Skillsmith

Craft your agent skill workflow.

Skillsmith is an agent skill discovery, recommendation, and management system for MCP-compatible AI tools. Find the right skills for your projects, install them safely, and learn to use them effectively.

Features

Discover - Search skills from GitHub with semantic search
Recommend - Get personalized skill suggestions based on context
Install - One-command installation to ~/.claude/skills/
Validate - Quality scores and structure validation
Trust - Four trust tiers from Official to Community (Security Guide)
Compare - Side-by-side skill comparison

MCP Tools

Tool	Description
`search`	Search skills with filters (query, category, trust tier, min score)
`get_skill`	Get detailed skill information including install command
`install_skill`	Install a skill to your local environment
`uninstall_skill`	Remove an installed skill
`recommend`	Get contextual skill recommendations
`validate`	Validate a skill's structure and quality
`compare`	Compare multiple skills side-by-side

Architecture

Skillsmith uses the Model Context Protocol (MCP):

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  MCP Client (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.)               │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│  │  Skillsmith MCP Server                          ││
│  │  └── @skillsmith/mcp-server                     ││
│  │      ├── search, get_skill, compare             ││
│  │      ├── install_skill, uninstall_skill         ││
│  │      └── recommend, validate                    ││
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
│                          │                           │
│                          ▼                           │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│  │  ~/.skillsmith/skills.db (SQLite + FTS5)        ││
│  │  ~/.claude/skills/ (installed skills)           ││
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Installation

Quick Setup (MCP)

Copy this MCP configuration snippet:

Add this MCP server to my settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "skillsmith": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@skillsmith/mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

After adding to your MCP client settings and restarting, you can search for skills immediately.

API Key Configuration (Optional)

For higher rate limits and usage tracking, authenticate with your API key.

Easiest — CLI login (interactive):

BASH

npm install -g @skillsmith/cli
skillsmith login

This opens skillsmith.app/account/cli-token in your browser. Generate a key, copy it, and paste it when prompted. The key is stored securely in your OS keyring.

MCP server config — add the key to your settings:

JSON

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "skillsmith": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@skillsmith/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "SKILLSMITH_API_KEY": "sk_live_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Get your API key at skillsmith.app/account/cli-token.

Tier	Rate Limit	Cost
Trial	100 total	Free
Community	30/min	Free
Individual	60/min	$9.99/mo
Team	120/min	$25/user/mo
Enterprise	300/min	$55/user/mo

Note: Never paste API keys in chat. Configure via settings.json only.

CLI Installation (Development)

The CLI is available for local development:

BASH

# From the repository root
npm run build
node packages/cli/dist/index.js search "testing"

Usage

Once configured, your MCP client can use Skillsmith tools:

"Search for testing skills"
→ Uses search tool to find testing-related skills

"Show me details for community/jest-helper"
→ Uses get_skill tool to retrieve full skill information

"Install the jest-helper skill"
→ Uses install_skill tool to add it to ~/.claude/skills

"Compare jest-helper and vitest-helper"
→ Uses compare tool to show side-by-side comparison

CLI Usage (Development)

BASH

# From the repository, after building
node packages/cli/dist/index.js search "testing" --tier verified --min-score 80
node packages/cli/dist/index.js get community/jest-helper
node packages/cli/dist/index.js install community/jest-helper

Documentation

Public

Security Guide - Understanding skill trust, safety, and protections
5-Minute Setup - Quick start guide
Configuration Guide - Complete setup and usage

Internal

Internal documentation is in a private submodule at docs/internal/. Access requires repository membership. Run git submodule update --init after cloning.

Engineering Standards - Code quality policies (requires repository access)
ADR Index - Architecture Decision Records (requires repository access)
Security Checklist - Security review guidelines (requires repository access)
Phase Retrospectives - Phase learnings (requires repository access)

Development

Skillsmith uses Docker-first development. All commands run inside Docker to ensure consistent native module support across all platforms.

Prerequisites

Docker Desktop (v24+) or Docker Engine with Docker Compose
Git (for cloning the repository)
Node.js (optional, only for local tooling outside Docker)

Quick Start

BASH

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/smith-horn/skillsmith.git
cd skillsmith

# 2. Start the development container
docker compose --profile dev up -d

# 3. Install dependencies (first time only)
docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm install

# 4. Build and test
docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm run build
docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm test

Running Commands in Docker

All npm commands should be run inside the Docker container:

Command	Docker Command
Build	`docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm run build`
Test	`docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm test`
Lint	`docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm run lint`
Typecheck	`docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm run typecheck`
Audit	`docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm run audit:standards`

Container Management

BASH

# Start development container
docker compose --profile dev up -d

# Check container status
docker ps | grep skillsmith

# View container logs
docker logs skillsmith-dev-1

# Stop container
docker compose --profile dev down

# Restart after Dockerfile changes
docker compose --profile dev down
docker compose --profile dev build --no-cache
docker compose --profile dev up -d

After Pulling Changes

When you pull changes that modify package.json or package-lock.json:

BASH

docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm install
docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm run build

Troubleshooting

Container won't start

BASH

docker compose --profile dev down
docker volume rm skillsmith_node_modules
docker compose --profile dev up -d
docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm install

Native module errors (`ERR_DLOPEN_FAILED`)

Native modules like better-sqlite3 and onnxruntime-node may need rebuilding:

BASH

docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm rebuild

Tests fail with shared library errors

If you see errors about ld-linux-aarch64.so.1 or similar, ensure you're running inside Docker (not locally):

BASH

# Wrong - don't run locally
npm test

# Correct - run in Docker
docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm test

Why Docker?

Skillsmith uses native Node.js modules (better-sqlite3, onnxruntime-node) that require glibc. Docker provides a consistent Debian-based environment with glibc, avoiding compatibility issues on systems using musl libc (like Alpine Linux).

For the full technical decision, see ADR-002: Docker with glibc for Native Module Compatibility.

See CLAUDE.md for full development workflow and skill configuration.

Tech Stack

Runtime: Node.js 20+ (Docker with glibc)
Protocol: MCP (Model Context Protocol)
Database: SQLite with FTS5
Embeddings: all-MiniLM-L6-v2 via onnxruntime-node
Testing: Vitest
CI/CD: GitHub Actions

License

Skillsmith is source-available under the Elastic License 2.0.

You CAN:

Use Skillsmith for personal or internal business purposes
Modify the source code for your own use
Self-host for your team
Contribute bug fixes and improvements

You CANNOT:

Offer Skillsmith as a managed service to third parties
Circumvent license key enforcement features

For the full license text, see the LICENSE file.

Author

Smith Horn Group Ltd

Skillsmith is not affiliated with Anthropic. Claude and Claude Code are trademarks of Anthropic.