Show HN: Skillz – Use Claude Skills Anywhere

Skillz is a CLI that enables skills across any LLM powered tool in a matter of seconds. It works by injecting skill instructions in the AGENTS.md (or tool equivalent) instruction file and surfaces all discoverable skills by appending their frontmatter to the bottom of the file.

• Enable skill usage by automatically detecting tool environment and injecting skill usage instructions
• Enable skills to be automatically synced from well known paths (eg. .claude/skills) as well as the ability to customize additional paths
• Various methods to manage and edit skills from the CLI

• Node.js 18 or newer
• npm (or pnpm/yarn) for dependency management

After syncing, the CLI maintains a managed section in your target file(s). For example, in AGENTS.md:

The CLI stores project settings in skillz.json. A typical file looks like:

Key fields:

• targets: Instruction files that receive the managed section.
• skillDirectories / additionalSkills: Folders that will be scanned for SKILL.md.
• ignore: Glob patterns to exclude skills.
• defaultEditor: Default editor for the edit command (defaults to $EDITOR or vi).
• autoSyncAfterEdit: Automatically run sync after editing a skill (defaults to true).

Initialize Skillz in the current directory, detect existing targets, and create skillz.json.

Automatic Environment Detection:

When you run skillz init without flags in an interactive terminal, Skillz automatically detects your development environment and recommends the appropriate configuration:

• Codex/AGENTS.md: Detects AGENTS.md files and suggests the agentsmd preset
• Cursor: Detects .cursorrules or .cursor/rules directory and suggests the cursor preset (creates .cursor/rules/skills.mdc)
• Claude Code: Detects CLAUDE.md or .claude/CLAUDE.md files and suggests the claude preset
• Aider: Detects .aider/conventions.md files and suggests the aider preset

After detection, you can:

• Accept the suggested configuration
• Edit the configuration in your $EDITOR before saving
• Cancel and configure manually

Options:

• --preset <name>: Apply a preset (agentsmd, aider, cursor, claude) for default targets.
• --target <path>: Supply one or more custom target files.
• --additional-skills <path>: Add extra skill directories (repeatable).
• --global-skills: Include the global ~/.claude/skills/ directory.
• --template <path>: Use a custom Handlebars template for rendered output.
• --include-instructions: Embed full skill bodies instead of link lists.
• --no-sync: Skip the initial synchronization run.

Examples:

Create a new skill with a template SKILL.md file in your configured skill directory.

Interactive Mode (Recommended):

Launches an interactive prompt that guides you through creating a well-structured skill with:

• Capabilities section
• Guidelines section
• Examples placeholder
• Anti-patterns section (optional)

Quick Mode:

Creates a minimal skill with just frontmatter. You'll need to manually edit the SKILL.md file to add content.

Options:

• -i, --interactive: Launch interactive mode with guided prompts (recommended)
• --path <directory>: Custom directory path (overrides config)
• --skill-version <semver>: Skill version in semver format (default: 0.0.0)

The command automatically normalizes skill names by converting to lowercase, replacing underscores and spaces with hyphens, and removing special characters. The original name format is preserved in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Examples:

Scan configured skill directories and update every target file with the latest skills.

Options:

• --dry-run: Show pending updates without touching the filesystem.
• --force: Ignore change detection and rewrite targets even if nothing changed.
• --no-backup: Skip automatic backup creation.
• --verbose: Print detailed scanning and write activity.
• --only <skill>: Restrict the sync to one or more named skills (repeatable).

Examples:

Display available skills in the configured directories.

Options:

• --format <table|json|markdown>: Choose the output format (table is default).
• --synced-only: Limit the list to skills currently present in targets.
• --unsynced-only: List skills that have not been synced yet.

Examples:

Open an existing skill in your preferred editor for editing.

Usage:

The command will:

1. Find the skill by name (case-insensitive, handles hyphens/underscores interchangeably)
2. Open it in your configured editor
3. Automatically run sync after you close the editor (unless autoSyncAfterEdit is set to false)

Editor Selection Priority:

1. --editor flag (if provided)
2. defaultEditor from skillz.json
3. $EDITOR environment variable
4. vi (fallback)

Special Behavior:

• For VS Code and Cursor editors, opens the entire skill folder
• For other editors, opens the SKILL.md file directly

Options:

• --editor <name>: Override the default editor for this session

Examples:

Configuration:

Set your preferred editor in skillz.json:

Or set the EDITOR environment variable:

• npm run build: Compile TypeScript sources to dist/.
• npm run dev: Run the CLI in watch mode via tsx.
• npm run test: Run the Jest test suite.
• npm run lint: Run ESLint.
• npm run format: Run Prettier.

1. Fork the repository and create a branch for your changes.
2. Run the unit and integration test suites (npm run test).
3. Open a pull request with a clear description of the problem and proposed solution.

Skillz CLI is released under the Apache License. See LICENSE for details.