AGENTS.md

This file provides guidance to AI coding agents working on the skills CLI codebase.

Project Overview

skills is the CLI for the open agent skills ecosystem.

Commands

Aliases: skills a works for add. skills i, skills install (no args) restore from skills-lock.json. skills ls works for list. skills experimental_install restores from skills-lock.json. skills experimental_sync crawls node_modules for skills.

Architecture

src/
├── cli.ts           # Main entry point, command routing, init/check/update
├── cli.test.ts      # CLI tests
├── add.ts           # Core add command logic
├── add-prompt.test.ts # Add prompt behavior tests
├── add.test.ts      # Add command tests
├── constants.ts      # Shared constants
├── find.ts           # Find/search command
├── list.ts          # List installed skills command
├── list.test.ts     # List command tests
├── remove.ts         # Remove command implementation
├── remove.test.ts    # Remove command tests
├── agents.ts        # Agent definitions and detection
├── installer.ts     # Skill installation logic (symlink/copy) + listInstalledSkills
├── skills.ts        # Skill discovery and parsing
├── skill-lock.ts    # Global lock file management (~/.agents/.skill-lock.json)
├── local-lock.ts    # Local lock file management (skills-lock.json, checked in)
├── sync.ts          # Sync command - crawl node_modules for skills
├── source-parser.ts # Parse git URLs, GitHub shorthand, local paths
├── git.ts           # Git clone operations
├── telemetry.ts     # Anonymous usage tracking
├── types.ts         # TypeScript types
├── plugin-manifest.ts # Plugin manifest discovery support
├── prompts/         # Interactive prompt helpers
│   └── search-multiselect.ts
├── providers/       # Remote skill providers (GitHub, HuggingFace, Mintlify)
│   ├── index.ts
│   ├── registry.ts
│   ├── types.ts
│   └── wellknown.ts
├── init.test.ts     # Init command tests
├── use.ts           # Use command - generate a skill prompt or launch an agent
├── use.test.ts      # Use command tests
└── test-utils.ts    # Test utilities

tests/
├── cross-platform-paths.test.ts # Path normalization across platforms
├── full-depth-discovery.test.ts # --full-depth skill discovery tests
├── openclaw-paths.test.ts       # OpenClaw-specific path tests
├── plugin-manifest-discovery.test.ts # Plugin manifest skill discovery
├── sanitize-name.test.ts     # Tests for sanitizeName (path traversal prevention)
├── skill-matching.test.ts    # Tests for filterSkills (multi-word skill name matching)
├── source-parser.test.ts     # Tests for URL/path parsing
├── installer-symlink.test.ts # Tests for symlink installation
├── list-installed.test.ts    # Tests for listing installed skills
├── skill-path.test.ts        # Tests for skill path handling
├── wellknown-provider.test.ts # Tests for well-known provider
├── xdg-config-paths.test.ts   # XDG global path handling tests
└── dist.test.ts               # Tests for built distribution

Update Checking System

How skills check and skills update Work

1. Read ~/.agents/.skill-lock.json for installed skills
2. Filter to GitHub-backed skills that have both skillFolderHash and skillPath
3. For each skill, call fetchSkillFolderHash(source, skillPath, token). Tree requests start anonymously, then use an explicit GITHUB_TOKEN/GH_TOKEN, then gh api without exporting the GitHub CLI credential.
4. fetchSkillFolderHash calls the GitHub Trees API (/git/trees/<branch>?recursive=1 for main, then master fallback); update checks fall back to an authenticated Git clone when API access is unavailable.
5. Compare latest folder tree SHA with lock file skillFolderHash; mismatch means update available
6. skills update reinstalls changed skills by invoking the current CLI entrypoint directly (node <repo>/bin/cli.mjs add <source-tree-url> -g -y) to avoid nested npm exec/npx behavior

Lock File Compatibility

The lock file format is v3. Key field: skillFolderHash (GitHub tree SHA for the skill folder).

If reading an older lock file version, it's wiped. Users must reinstall skills to populate the new format.

Key Integration Points

Development

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Build
pnpm build

# Test locally
pnpm dev add vercel-labs/agent-skills --list
pnpm dev experimental_sync
pnpm dev check
pnpm dev update
pnpm dev init my-skill

# Run all tests
pnpm test

# Run specific test file(s)
pnpm test tests/sanitize-name.test.ts
pnpm test tests/skill-matching.test.ts tests/source-parser.test.ts

# Type check
pnpm type-check

# Format code
pnpm format

# Check formatting
pnpm format:check

# Validate and sync agent metadata/docs
pnpm run -C scripts validate-agents.ts
pnpm run -C scripts sync-agents.ts

Code Style

This project uses Prettier for code formatting. Always run pnpm format before committing changes to ensure consistent formatting.

# Format all files
pnpm format

# Check formatting without fixing
pnpm format:check

CI will fail if code is not properly formatted.

Publishing

# 1. Bump version in package.json
# 2. Build
pnpm build
# 3. Publish
npm publish

Adding a New Agent

1. Add the agent definition to src/agents.ts
2. Run pnpm run -C scripts validate-agents.ts to validate
3. Run pnpm run -C scripts sync-agents.ts to update README.md and package keywords