Skills Manager

VerifiedCaution

Manages agent skill installation, updates, and removal. Get, list, install, uninstall, and upgrade skills from git repository URLs.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
DevelopmentIntermediate
206/2/2026
Claude CodeCopilot
#skill-management#agent-skills#installation#configuration

Recommended for

Our review

Manages agent skills by listing, getting details, installing from git repositories, updating, and uninstalling.

Strengths

  • Centralized caching and metadata management
  • Supports multiple agents (Claude and Copilot)
  • Parses various URL formats for installation
  • Ready-to-use scripts for automation

Limitations

  • Requires PowerShell (Windows-centric)
  • Installation only from git repositories
  • Cache path hardcoded to user profile
When to use it

When you need to install, update, or manage skills for AI agents across projects or personal scope.

When not to use it

When your skills are not hosted in a git repository, or if you need a non-Windows compatible approach without PowerShell.

Security analysis

Caution
Quality score85/100

The skill manager facilitates installation of third-party skills, which inherently carries risk. The scripts may execute code from downloaded repositories, and there is no mention of sandboxing or verification checks. The skill itself doesn't instruct destructive actions, but its purpose enables code execution from external sources.

Findings
  • Downloads and installs skills from arbitrary Git repositories; could execute untrusted code during clone/parse/install steps.
  • Uses PowerShell scripts that may have elevated file system access.

Examples

List all installed skills
List all installed skills across all scopes.
Install a skill from a git URL
Install the skill from https://github.com/owner/repo/tree/main/skills/my-skill
Get skill details
Show details of the 'code-review' skill.

name: skills-manager description: Get, List, install, update and uninstall agent skills. Use when user wants to Get, list, install, uninstall and upgrade skills. For install, user should provide a git repo URL. metadata: author: concao version: "1.0"

Skills Manager

This skill helps you Get, list, install, uninstall and update agent skills.

Skill Metadata Format

Skills use YAML frontmatter in Skill.md with the following structure:

---
name: skill-name              # Required
description: Brief description # Required
license: Apache-2.0           # Optional
metadata:                     # Optional
  author: example-org
  version: "1.0"
---

If version is not specified, the system uses the file's last modified time as the version identifier.

Skills Storage Locations

Skills can be stored at two levels:

1. Machine-Level Cache (Centralized)

All downloaded skills are cached in: %USERPROFILE%\.skill\{skill-name}\

Cache Structure:

~/.skill/{skill-name}/
├── origin/           # Original files downloaded from remote repo
├── parsed/           # Processed skill files ready for installation
└── metadata.json     # Skill metadata

metadata.json format:

{
  "name": "skill-name",
  "description": "Skill description",
  "version": "1.0",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "source": {
    "repoUrl": "https://github.com/owner/repo",
    "relativePath": "skills/my-skill",
    "branch": "main"
  }
}

2. Agent-Level Storage

Skills are installed to agent-specific paths based on scope:

| Scope | Agent | Path | |-------|-------|------| | Project | Copilot (default) | .github\skills\{skill-name} | | Project | Claude | .claude\skills\{skill-name} | | Personal | Copilot (default) | %USERPROFILE%\.copilot\skills\{skill-name} | | Personal | Claude | %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills\{skill-name} |

Default behavior:

  • If user doesn't specify agent preference: use Copilot paths (.github/skills or ~/.copilot/skills)
  • If user doesn't specify scope: default to project scope

Instructions

1. List Skills

List all installed skills across all scopes.

Steps:

  1. Scan all skill storage locations (project and personal)
  2. Read the Skill.md file from each skill folder to extract name and description
  3. Display results in a table format

Script: list-skills.ps1


2. Get Skill Details

Get detailed information about a specific skill by name.

Steps:

  1. Search for the skill in all installed locations
  2. Parse the Skill.md file to extract name and full description
  3. Display skill details including path and files

Script: get-skill.ps1 -SkillName "name"


3. Install Skills

Install a skill from a git repository URL.

Steps:

Step 3.1: Parse the Git Repository URL

When the user provides a git repository link, parse it to extract:

  • Repository URL: The base git repo URL (e.g., https://github.com/owner/repo)
  • Relative Path: The path to the skill folder within the repo (e.g., skills/my-skill)
  • Branch (optional): If specified, use it; otherwise default to main or master

Supported URL formats:

  • https://github.com/owner/repo/tree/branch/path/to/skill
  • https://github.com/owner/repo/path/to/skill
  • https://dev.azure.com/org/project/_git/repo?path=/path/to/skill
  • Raw git URL + relative path provided separately

Step 3.2: Download to Machine Cache

  1. Create cache structure: ~/.skill/{skill-name}/origin/ and ~/.skill/{skill-name}/parsed/
  2. Clone/download files to origin/ folder
  3. Validate skill structure (must contain Skill.md or SKILL.md)
  4. Parse skill metadata and copy processed files to parsed/ folder
  5. Create metadata.json with name, description, version (from frontmatter or last modified time), and source info

Script: download-skill.ps1 -SkillName "name" -RepoUrl "url" -RelativePath "path" [-Branch "branch"]

Step 3.3: Ask User for Installation Scope

Prompt the user to choose:

Where would you like to install this skill?

  1. Project scope - Available only in this repository (default)
  2. Personal scope - Available across all your projects

Which scope do you prefer? (1 or 2, default: 1)

Step 3.4: Copy to Agent Path

Based on user's choice, copy from ~/.skill/{skill-name}/parsed/ to the appropriate agent path.

Script: install-skill.ps1 -SkillName "name" -Scope "project|personal" -Agent "copilot|claude"

Step 3.5: Confirm Installation

Success message:

✅ Skill "{skill-name}" installed successfully!

📁 Location: {target-path}
📄 Skill file: {target-path}/Skill.md
📦 Version: {version}

To use this skill, simply ask me about topics related to: {skill-description}

4. Upgrade Skills

Update an existing skill to the latest version from its source repository.

Steps:

Step 4.1: Read Metadata

  1. Read ~/.skill/{skill-name}/metadata.json to get source repo info
  2. If metadata not found, prompt user for repo URL

Step 4.2: Update Origin Files

  1. Pull latest changes to ~/.skill/{skill-name}/origin/
  2. Re-parse skill files to ~/.skill/{skill-name}/parsed/
  3. Update metadata.json with new version info

Step 4.3: Compare and Update Installed Locations

  1. Compare version in cache with installed locations
  2. Copy updated files from parsed/ to all installed locations if newer
  3. Remind user to reopen chat for changes to take effect

Script: upgrade-skill.ps1 -SkillName "name"

Step 4.4: Confirm Upgrade

Success message:

✅ Skill "{skill-name}" upgraded successfully!

📦 New Version: {version}
Updated locations:
  - {location-1}
  - {location-2}

5. Uninstall Skills

Remove an installed skill from a specific scope.

Steps:

Step 5.1: Locate the Skill

  1. Search for the skill in all installed locations
  2. Display where the skill is installed

Step 5.2: Ask User What to Remove

Prompt the user:

The skill "{skill-name}" is installed in the following locations:

  1. .github/skills/{skill-name} (project)
  2. ~/.copilot/skills/{skill-name} (personal)
  3. ~/.skill/{skill-name} (machine cache)

Which would you like to remove? (1/2/3/all)

Step 5.3: Remove the Skill

Script: uninstall-skill.ps1 -SkillName "name"

Step 5.4: Confirm Removal

Success message:

✅ Skill "{skill-name}" uninstalled from {location}.

Example Usage

User request examples:

  • "List all installed skills"
  • "Get details about sfi-handler skill"
  • "Install the skill from https://github.com/myorg/skills/tree/main/sfi-handler"
  • "Install skill from https://github.com/user/repo path: skills/my-skill to personal scope"
  • "Upgrade my sfi-handler skill"
  • "Uninstall the old-skill from my personal skills"

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

  1. Git not installed: Ensure git is available in PATH
  2. Permission denied: Run with appropriate permissions
  3. Invalid skill structure: Skill folder must contain Skill.md or SKILL.md
  4. Network issues: Check internet connectivity and repository access

Validation Checklist

  • [ ] Repository URL is accessible
  • [ ] Skill folder contains Skill.md or SKILL.md
  • [ ] Target directory is writable
  • [ ] No naming conflicts with existing skills
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