Sync Skills

Sync Skills

Overview

Automatically sync skills from multiple sources to all installed AI coding tool directories. Lists all existing target directories for user confirmation before syncing.

When to Use

digraph when_sync {
    "Need to sync skill?" [shape=diamond];
    "Source type?" [shape=diamond];
    "Local folder" [shape=box];
    "GitHub URL" [shape=box];
    "skillsmp.com URL" [shape=box];

    "Need to sync skill?" -> "Source type?";
    "Source type?" -> "Local folder" [label="Local path"];
    "Source type?" -> "GitHub URL" [label="github.com"];
    "Source type?" -> "skillsmp.com URL" [label="skillsmp.com"];
}

Use when:

• User provides local skill folder path
• User provides GitHub repository URL
• User provides skillsmp.com skill detail page URL
• Need to distribute skill across multiple AI tools

How it works:

1. Auto-detect source type from input
2. Prepare skill content based on source
3. Check all target directories (only existing ones)
4. List existing targets for user confirmation
5. Copy/clone to each confirmed target

Target Directories

Checks these paths in order, only syncs if directory exists:

Quick Reference

Basic Usage:

./sync-skill.sh <source>

Examples:

# Local folder
./sync-skill.sh /Users/user/skills/my-skill

# GitHub repository
./sync-skill.sh https://github.com/user/skill-repo

# skillsmp.com page
./sync-skill.sh https://skillsmp.com/skills/skill-name

Source Type Detection

# Local folder
/Users/user/skills/my-skill
./skills/my-skill
~/skills/my-skill

# GitHub URL
https://github.com/user/skill-repo
https://github.com/user/skill-repo.git
git@github.com:user/skill-repo.git

# skillsmp.com URL
https://skillsmp.com/skills/skill-name
https://www.skillsmp.com/skills/skill-name

Sync Commands by Source Type

Local folder:

cp -r /path/to/skill-name ~/.claude/skills/
cp -r /path/to/skill-name ~/.qoder/skills/
# ... for each existing target

GitHub:

# Clone to temp
git clone https://github.com/user/skill-repo.git /tmp/skill-sync

# Copy skill folder (might be in subdirectory)
cp -r /tmp/skill-sync/skill-name ~/.claude/skills/
# ... for each existing target

# Cleanup
rm -rf /tmp/skill-sync

skillsmp.com:

# Fetch page content
curl -s https://skillsmp.com/skills/skill-name > /tmp/skill-page.html

# Parse and download skill files
# Extract skill content from page
# Create skill directory structure
# Copy to each target

Implementation

Executable script: See sync-skill.sh in this skill directory.

Features:

• Auto-detects source type (local, GitHub, skillsmp.com)
• Checks all target directories for existence
• Lists existing targets and waits for user confirmation before syncing
• Only syncs to user-confirmed directories
• Overwrites existing skills without prompting
• Cleans up temporary files after use
• Provides clear output with emoji indicators

Exit codes:

• 0: Success
• 1: Error (missing source, clone failure, etc.)

Using from AI assistant: When user asks to sync a skill, invoke the script with appropriate source:

# User says: "Sync the skill at /path/to/my-skill"
./sync-skill.sh /path/to/my-skill

# User says: "Sync this GitHub repo: https://github.com/user/skill"
./sync-skill.sh https://github.com/user/skill

Source Detection

function detectSource(input) {
  // Local folder
  if (input.startsWith('/') || input.startsWith('./') || input.startsWith('~')) {
    return { type: 'local', path: input };
  }

  // GitHub URL
  if (input.includes('github.com')) {
    const url = input.replace(/\.git$/, '');
    return { type: 'github', url };
  }

  // skillsmp.com URL
  if (input.includes('skillsmp.com')) {
    return { type: 'skillsmp', url: input };
  }

  throw new Error(`Unknown source type: ${input}`);
}

Directory Existence Check and Confirmation

# Check if directory exists and collect for confirmation
check_and_sync() {
  local source=$1
  local skill_name=$2

  # Array of all target directories
  local targets=(
    "$HOME/.claude/skills"
    "$HOME/.qoder/skills"
    "$HOME/.copilot/skills"
    # ... all others
  )

  local existing_targets=()

  # First pass: collect existing directories
  for target in "${targets[@]}"; do
    if [ -d "$target" ]; then
      existing_targets+=("$target")
    fi
  done

  # List existing targets and ask for confirmation
  if [ ${#existing_targets[@]} -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "❌ No target directories found. Please install at least one AI coding tool."
    exit 1
  fi

  echo "📋 Found ${#existing_targets[@]} existing target directory(s):"
  echo ""
  for i in "${!existing_targets[@]}"; do
    echo "  $((i+1)). ${existing_targets[$i]}"
  done
  echo ""
  read -p "✅ Sync to these directories? (y/N): " confirm

  if [[ ! "$confirm" =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then
    echo "❌ Sync cancelled by user."
    exit 1
  fi

  echo ""
  echo "🚀 Starting sync..."

  # Second pass: sync to confirmed targets
  for target in "${existing_targets[@]}"; do
    echo "  → Syncing to $target..."
    # Perform sync
  done
}

GitHub Repository Handling

# Clone to temp directory
git clone https://github.com/user/repo.git /tmp/skill-sync-XXXXX

# Find skill folder (might be root or subdirectory)
if [ -f /tmp/skill-sync-XXXXX/SKILL.md ]; then
  skill_folder="/tmp/skill-sync-XXXXX"
elif [ -d /tmp/skill-sync-XXXXx/skills/* ]; then
  skill_folder="/tmp/skill-sync-XXXXx/skills/*"
fi

# Copy to each existing target
for target in "${existing_targets[@]}"; do
  cp -r "$skill_folder" "$target/"
done

# Cleanup
rm -rf /tmp/skill-sync-XXXXX

skillsmp.com Page Handling

# Fetch page
url="https://skillsmp.com/skills/skill-name"
curl -s "$url" > /tmp/skill-page.html

# Extract skill name and files
skill_name=$(grep -o '<h1[^>]*>.*</h1>' /tmp/skill-page.html | sed 's/<[^>]*>//g')

# Download or extract skill content
# This depends on skillsmp.com's structure
# Might need to parse JSON, download files, etc.

# Create skill directory
mkdir -p "/tmp/$skill_name"

# Save content to SKILL.md
# ... parsing logic ...

# Sync to targets
for target in "${existing_targets[@]}"; do
  cp -r "/tmp/$skill_name" "$target/"
done

Common Mistakes

Conflict Handling

Policy: Always overwrite existing skills

If a skill with the same name exists in a target directory:

• Overwrite without prompting
• Log what was overwritten: "Overwriting existing skill at $target/$skill_name"
• No backup (user should use git if they need history)

Rationale: Sync operations are expected to update content. If user wants to preserve local changes, they should manage version control separately.