Usage

All commands are non-interactive — safe to call from any AI agent. Commands fail fast with a clear error if something is missing, rather than blocking on user input.

Installing skills

sm install

Installs the bundled skillsmanager skill into all detected agent directories.

sm install                   # install to all agents
sm install --agent claude    # install to a specific agent
sm install --agent claude,cursor,openclaw  # install to multiple agents

sm install <name>

Downloads a skill from remote storage and symlinks it into an agent’s skills directory.

sm install <skill-name> --agent <agent>

sm install code-review --agent claude
sm install write-tests --agent cursor

The skill is cached at ~/.skillsmanager/cache/<uuid>/<skill-name>/ and symlinked — one copy, many agents.

Browsing skills

sm list

Lists all skills in a tree view grouped by registry → collection → skill. GitHub collections show the source repo in the badge.

sm list

Example output:

REGISTRY  gdrive
├── personal [gdrive]
│   ├── code-review  Opinionated code review workflow
│   └── write-tests  Generates unit tests
└── curated [github: owner/skills-repo]
    └── algorithmic-art  Generates algorithmic art

Collections not linked to any registry appear under (unregistered) — run sm refresh to link them.

sm status

Shows the login state and identity for each backend.

sm status

Example output:

Backend   Status                    Identity
────────  ────────────────────────  ──────────────────────────────
local     ✓ logged in               ajay
gdrive    ✓ logged in               you@example.com
github    ✗ not logged in           run: sm setup github

Never triggers auth flows — safe to run at any time.

Full-text BM25 search across skill names and descriptions.

sm search <query>
sm search "code review"
sm search linkedin

Adding and updating skills

sm add

Uploads a local skill directory to a collection.

sm add <path>
sm add ./my-skill
sm add ./my-skill --collection work

If --collection is omitted, the skill is added to the default collection.

Registering a remote skill path (cross-backend collections)

When a collection has a cross-backend skills source (e.g. type: github pointing to a GitHub repo), you cannot upload local files — the files already live in the remote repo. Instead, register a path pointer with --remote-path:

sm add --remote-path <path-in-repo> --name <skill-name> --description "<desc>" --collection <name>

Example:

sm add --remote-path skills/write-tests/ --name write-tests \
  --description "Generate unit tests for a function or module" \
  --collection my-curated-col

This writes an entry into SKILLS_COLLECTION.yaml without touching any skill files. When a user installs the skill, the files are pulled from the declared metadata.repo.

sm update

Pushes local changes to an existing skill back to remote storage.

sm update <path>
sm update ./my-skill

Collections

Collections are folders that group related skills. Each collection has a SKILLS_COLLECTION.yaml index file.

sm collection create

Creates a new skill collection.

sm collection create
sm collection create my-collection
sm collection create my-collection --backend github --repo owner/repo
sm collection create my-collection --backend gdrive

Cross-backend collections: --skills-repo

Use --skills-repo to create a collection whose skill files live in a specific GitHub repo, regardless of where the collection YAML is stored:

# Collection YAML in Google Drive, skill files in a GitHub repo
sm collection create curated --backend gdrive --skills-repo owner/skills-repo

# Collection YAML in one GitHub repo, skill files in another
sm collection create curated --backend github --repo owner/registry-repo --skills-repo owner/skills-repo

This sets type: github and metadata.repo in the generated SKILLS_COLLECTION.yaml. After creating such a collection, register skill entries with sm add --remote-path ... rather than uploading files.

Registries

A registry is the root index that points to all your collections. See the Protocol spec for the full architecture.

sm registry create

Creates a new local registry.

sm registry create
sm registry create --backend gdrive   # create directly in Google Drive

sm registry list

Shows all registries and their collections.

sm registry list

sm registry push

Pushes a local registry and all its collections to a remote backend. Transactional — all-or-nothing.

sm registry push --backend gdrive

sm registry discover

Searches a backend for existing registries and adds them to local config.

sm registry discover --backend gdrive

sm registry add-collection

Adds a collection reference to the registry.

sm registry add-collection <name>

Discovery and sync

sm refresh

Re-discovers collections from all connected backends and updates the local index.

sm refresh

Google Drive setup

sm setup google

One-time interactive wizard for Google Drive authentication. Human-facing only — not for agent use.

sm setup google

Config file

All state is stored in ~/.skillsmanager/config.json. You can inspect it directly — it’s plain JSON with registries, collections, and a skills index.

Key paths:

Path Purpose
~/.skillsmanager/config.json Cached registries, collections, skills index
~/.skillsmanager/registry.yaml Local registry
~/.skillsmanager/collections/<name>/ Local collection storage
~/.skillsmanager/credentials.json Google OAuth client credentials
~/.skillsmanager/token.json OAuth access + refresh token
~/.skillsmanager/cache/<uuid>/<skill>/ Downloaded skill cache