Introduction

skillc is the development kit for Agent Skills — the open format for extending AI agent capabilities with specialized knowledge and workflows.

At a Glance

                        SKILL.md (source)
                              │
              ┌───────────────┴───────────────┐
              │                               │
              ▼                               ▼
   ┌─────────────────────┐         ┌─────────────────────┐
   │  skillc (optional)  │         │      git push       │
   │                     │         │         ↓           │
   │  lint · build       │         │  npx skills add     │
   │  stats · search     │         │         ↓           │
   │         ↓           │         │  Claude · Cursor    │
   │  local testing      │         │  Codex · Copilot    │
   └─────────────────────┘         └─────────────────────┘

skillc helps authors validate and test skills locally. Consumers just run npx skills add — no compilation needed.

Who is this for?

Audience	What skillc provides
Skill authors	Create, validate, and test skills before publishing
Power users	Track how agents use skills locally

Core Commands

Command	What it does
`init`	Create a new skill or project structure
`lint`	Validate structure, frontmatter, and links
`build`	Compile for local testing and deploy to agents
`list`	Show all managed skills
`outline`	List sections across all files
`show`	Retrieve specific section content
`open`	Read a file
`search`	Full-text search with FTS5
`sources`	Tree view of source files
`stats`	Usage analytics
`sync`	Merge local logs to global store
`mcp`	Start MCP server for agent integration

Common Options

Command	Option	Description
`outline`	`--level <n>`	Filter to headings ≤ level n (1-6)
`show`	`--max-lines`	Truncate output to first n lines
`open`	`--max-lines`	Truncate output to first n lines
`stats`	`--group-by`	Aggregate by: sections, files, commands, projects, errors, search

Two Interfaces

Interface	For	Example
CLI (`skc`)	Humans, scripts, CI	`skc lint my-skill`
MCP	AI agents directly	`skc_lint` tool

Both expose the same functionality. MCP provides structured output for agent integration.

Key Concepts

Source vs. Compiled

	Source	Compiled
What	Your `SKILL.md` with full content	Stub directing agents to gateway commands
For	Publishing to GitHub	Local development/testing
Publish?	Yes	No

Always push source, never compiled output.

Skill Resolution

When you run skc <command> my-skill, skillc searches:

Project: .skillc/skills/my-skill/ (from current directory upward)
Global: ~/.skillc/skills/my-skill/

Project-local skills take precedence.

Project Detection

skillc walks upward from your current directory looking for .skillc/:

~/projects/myapp/src/          ← you are here
~/projects/myapp/.skillc/      ← project root found

Run commands from anywhere within a project.

Workflow Guides

Authoring — create and structure skills
Validating — lint and check quality
Testing — local testing with gateway commands
Publishing — git-based distribution
Analytics — track skill usage

Supported Agents

skillc deploys to these agent directories:

Target	Directory
`claude`	`~/.claude/skills/`
`codex`	`~/.codex/skills/`
`copilot`	`~/.github/skills/`
`cursor`	`~/.cursor/skills/`
`gemini`	`~/.gemini/skills/`
`kiro`	`~/.kiro/skills/`
`opencode`	`~/.opencode/skills/`
`trae`	`~/.trae/skills/`

Use skc build my-skill --target cursor to deploy to a specific agent.

Keyboard shortcuts

skillc