skill-package-setup's runbook has the exact `git mv` + symlink commands.)

## Step 3: include the data in the distribution

**Hatchling** (most thorwhalen repos):

```toml
[tool.hatch.build.targets.wheel]
include = ["your_pkg/data/*"]      # or rely on hatchling's implicit your_pkg/** inclusion
```

**Setuptools:**

```toml
[tool.setuptools.package-data]
your_pkg = ["data/skills/**/*"]
```

Verify the wheel actually contains them:

```bash
python -m build --wheel >/dev/null && unzip -l dist/*.whl | grep -i skills
```

## Step 4: document install (README)

`gh skill` is the primary, cross-agent path; pip is the bundled/offline path:

```markdown
## Skills (AI agent integration)

# Cross-agent (any host), versioned:
gh skill install your-org/your-repo your-pkg-feature-a --agent claude-code

# Or use the skills bundled with the pip package (offline):
pip install your-package
skill link-skills "$(python -c 'import your_pkg, os; print(os.path.join(your_pkg.__path__[0], "data", "skills"))')"
```

## Step 5 (optional): convenience helpers

```python
# your_pkg/__init__.py or your_pkg/skills.py
from pathlib import Path

def skills_dir() -> Path:
    """Return the path to this package's bundled skills directory."""
    return Path(__file__).parent / "data" / "skills"
```

Then a CLI installer:

```python
def install_skills(target: str = ''):
    """Install this package's bundled AI agent skills."""
    from skill import link_skills
    from your_pkg import skills_dir
    link_skills(str(skills_dir()), target=target)
```

And/or entry-point registration so `skill search` finds them pre-link:

```toml
[project.entry-points."skill.skill_packs"]
your-pkg = "your_pkg:skills_dir"
```

## Common pitfalls

- **Forgetting package-data** — declare it (Step 3) or the wheel omits the skills;
  test with `pip install -e .` + the `unzip -l` check.
- **Hardcoding paths** — use `Path(__file__).parent` / `importlib.resources`.
- **Same skill in two real locations** — `gh skill` reports duplicates. One real
  location per skill (skill-package-setup rule).
- **Top-level `audience:`** — must be `metadata.audience` or `gh skill publish` rejects it.
- **Shipping dev-only skills** — they clutter users' skill lists; keep them in
  top-level `skills/`, not `{pkg}/data/skills/`.
- **Large reference files** bloat the wheel — keep references lean or fetch on demand.

## Related

- **skill-package-setup** — the canonical layout & spec authority (read first).
- **skill-docs** — generate the README "Skills" section.
- **skill-build** / **skill-creator** — author skill content.
- **skill-sync** — keep shipped skills in sync with the code they document.

## Source & license

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

- **Author:** [thorwhalen](https://github.com/thorwhalen)
- **Source:** [thorwhalen/skill](https://github.com/thorwhalen/skill)
- **License:** MIT
- **Homepage:** https://thorwhalen.github.io/skill/

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

## Pricing

- **Free** — Free

## Security capabilities

Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access:

- **Network access:** no
- **Filesystem access:** yes
- **Shell / process execution:** no
- **Environment & secrets:** no
- **Dynamic code execution:** no

*"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.*


## Versions

- **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source.

## Links

- Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-thorwhalen-skill-skill-enable
- Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/thorwhalen
- Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse

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