claude-skill-search

skills-search-mcp

Tool Search Tool for Claude Skills - Dynamic skill discovery with intelligent search

Implementation of Anthropic's Tool Search Tool pattern for Claude Code skills. Enables on-demand skill discovery through intelligent search, reducing context bloat while maintaining access to the full skills ecosystem.

Inspired by Anthropic's Tool Search Tool

From Anthropic's Engineering Blog:

"Rather than consuming 50-100K tokens loading hundreds of tools, Claude dynamically discovers only needed tools through search."

skills-search-mcp brings this pattern to Claude skills with registry-powered search.

Features

✅ Dynamic Discovery - Search 100+ skills without loading all upfront ✅ Token Efficient - Only load skills you actually need ✅ Discovery Views - Browse by popularity (popular_skills) and recency (recent_skills) ✅ Rich Metadata - Tags, download stats, author info (ratings planned) ✅ Context-Aware - Task-based skill recommendations (discover_skills)

Quick Start

Installation

npx -y skills-search-mcp

Prerequisite: install the CCPM CLI (npm install -g @daymade/ccpm) so ccpm is available on PATH. For registry-backed tools (info/popular/recent), set SUPABASE_ANON_KEY or VITE_SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY.

Configuration

Add to your Claude Desktop config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "skill-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "skills-search-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop.

Usage

You: "I need to work with PDFs"
Claude: [searches dynamically via MCP]
        Found 3 relevant skills:
        1. pdf-processor (1.2k downloads) - Extract text from PDFs
        2. pdf-merger (856 downloads) - Merge multiple PDFs
        3. pdf-to-markdown (634 downloads) - Convert PDFs to Markdown

        Want to install pdf-processor?

You: "Yes"
Claude: [installs only the needed skill]

Tool Search Tool Pattern Comparison

Feature	Anthropic's Tool Search	skills-search-mcp
Dynamic discovery	✅ defer_loading: true	✅ Registry search on-demand
Token efficiency	✅ 85% reduction	✅ Load only queried skills
Search algorithm	Regex / BM25	✅ Full-text + filters
Popularity data	❌ Not available	✅ Download stats
Metadata	JSON Schema only	✅ Tags, authors, descriptions
Community insights	❌ Not available	✅ Download stats (reviews/trending planned)

Available Tools

Tool	Description
search_skills	Find skills by keyword + filters
discover_skills	Context-aware recommendations (smart search)
popular_skills	Top downloaded skills
recent_skills	Latest published/updated skills
info_skill	Get skill details (supports detailed)
install_skill	Install a skill (user/project scope)
list_skills	List installed skills
uninstall_skill	Uninstall a skill

Token usage depends on response size; the core win is avoiding loading the full skills catalog into context.

Architecture

Claude Desktop
    ↓ MCP Protocol
skills-search-mcp
    ↓ CLI wrapper (execa)
ccpm (CLI)
    ↓ Registry / GitHub sources
Filtered results only

Why skills-search-mcp?

Advantages over Loading All Skills

Before (traditional approach):

// Load all 100 skills upfront
const skills = await loadAllSkills(); // 50-100K tokens!
// Most skills never used

After (Tool Search Tool pattern):

// Search dynamically when needed
const results = await searchSkills("pdf"); // ~200 tokens
// Load only relevant skills

Token savings: 99.6% reduction in typical use cases

Enhanced vs. Anthropic's Tool Search Tool

Capability	Anthropic's Approach	skills-search-mcp
Deferred loading	✅ Manual defer_loading flag	✅ All skills deferred by default
Search implementation	DIY (regex/BM25)	✅ Built-in full-text search
Ranking	Manual implementation	✅ Source-priority + dedicated popular/recent tools
Discovery	Text-based only	✅ Tags, downloads (ratings planned)
Metadata	Static JSON	✅ Live registry data

Example Queries

Natural Language Search

You: "Find skills for image processing"
Claude: [searches: query="image processing"]
        → 5 results with download stats

Context-Aware Discovery

You: "I'm building a documentation generator"
Claude: [discovers: context="documentation", "markdown", "generator"]
        → Recommends: markdown-renderer, doc-builder, api-docs

Popularity-Based

You: "What are the most popular skills?"
Claude: [calls popular_skills(limit=10)]
        → Top 10 by downloads

Requirements

• Node.js ≥ 18
• ccpm CLI:

  npm install -g @daymade/ccpm
  

Companion: skills-search Skill

For Claude Code users who prefer skills over MCP configuration:

ccpm install skills-search
# Restart Claude Code

Then simply ask:

You: "Find PDF skills"
Claude: [uses skills-search skill]
        Found: pdf-processor, pdf-merger, pdf-to-markdown...

Dual Implementation:

Component	Type	Best For
skills-search-mcp	MCP Server	Claude Desktop, MCP tools
skills-search	Claude Code Skill	Native Claude Code usage

Both wrap the same ccpm CLI - choose based on your workflow.

Related Packages

• claude-skills-mcp - Full package manager (install, list, update)
• skills-search skill - Companion Claude Code skill
• Anthropic's Tool Search Tool - Original inspiration

Learn More

• 📖 Tool Search Tool Blog Post
• 🌐 CCPM Registry
• 📚 MCP Specification

License

MIT - See LICENSE

Powered by CCPM - Claude Code Package Manager Inspired by Anthropic's Tool Search Tool