Getting Started

Prerequisites

  • Node.js ≥ 18
  • npm ≥ 9

Install 

npm install -g @skillsmanager/cli

Install the skillsmanager skill

This installs the bundled skillsmanager skill into all detected agents so your AI assistant can drive Skills Manager on your behalf.

sm install

To install for a specific agent only:

sm install --agent claude

Set up a storage backend

Skills Manager works out of the box with a local backend — no setup needed. Your skills are stored under ~/.skillsmanager/ and available on your current machine.

To sync across machines and share with other agents, connect a remote backend.

  1. Go to Google Cloud Console and create a project
  2. Enable the Google Drive API for the project
  3. Go to APIs & Services → Credentials → create OAuth 2.0 credentials (Desktop app)
  4. Download credentials.json and save it to ~/.skillsmanager/credentials.json

Then run the setup wizard:

sm setup google

This walks you through the OAuth flow and saves your token. After this, all commands that need Drive access will authenticate automatically.

Discover your existing skill collections:

sm refresh

Your first skill

Fetch an existing skill 

sm list                                 # see all available skills
sm search "code review"                 # search by name or description
sm install code-review --agent claude   # download and install

Add a skill you’ve built 

sm add ./my-skill                       # upload to your default collection

Push to remote

If you started with local storage and want to move everything to Google Drive:

sm registry push --backend gdrive

This uploads all local collections to Drive and updates the registry. It’s transactional — if anything fails, nothing changes.

What’s next?