Skills Discovery

Skills Discovery

You can extend your capabilities by discovering and installing portable AI skills from a registry or repository. Skills provide specialized knowledge, tools, and techniques for specific technologies, frameworks, and domains.

When to Search for Skills

First, check if an installed skill matches the task. If not, search the registry—specialized skills may exist that you haven't installed yet.

Before starting any non-trivial task, ask yourself:

1. Do I have a skill for this? → Use it
2. Might one exist that I don't have? → Search the registry

Search proactively when:

• The task involves specific technologies, frameworks, or file formats
• You're about to do something where best practices matter (testing, deployment, APIs, documentation)
• The domain is specialized (PDF processing, data pipelines, ML workflows)
• You notice yourself about to give generic advice where expert patterns would help

Also search when users explicitly ask to find, install, or manage skills.

Discovery Workflow

Use the registry API for search when one is available:

curl "<registry-url>/api/skills?q=QUERY&limit=20&offset=0"

Parameters:

• q: Search query (e.g., "frontend", "python", "pdf")
• limit: Results per page (max 100)
• offset: Pagination offset

Response structure:

{
  "skills": [
    {
      "id": "...",
      "name": "skill-name",
      "namespace": "@owner/repo/skill-name",
      "sourceUrl": "https://github.com/...",
      "description": "...",
      "author": "...",
      "installs": 123,
      "stars": 45
    }
  ],
  "total": 100,
  "limit": 10,
  "offset": 0
}

Search Strategies

The registry indexes skill names, descriptions, and tags. Construct queries that match how skill authors describe their work.

Query construction:

• Use 1-3 specific terms (too broad = noise, too narrow = misses)
• Prefer widely-used terminology over project-specific jargon
• Technology + task often outperforms either alone
• If results are poor, broaden or try synonyms

Installation

Determine which host environment the user is working in before installing. If unclear, ask.

Capture these variables before installation:

• Host application or assistant
• Global or project-local scope
• Installation root used by that host
• Any required reload, restart, or reindex step

If the registry exposes a host selector, use the value that matches the user's environment.

Example host-aware installation command:

npx skills-installer install @owner/repo/skill-name --client <host-id>

Example scope selection:

npx skills-installer install @owner/repo/skill-name  # global (default)
npx skills-installer install @owner/repo/skill-name --local  # project-specific

Combined example:

npx skills-installer install @owner/repo/skill-name --client <host-id> --local

Management

# List installed skills
npx skills-installer list

# Uninstall a skill
npx skills-installer uninstall @owner/repo/skill-name

Presenting Results to Users

When you find relevant skills:

1. Show 3-5 most relevant results maximum
2. Include: name, namespace, description, stars, installs
3. Explain how each skill helps with their specific task
4. Prioritize those with high installs
5. Always ask for confirmation before installing
6. Offer to help directly if no good skill exists or user declines

Examples

Example: Proactive suggestion

User: "I need to create a Django REST API"

curl "<registry-url>/api/skills?q=django&limit=10"

Present suggestion:

I found some skills that could help:

1. django-rest-framework-expert (@vendor/framework/django-rest-framework-expert)
   Description: Django REST API development with best practices
   ⭐ 234 stars • 1,567 installs

Would you like me to install this, or help you directly without installing a skill?

Example: Explicit search request

User: "find skills for Python"

curl "<registry-url>/api/skills?q=python&limit=10"

Present results and ask which to install.

API Reference

Registry example: <registry-url>/skills

Troubleshooting

No results found:

• Try broader search terms
• Browse the web registry at <registry-url>/skills

Installation fails:

• Verify namespace format: @owner/repo/skill-name
• Check skill exists in registry
• Verify directory permissions
• Confirm the chosen host id and installation scope are correct

Skill not activating:

• The user may need to restart or reload the host
• Verify the correct installation directory for that host
• Confirm SKILL.md exists in the installed skill path