reskill Usage Guide

reskill is a Git-based package manager for AI agent skills. It provides declarative configuration (skills.json + skills.lock), flexible versioning, and multi-agent support for installing, managing, and sharing skills across projects and teams.

Security & Trust

This skill instructs the agent to run CLI commands via reskill, an open-source, Git-based package manager for AI agent skills.

Why a specific registry? reskill supports multiple registries. This skill defaults to the Rush community registry (https://rush.zhenguanyu.com/) — the primary public registry for the reskill ecosystem, similar to how npm defaults to https://registry.npmjs.org. Users can override it at any time via --registry, the RESKILL_REGISTRY environment variable, or defaults.publishRegistry in skills.json.

CLI execution approach: To avoid downloading remote code on every invocation, we recommend installing reskill globally first:

npm install -g reskill

If a global installation is not available, npx reskill@latest can be used as a fallback. The agent should check for a global install (which reskill) before falling back to npx.

Requirements: Node.js >= 18.0.0

Registry resolution (highest to lowest priority):

1. --registry <url> CLI option
2. RESKILL_REGISTRY environment variable
3. defaults.publishRegistry in skills.json
4. Default: https://rush.zhenguanyu.com/

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when the user:

• Wants to install, update, or manage AI agent skills
• Mentions skills.json, skills.lock, or reskill-related concepts
• Wants to publish a skill to a registry
• Asks about supported install formats (GitHub, GitLab, HTTP, OSS, registry, etc.)
• Encounters reskill-related errors or needs troubleshooting
• Wants to set up a project for skill management
• Asks about multi-agent skill installation (Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, etc.)

Quick Start

# Initialize a new project
reskill init

# Install a skill
reskill install github:anthropics/skills/skills/frontend-design@latest

# List installed skills
reskill list

Commands

¹ Registry commands (publish, login, logout, whoami) use the configured registry (default: https://rush.zhenguanyu.com).

Run reskill <command> --help for complete options and detailed usage.

Common Options

Source Formats

reskill supports installing skills from multiple sources:

# GitHub shorthand
reskill install github:user/skill@v1.0.0

# GitLab shorthand
reskill install gitlab:group/skill@latest

# Full Git URL (HTTPS)
reskill install https://github.com/user/skill.git

# Full Git URL (SSH)
reskill install git@github.com:user/skill.git

# GitHub/GitLab web URL (with branch and subpath)
reskill install https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills/tree/main/skills/web-design-guidelines

# Custom registry (self-hosted GitLab, etc.)
reskill install gitlab.company.com:team/skill@v1.0.0

# HTTP/OSS archives
reskill install https://example.com/skills/my-skill-v1.0.0.tar.gz
reskill install oss://bucket/path/skill.tar.gz
reskill install s3://bucket/path/skill.zip

# Registry-based
reskill install @scope/skill-name@1.0.0 --registry https://rush.zhenguanyu.com
reskill install skill-name --registry https://rush.zhenguanyu.com

# Install multiple skills at once
reskill install github:user/skill1 github:user/skill2@v1.0.0

Monorepo Support

For repositories containing multiple skills, specify the path to the skill directory:

# Shorthand format with subpath
reskill install github:org/monorepo/skills/planning@v1.0.0
reskill install gitlab:company/skills/frontend/components@latest

# URL format with subpath
reskill install https://github.com/org/monorepo.git/skills/planning@v1.0.0
reskill install git@gitlab.company.com:team/skills.git/backend/apis@v2.0.0

# GitHub web URL automatically extracts subpath
reskill install https://github.com/org/monorepo/tree/main/skills/planning

Requirements: The specified directory must contain a valid SKILL.md file following the Agent Skills Specification.

HTTP/OSS URL Support

Skills can be installed directly from HTTP/HTTPS URLs pointing to archive files:

Supported archive formats: .tar.gz, .tgz, .zip, .tar

Version Formats

Configuration

skills.json

The project configuration file, created by reskill init:

{
  "skills": {
    "planning": "github:user/planning-skill@v1.0.0",
    "internal-tool": "internal:team/tool@latest"
  },
  "registries": {
    "internal": "https://gitlab.company.com"
  },
  "defaults": {
    "installDir": ".skills",
    "targetAgents": ["cursor", "claude-code"],
    "installMode": "symlink"
  }
}

• skills — Installed skill references (name → source ref)
• registries — Custom Git registry aliases
• defaults.installDir — Where skills are stored (default: .skills)
• defaults.targetAgents — Default agents to install to
• defaults.installMode — symlink (default, recommended) or copy

Environment Variables

Multi-Agent Support

Skills are installed to .skills/ by default and can be integrated with any agent:

Use --agent to target specific agents, or --all to install to all detected agents:

# Install to specific agents
reskill install github:user/skill -a cursor claude-code

# Install to all detected agents
reskill install github:user/skill --all

Publishing

Authentication

# Login with a token (obtain from the registry web UI)
reskill login --registry https://rush.zhenguanyu.com --token <token>

# Check current login status
reskill whoami

# Logout
reskill logout

Tokens are stored in ~/.reskillrc. You can also use the RESKILL_TOKEN environment variable (takes precedence, useful for CI/CD).

Publishing a Skill

# Validate without publishing (recommended first step)
reskill publish --dry-run --registry https://rush.zhenguanyu.com

# Publish the skill
reskill publish --registry https://rush.zhenguanyu.com

# Publish from a specific directory
reskill publish ./path/to/skill --registry https://rush.zhenguanyu.com

# Skip confirmation
reskill publish -y --registry https://rush.zhenguanyu.com

The skill directory must contain a valid SKILL.md. A skill.json with name, version, and description is also required for publishing.

Common Workflows

First-Time Project Setup

# 1. Initialize the project
reskill init -y

# 2. Install skills your project needs
reskill install github:user/skill1@v1.0.0 github:user/skill2@latest -y

# 3. Verify installation
reskill list

# 4. Commit skills.json and skills.lock to version control
# (These files ensure team members get the same skill versions)

Team Collaboration

When a teammate clones the project, they run:

# Reinstall all skills from skills.json (like npm install)
reskill install

This reads skills.json + skills.lock and installs the exact same versions.

Checking and Updating Skills

# Check which skills have newer versions
reskill outdated

# Update all skills
reskill update

# Update a specific skill
reskill update skill-name

Global vs Project-Level Installation

# Project-level (default)
reskill install github:user/skill

# Global (personal, all projects)
reskill install github:user/skill -g

# Personal project-level (not saved to skills.json)
reskill install github:user/skill --no-save

Diagnosing Issues

# Run environment diagnostics
reskill doctor

# JSON output for programmatic use
reskill doctor --json

The doctor command checks: reskill version, Node.js version, Git availability, cache directory, skills.json validity, skills.lock sync, installed skills integrity, and network connectivity.

Troubleshooting

Private Repositories

reskill uses your existing git credentials (SSH keys or credential helper). For CI/CD environments:

# GitLab CI
git config --global url."https://gitlab-ci-token:${CI_JOB_TOKEN}@gitlab.company.com/".insteadOf "https://gitlab.company.com/"