@skillsmith/cli

@skillsmith/cli

Command-line interface for Skillsmith - discover, manage, and author Claude Code skills.

What's New in v0.2.0

• Live Skills: Search and install from 9,717+ real skills
• Faster Search: Full-text search with quality ranking
• Privacy First: Opt-out telemetry, no PII collected

Installation

npm install -g @skillsmith/cli

Or use directly with npx:

npx @skillsmith/cli search "testing"

Command Alias

The CLI provides two command names:

• skillsmith - Full command name
• sklx - Short alias for faster typing

Both commands are identical:

# These are equivalent
skillsmith search "testing"
sklx search "testing"

Commands

search

Search for skills with optional interactive mode.

# Basic search
skillsmith search "git commit"

# With filters
skillsmith search "testing" --category testing --trust verified

# Interactive mode
skillsmith search --interactive

Options:

• -c, --category <category> - Filter by category
• -t, --trust <tier> - Filter by trust tier (verified, community, experimental)
• -l, --limit <n> - Maximum results (default: 10)
• -i, --interactive - Interactive selection mode

list

List installed skills.

skillsmith list

# With details
skillsmith list --verbose

Options:

• -v, --verbose - Show detailed information

install

Install a skill (alias for MCP server's install_skill).

skillsmith install author/skill-name

remove

Remove an installed skill.

skillsmith remove author/skill-name

# Skip confirmation
skillsmith remove author/skill-name --force

Options:

• -f, --force - Skip confirmation prompt

update

Update installed skills.

# Update all skills
skillsmith update

# Update specific skill
skillsmith update author/skill-name

init

Initialize a new skill project.

# Interactive mode
skillsmith init

# With name
skillsmith init my-skill

# In specific directory
skillsmith init my-skill --path ./skills/my-skill

Options:

• -p, --path <path> - Directory to create skill in
• --template <template> - Skill template (basic, advanced)

validate

Validate a skill's SKILL.md file.

# Validate current directory
skillsmith validate

# Validate specific path
skillsmith validate ./path/to/skill

# Strict mode (warnings as errors)
skillsmith validate --strict

Options:

• -s, --strict - Treat warnings as errors

publish

Prepare a skill for publishing/sharing.

skillsmith publish

# Dry run (no changes)
skillsmith publish --dry-run

Options:

• -d, --dry-run - Preview without making changes

import

Import skills from GitHub (for populating local database).

# Import from default topic
skillsmith import

# Custom topic and limits
skillsmith import --topic claude-skill --max 500

Options:

• -t, --topic <topic> - GitHub topic to search (default: claude-skill)
• -m, --max <n> - Maximum skills to import
• -d, --db <path> - Database path
• -v, --verbose - Verbose output

Configuration

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
SKILLSMITH_DB_PATH	Database file location	~/.skillsmith/skills.db
GITHUB_TOKEN	GitHub token for imports	-

Database Location

By default, the CLI uses ~/.skillsmith/skills.db. Override with:

SKILLSMITH_DB_PATH=/custom/path/skills.db skillsmith search "testing"

Examples

Discover and Install Skills

# Search for testing-related skills
skillsmith search "jest testing" --category testing

# Get more details on a skill
skillsmith search "jest-helper" --verbose

# Install a skill
skillsmith install community/jest-helper

# List installed skills
skillsmith list

Author a New Skill

# Initialize new skill
skillsmith init my-awesome-skill

# Edit the generated SKILL.md...

# Validate your skill
skillsmith validate ./my-awesome-skill

# Prepare for publishing
skillsmith publish ./my-awesome-skill

Manage Skills

# Update all installed skills
skillsmith update

# Remove a skill
skillsmith remove community/old-skill

# Interactive search and install
skillsmith search --interactive

License

Elastic License 2.0

Links

• GitHub
• Issues