skillsctl

A CLI tool and backend registry for discovering, installing, and publishing Claude Code skills.

Documentation | Quick Start | Install

Install

Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew tap nebari-dev/tap
brew install skillsctl

Shell script (macOS/Linux)

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nebari-dev/skillsctl/main/install.sh | bash

Go

go install github.com/nebari-dev/skillsctl/cli@latest

From source

git clone https://github.com/nebari-dev/skillsctl.git
cd skillsctl && make build-cli

Quick Start

Start the backend locally (no external dependencies):

DEV_MODE=true go run ./backend/cmd/server
# Server starts on :8080, auth disabled (dev mode requires DEV_MODE=true)
# Health check: curl localhost:8080/healthz

Use the CLI:

skillsctl config init                  # first-time setup
skillsctl explore                      # browse skills
skillsctl explore show <name>          # skill details
skillsctl install <name>               # install latest version
skillsctl install <name>@1.0.0         # install specific version
skillsctl publish --name my-skill \
  --version 1.0.0 \
  --description "My skill" \
  --dir ./my-skill                    # publish a skill directory
skillsctl auth login                   # authenticate (production servers)

Architecture

Component	Technology
API	ConnectRPC (gRPC-compatible, serves JSON/HTTP)
Database	SQLite (modernc.org/sqlite, pure Go, WAL mode)
Skill storage	Content stored as BLOB in SQLite
Auth	Generic OIDC token validation (works with Keycloak, Okta, Dex)
CLI auth	RFC 8628 device flow, zero-config (discovers settings from server)

Project Structure

.
├── proto/              # Protobuf service definitions
├── gen/                # Generated code (committed, never hand-edited)
├── backend/            # ConnectRPC server
│   ├── cmd/server/     # Entrypoint
│   └── internal/       # Server internals (auth, registry, store)
├── cli/                # Cobra CLI
│   ├── cmd/            # CLI commands
│   └── internal/       # CLI internals (api client, auth, config)
├── skills/             # Dogfood skills shipped with the project
├── examples/           # Deployment examples (ArgoCD, etc.)
└── docs/               # Documentation

Development

Prerequisites

• Go 1.25+
• buf (protobuf tooling)
• golangci-lint

Commands

make test             # all tests with race detector
make test-backend     # backend tests only
make test-cli         # CLI tests only
make lint             # golangci-lint
make proto            # buf lint + generate
make build-cli        # builds ./skillsctl
make build-backend    # builds ./skillsctl-server

Proto Changes

1. Edit .proto files in proto/skillsctl/v1/
2. Run make proto to lint and regenerate
3. Verify with git diff --exit-code gen/ (CI checks for drift)

Database Migrations

Migrations use goose and live in backend/internal/store/sqlite/migrations/. The server runs migrations automatically on startup.

License

See LICENSE.