vskill

The package manager for AI skills.
Author. Eval. Publish. Install — across 53 agent platforms.

Download Skill Studio:

All releases: github.com/anton-abyzov/vskill/releases

# Browser studio — zero install
npx vskill@latest studio        # open the local IDE for AI skills
npx vskill@latest install remotion-best-practices

Native Mac, Windows, and Linux desktop apps available at GitHub Releases — 1.5 s cold launch, no telemetry. macOS Apple Silicon is signed by Developer ID Application: EasyChamp, Inc. and notarized + stapled by Apple — no Gatekeeper warning.

The desktop app wraps the same studio runtime as npx vskill studio in a Tauri 2 shell: native menu bar, global ⌘K find-skill palette, ⌘, Preferences with General / Updates / Privacy / Advanced tabs, settings persisted to ~/.vskill/settings.json (atomic, 0600 perms), and signed auto-update via tauri-plugin-updater against minisign-signed manifests.

Why vskill

36.82% of AI skills have security flaws (Snyk ToxicSkills). And the ones that aren't malicious often don't even improve the model — they just feel like they should.

vskill is built around three problems:

• Trust — every install runs a 3-tier scan (52 patterns → blocklist → LLM intent). No --skip-scan.
• Proof — Skill Studio runs A/B evals so you can show a skill makes a model better, not assume it.
• Reach — one skill, 53 agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, Codex, Windsurf, Zed, Gemini CLI, Ollama, …).

Skill Studio — the local IDE for skills

npx vskill@latest studio

A localhost workbench opens at a deterministic per-project port. You can:

• Author new skills with an AI-assisted generator (Anthropic skill-creator engine or vskill native — first-class peers, you pick).
• Edit SKILL.md live with a Linear/Raycast-grade UI.
• Run benchmarks with SSE-streamed pass/fail across Claude, GPT, Llama, Gemini, local Ollama / LM Studio.
• A/B compare with vs. without your skill — blind LLM judge ranks outputs as EFFECTIVE / MARGINAL / INEFFECTIVE / DEGRADING.
• Cross-model sweep the same skill across providers (Anthropic Batch API supported — 50% cheaper).
• Find skills from the verified-skill.com registry with a ⌘⇧K palette, install with consent + provenance.
• Publish with one click — git push from the UI, then opens the submit form on verified-skill.com pre-filled.

CORS-free by design: the browser only ever talks to localhost. The server proxies to verified-skill.com and to provider APIs. Every mutation is logged to ~/.vskill/studio-ops.jsonl for audit.

How install works

  ┌──────────┐     ┌──────────┐     ┌──────────┐     ┌──────────┐
  │  Source  │────>│   Scan   │────>│  Verify  │────>│ Install  │
  │          │     │          │     │          │     │          │
  │ GitHub   │     │ 52 rules │     │ LLM      │     │ Pin SHA  │
  │ Registry │     │ Blocklist│     │ intent   │     │ Lock ver │
  │ Local    │     │ Patterns │     │ analysis │     │ Symlink  │
  └──────────┘     └──────────┘     └──────────┘     └──────────┘

Every install runs the full pipeline. SARIF v2.1.0 output is available for CI (vskill audit --ci).

Quick Start

# Install one skill
npx vskill@latest install remotion-dev/skills/remotion-best-practices

# Browse a repo, pick interactively
npx vskill@latest install remotion-dev/skills

# Install a Claude Code plugin (full domain bundle)
npx vskill@latest install --repo anton-abyzov/vskill --plugin frontend

Install globally for repeat use: npm i -g vskill

_{Behind a private npm registry? See Getting Started for the E401 workaround.}

What ships today

Surface	Count	Notes
Agent platforms	53	Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, Windsurf, Codex, Gemini CLI, Zed, Ollama, LM Studio, …
Plugins	8	Multi-skill bundles for Claude Code
Skills	14	Individual SKILL.md files inside plugins
Top-level CLI commands	22	install, studio, eval, find, scan, audit, submit, skill, keys, …
Tests	307 test files	More tests than source files

Plugins (Claude Code)

Plugin	Skills
frontend	figma-connect, frontend-design, task-skill-announcer
personal	obsidian-brain, greet-anton, tax-filing
marketing	slack-messaging, social-media-posting
skills	skill-builder, scout
mobile	appstore
google-workspace	gws
easychamp	tournament-manager
productivity	survey-passing

Install all eight: npx vskill@latest install --repo anton-abyzov/vskill --all

Browse the full catalog → verified-skill.com/docs/plugins

Commands you'll actually use

npx vskill@latest studio               # open local IDE
npx vskill@latest install <skill>      # install with full security scan
npx vskill@latest find <query>         # search verified-skill.com registry
npx vskill@latest list --installed     # what's installed where
npx vskill@latest diff <skill> v1 v2   # compare versions before upgrading
npx vskill@latest skill new            # create a new skill (AI-assisted)
npx vskill@latest eval sweep <skill>   # benchmark across models
npx vskill@latest audit --ci           # SARIF v2.1.0 for CI
npx vskill@latest keys set anthropic   # store API keys in ~/.vskill/keys.env
npx vskill@latest auth login           # sign in to GitHub for private skills

Full reference → verified-skill.com/docs/cli-reference

Authentication (GitHub, for private skills)

vskill auth signs you in to GitHub using the official Device Flow so the CLI can install skills from private repos and the local Studio can list your org's private catalog.

npx vskill@latest auth login    # interactive Device Flow — copy code, visit URL
npx vskill@latest auth status   # show the current GitHub identity
npx vskill@latest auth logout   # forget all stored tokens
npx vskill@latest whoami        # combined identity + active tenant snapshot

How it works:

1. vskill auth login requests a device + user code from github.com/login/device/code.

2. You visit https://github.com/login/device and enter the 8-character code (rendered as XXXX-XXXX).

3. The CLI polls github.com/login/oauth/access_token until you authorize, then validates against api.github.com/user.

4. The CLI calls POST /api/v1/auth/github/exchange-for-vsk-token to mint a verified-skill API token (vsk_…) scoped to the same identity.

5. Both tokens are stored in your OS keychain (macOS Keychain / Windows DPAPI / libsecret) under distinct service names:

   • com.verifiedskill.desktop / github-oauth-token → gho_… (raw GitHub OAuth)
   • com.verifiedskill.desktop / vskill-token → vsk_… (verified-skill API token)

   On systems without a keyring daemon, both fall back to ~/.vskill/keys.env with mode 0600 and a startup warning.

If the exchange step fails (network error, 5xx), login still succeeds with just the gho_… token and the CLI prints Logged in (legacy mode — some features unavailable). Re-run vskill auth login later to mint the vsk_… token without losing your session.

Where the tokens are used:

• vskill add <skill>, vskill list, vskill marketplace — every request to verified-skill.com carries Authorization: Bearer <vsk_… or gho_…> (preferring vsk_ when present). Anonymous requests for public skills still work when no token is stored.
• vskill install <github-url> — added as Authorization: Bearer … on every fetch to api.github.com and raw.githubusercontent.com. Public skills still install anonymously.
• vskill studio — the local eval-server proxies private routes (/api/v1/private/*, /api/v1/tenants/*) to verified-skill.com with the bearer header injected at the proxy boundary. Your browser never holds the token.

Configuration:

• VSKILL_GITHUB_CLIENT_ID — the OAuth/App client_id used during Device Flow. Defaults are baked in for the public Skill Studio App; set this only if you are running a self-hosted variant.
• VSKILL_TENANT — overrides the active tenant for a single invocation (CI / scripted use). See "Tenant resolution priority" below.

Inspect status of all credentials in one place:

npx vskill@latest keys list      # shows AI provider keys + the github slot
npx vskill@latest whoami         # email, token prefix, active tenant, all tenants

Tenants and vskill orgs

When your GitHub identity belongs to multiple organizations that have the Skill Studio App installed, each org is a tenant in verified-skill.com. The CLI calls them "orgs" for symmetry with gh org, gcloud config configurations, and kubectl config use-context.

npx vskill@latest orgs list           # table: slug | name | role | active (* marks the active tenant)
npx vskill@latest orgs use <slug>     # write currentTenant to ~/.vskill/config.json
npx vskill@latest orgs current        # print the active tenant slug, or `(none)`

orgs and whoami are anonymous-safe — running them without a stored token prints Not logged in. Run \vskill auth login`.` and exits non-zero (orgs returns 0; whoami returns 1) without crashing.

Tenant resolution priority

When a tenant-scoped command (vskill add, vskill install for a private skill, etc.) needs to pick an active tenant, it walks this list in order — first match wins:

1. --tenant <slug> flag — per-command override (highest precedence).
2. VSKILL_TENANT env var — non-interactive / CI use.
3. currentTenant in ~/.vskill/config.json — the persistent active tenant set by vskill orgs use or the Studio sidebar picker.
4. Auto-pick when N=1 — if you belong to exactly one tenant, that one is used silently.
5. Error — if you belong to N>1 tenants and none of (1)–(3) is set, the CLI prints Multiple tenants available — set one with \vskill orgs use `.` and exits non-zero. The CLI never silently picks one of N>1.

The same ~/.vskill/config.json is shared with Skill Studio — switching tenants in Studio's sidebar picker updates the same file the CLI reads, so the two surfaces stay in sync.

vskill add resolution order (private skills)

When you run vskill add <skill>, the resolver tries:

1. The public registry.
2. The active tenant's scoped registry (resolved via the priority above).
3. Other tenants you belong to, in parallel HEAD requests — first match wins.

If a --tenant <slug> flag is set, only the public registry and that tenant are tried.

Common error messages:

• Skill found in multiple tenants: acme, contoso. Re-run with --tenant <slug> or set an active tenant: vskill orgs use <slug>. — ambiguity guard for N>1 with no active tenant.
• Authentication failed. Run \vskill auth login` to re-authenticate.` — the registry returned 401. The keychain is not auto-cleared (you might be on a flaky network).
• Upgrade required: <message> (<upgradeUrl>) — the registry returned 402: skill exists in this tenant but you lack entitlement.

Private skill workflow

Once authenticated, installing a private org skill is identical to a public one — the CLI silently attaches the keychain token to every request:

npx vskill@latest auth login                                # one-time setup (mints gho_ + vsk_)
npx vskill@latest orgs use acme                             # pick a tenant if you belong to multiple
npx vskill@latest add private-skill                         # private skill installs same as public

The local skill bundle on disk never contains your GitHub token — the token is used only at fetch time. Your project's vskill.lock records source: "private" and the org name so future updates re-authenticate correctly.

Customer-facing setup walkthrough → .specweave/docs/external/private-repos-quickstart.md (in the umbrella repo).

Security & Compliance

Skill Studio private-repo support (increment 0826) ships with documented threat model, verification checklist, SOC 2 evidence map, and operational runbooks — all in the umbrella repo under .specweave/docs/:

• Customer quickstart — .specweave/docs/external/private-repos-quickstart.md
• Vendor security questionnaire — .specweave/docs/external/security-questionnaire-template.md
• Threat model & verification checklist — .specweave/docs/internal/security/0826-*.md
• SOC 2 evidence map — .specweave/docs/internal/compliance/0826-soc2-evidence-map.md
• Operations + rotation runbooks — .specweave/docs/internal/runbooks/0826-*.md

Recent highlights (0.5.x)

• 0.5.129 — Studio Publish: one-click git push + open verified-skill.com submit pre-filled
• 0.5.12x — Studio Find palette (⌘⇧K): search the registry from inside Studio
• 0.5.11x — Engine selector in Create flow: choose Anthropic skill-creator or vskill native
• 0.5.10x — Multi-project tabs, deterministic per-project port (3077–3177), bookmarkable URLs
• 0.5.0x — A/B comparison with blind LLM judge, cross-model sweep, MCP-skill simulation mode

Full changelog → github.com/anton-abyzov/vskill/releases

Learn more

Topic	Where
Quick start & first install	verified-skill.com/docs/getting-started
Full CLI reference	verified-skill.com/docs/cli-reference
Security model & 3-tier verification	verified-skill.com/docs/security-guidelines
Plugin marketplace	verified-skill.com/docs/plugins
Submit a skill for verification	verified-skill.com/docs/submitting
FAQ	verified-skill.com/docs/faq
Browse the registry	verified-skill.com

Contributing

Issues and PRs welcome at github.com/anton-abyzov/vskill. To submit a skill to the registry, see verified-skill.com/docs/submitting.

Inside this repo dependency install scripts are disabled (.npmrc): run npm ci, then npm run setup (rebuilds esbuild), and npm run security:scan before pushing — see SECURITY.md.

License

MIT