Setup Skills Master MCP

Setup skills-master MCP

Guide the user through installing and configuring the skills-master-mcp server for Claude Code.

Step 1: Check Node.js availability

First, detect whether node is available and where it lives:

which node || echo "node not in PATH"
node --version 2>/dev/null || echo "node not runnable"

If node is not found in PATH, check common nvm locations:

ls ~/.nvm/versions/node/ 2>/dev/null | tail -1

If nvm is present, identify the active version:

ls -t ~/.nvm/versions/node/ | head -1

Store the node bin path (e.g. ~/.nvm/versions/node/v25.6.1/bin) — you'll need it in Step 3.

Step 2: Check if skills-master-mcp is already installed

PATH="$(ls -td ~/.nvm/versions/node/*/bin 2>/dev/null | head -1):$PATH" npx skills-master-mcp --version 2>/dev/null || echo "not installed"

Step 3: Add to .mcp.json

Determine the correct config target:

• Project-level (recommended): .mcp.json in the project root
• User-level: ~/.claude.json under mcpServers

Write (or merge) the following into .mcp.json in the project root.

Critical: The env.PATH field must include the node bin directory so that npx can find node at runtime — Claude Code does not inherit your shell's nvm PATH.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "skills-master": {
      "command": "/REPLACE_WITH_NODE_BIN_PATH/npx",
      "args": ["skills-master-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "PATH": "/REPLACE_WITH_NODE_BIN_PATH:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace /REPLACE_WITH_NODE_BIN_PATH with the actual path found in Step 1 (e.g. /Users/yourname/.nvm/versions/node/v25.6.1/bin).

If .mcp.json already exists with other servers, merge the skills-master entry into the existing mcpServers object rather than overwriting the file.

Step 4: Verify the config

cat .mcp.json

Confirm:

• command points to the full path of npx
• env.PATH starts with the node bin directory
• JSON is valid (no trailing commas)

Step 5: Restart Claude Code

Tell the user:

The MCP server config is ready. Please restart Claude Code (or run /mcp to reload servers) to connect skills-master-mcp.

After restart, the mcp__skills-master__* tools (search, ai_search, read_skill, install_skill, etc.) will be available.

Troubleshooting

"env: node: No such file or directory" / exit code 127

• Root cause: npx is invoked via full path but node is not in the MCP process's PATH
• Fix: Ensure env.PATH in .mcp.json includes the node bin directory (see Step 3)

"npx: command not found"

• The command path is wrong. Re-run Step 1 to find the correct node bin directory.

MCP server appears but tools return errors

• Run npx skills-master-mcp --help (with the correct PATH) to confirm the package is reachable
• Try reinstalling: npm install -g skills-master-mcp

Multiple Node versions via nvm

• Use nvm current (with nvm sourced) to find the active version, or pick the latest from ~/.nvm/versions/node/
• The version used in .mcp.json does not need to match your shell's active version — any working node will do