skim

A tiny, filesystem-first skill manager for coding agents — Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, and anything else that reads skills from a folder.

Core idea: skills are just folders with a SKILL.md, so the manager needs no database, no server, no lockfile. A registry is any git repo with a skills/<name>/SKILL.md layout (fork this pattern to build your own). An install is a symlink from your cloned registry into an agent's skills directory. All state is readable straight off the disk.

Install

pipx install skim        # or: pip install skim

Requires Python ≥ 3.9 and git. The only dependency is Textual (for the TUI).

Quick start

skim repo add https://github.com/you/my-skills   # register your (forked) skill repo
skim agents                                      # which coding agents are on this machine?
skim list                                        # what skills do I have?
skim status                                      # skills × agents install matrix
skim install commit-msg                          # symlink into all detected agents
skim ui                                          # interactive TUI for all of the above

The TUI

skim ui shows one matrix screen: rows = skills, columns = detected agents, cells = ✓ installed / · not installed / ⚠ unmanaged. Keys: arrows move, space toggles install for the selected cell, a installs the row on all agents, u pulls all registries, q quits.

Authoring skills

skim new pr-review -d "Review pull requests thoroughly"   # scaffold in your registry
# ... edit the generated SKILL.md ...
skim new pr-review --push                                 # commit + push to your repo

Add --install to also link it into all detected agents.

Managing registries

skim repo list
skim repo update                 # git pull all registries (updates every install at once)
skim repo remove you/my-skills   # refuses if skills are still installed; --force uninstalls first

Configuration

Override an agent's skills directory in ~/.skim/config.toml:

[agents.claude-code]
skills_dir = "~/my/custom/skills"

Notes

• On Windows without Developer Mode, installs fall back to copies (tracked via a .skim-src marker); skim repo update re-syncs them.
• Skills manually placed in an agent's directory show as ⚠ unmanaged — skim never touches them.
• Skills can run arbitrary code. Only add registries you trust.

Status

Alpha (v0.2.0). See MVP.md for the design doc and roadmap.