# Index Skills

> Scan all installed plugins and skills across the system, generating a comprehensive skills-index.md. Use when asked to index skills, catalog what's installed, or refresh the skills registry.

- Skill: `dylanpulver/index-skills` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add dylanpulver/index-skills`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/dylanpulver/index-skills/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: dylanpulver (https://skillmd.com/u/dylanpulver)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/dylanpulver/index-skills

---


# Skill Indexer

Scans all installed Claude Code plugins and project-level skills, extracts metadata from each SKILL.md, and generates a comprehensive `skills-index.md` at the root of your skills repo (referred to below as `<skills-repo>` — set it once, e.g. `~/Repos/claude-skills`).

> [Skill Governance](../skill-governance/SKILL.md) > Index Skills

## Invoke This Skill When

- User says `/index-skills` or asks to "index", "catalog", "list", or "refresh" skills
- User asks "what skills do I have" or "what plugins are installed"
- After installing a new plugin or creating a new skill
- After modifying a skill's description or trigger conditions

## Modes

Parse the argument to determine the mode:

| Argument | Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| `full` or no argument | Full refresh | Rescan everything, regenerate skills-index.md from scratch |
| `incremental` | Incremental | Only process SKILL.md files modified since last index generation (compare file mtime against the Generated timestamp in skills-index.md) |
| Any other string | Single lookup | Find and display info for the named skill without regenerating the full index |

## Scan Locations

Scan these three locations in order. You MUST complete all three before generating the index.

### Location 1: Marketplace Plugins

Use Glob to find SKILL.md files:
```
Glob pattern: **/skills/*/SKILL.md
Path: ~/.claude/plugins/cache/claude-plugins-official/
```

### Location 2: Custom Plugins

Use Glob to find SKILL.md files:
```
Glob pattern: **/skills/*/SKILL.md
Path: <skills-repo>/plugins/
```

### Location 3: Project-Level Skills (CRITICAL — do not skip)

Glob does NOT work for this location because it cannot expand wildcards in directory paths. You MUST use Bash. Do NOT cap with a shallow `-maxdepth` — project skills sit at `<repo>/.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md` (several levels below your code root; adjust `~/Repos` below to wherever your repos live) and some are nested deeper, so a low maxdepth silently finds nothing. Prune noise instead:

```bash
find ~/Repos \
  \( -name node_modules -o -name .git -o -name .next -o -name dist -o -name build -o -name worktrees \) -prune \
  -o -path "*/.claude/skills/*/SKILL.md" -type f -print 2>/dev/null
```

Why each prune matters: `worktrees` excludes ephemeral `.claude/worktrees/agent-*` copies (transient agent worktrees — NOT real skills, they duplicate the parent repo's skills); the rest skip dependency/build dirs. This should find every project-level skill across your repos. If it returns 0 results and you know you have project skills, something is wrong — debug before proceeding.

De-dupe by `(repo, skill-name)`: the same skill can appear under both a repo and a nested checkout of it (e.g. `~/Repos/library/...` and `~/Repos/acme-app/library/...`); count it once, grouped under its top-level repo.

Derive the project name from each path (e.g., `.../Repos/acme-app/.claude/skills/acme-app-ops/SKILL.md` → project: `acme-app`, skill: `acme-app-ops`).

## For Each SKILL.md Found

Read the file and extract from YAML frontmatter:

| Field | Source | Required |
|---|---|---|
| `name` | frontmatter | Yes |
| `description` | frontmatter | Yes |
| `category` | frontmatter, or infer from parent directory name | No |
| `parent` | frontmatter | No |
| `role` | frontmatter (`router` or absent) | No |
| `disable-model-invocation` | frontmatter | No |
| `argument-hint` | frontmatter (indicates slash-command invocable) | No |
| `allowed-tools` | frontmatter | No |
| Source plugin | Derived from file path | Yes |
| Source type | `marketplace`, `custom`, or `project:<repo-name>` | Yes |
| File path | Absolute path to the SKILL.md | Yes |

Also scan the body for a "## Invoke This Skill When" or "## When This Skill Applies" section and extract the first 2-3 bullet points as trigger examples.

## Output Format

Write the following to `<skills-repo>/skills-index.md`:

```markdown
# Skills Index

Generated: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS
Total skills: N across M sources

## Marketplace Plugins

### plugin-name (marketplace-name) — version
| Skill | Type | Hidden | Slash Cmd | Description (truncated to ~80 chars) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| skill-name | router/leaf | Yes/No | /cmd or — | First line of description... |

### [repeat for each marketplace plugin]

## Custom Plugins (your collection)

### plugin-name
| Skill | Type | Hidden | Slash Cmd | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| skill-name | router/leaf | Yes/No | /cmd or — | Description... |

## Project-Level Skills

### repo-name (~/Repos/repo-name/)
| Skill | Description |
|---|---|
| skill-name | Description... |

### [repeat for each repo with skills]

## Potential Conflicts

Compare all skill descriptions pairwise. Flag pairs where:
- Both descriptions contain the same key action verbs AND domain nouns
- One skill's description is a subset of another's
- Two skills could plausibly trigger for the same user query

Format:
| Skill A | Skill B | Overlap | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|
| name-a | name-b | "Both trigger on X" | LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH |

If no conflicts detected, write: "No conflicts detected."

## Statistics

- Marketplace skills: N
- Custom skills: N
- Project-level skills: N (across M repos)
- Router skills: N
- Hidden (non-model-invocable) skills: N
- Slash-command invocable: N
```

## After Generation

1. Display a brief summary to the user (total skills found, any new conflicts detected)
2. Remind the user to commit the updated `skills-index.md`:
   ```
   cd <skills-repo> && git add skills-index.md && git commit -m "chore: refresh skills index"
   ```

## Incremental Mode Details

When running in incremental mode:
1. Read the current `skills-index.md` and parse the `Generated:` timestamp
2. Use `Bash` to find SKILL.md files with mtime newer than that timestamp:
   ```bash
   find <scan-location> -name "SKILL.md" -newer <skills-repo>/skills-index.md
   ```
3. For each modified file, re-extract metadata and update the corresponding row in the index
4. Re-run conflict detection against the full index
5. Update the `Generated:` timestamp

## Single Lookup Mode

When given a specific skill name:
1. Read `<skills-repo>/skills-index.md`
2. Search for the skill name in the index
3. If found, read the full SKILL.md from the path recorded in the index
4. Display: full frontmatter, description, trigger conditions, file path, any detected conflicts
5. Do NOT regenerate or modify the index file

Never generate the index without all three scan locations completed; 0 results from Location 3 (project skills) means the scan is broken, not that none exist.