Skillsmith

Craft your Claude Code workflow.

Skillsmith is a skill discovery, recommendation, and learning system for Claude Code users. Find the right skills for your projects, install them safely, and learn to use them effectively.

Features

• Discover - Search skills from GitHub with semantic search
• Recommend - Get personalized skill suggestions based on context
• Install - One-command installation to ~/.claude/skills/
• Validate - Quality scores and structure validation
• Trust - Four trust tiers from Anthropic Official to Community (Security Guide)
• Compare - Side-by-side skill comparison

MCP Tools

Architecture

Skillsmith uses the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to integrate with Claude Code:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Claude Code                                         │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│  │  Skillsmith MCP Server                          ││
│  │  └── @skillsmith/mcp-server                     ││
│  │      ├── search, get_skill, compare             ││
│  │      ├── install_skill, uninstall_skill         ││
│  │      └── recommend, validate                    ││
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
│                          │                           │
│                          ▼                           │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│  │  ~/.skillsmith/skills.db (SQLite + FTS5)        ││
│  │  ~/.claude/skills/ (installed skills)           ││
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Installation

Configure with Claude Code (Recommended)

Copy this snippet and paste it into Claude Code:

Add this MCP server to my settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "skillsmith": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@skillsmith/mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Claude will automatically update your ~/.claude/settings.json. After restarting Claude Code (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P → "Claude Code: Restart"), you can immediately ask Claude to search for skills.

API Key Configuration (Optional)

For higher rate limits and usage tracking, add your API key:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "skillsmith": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@skillsmith/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "SKILLSMITH_API_KEY": "sk_live_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Get your API key at skillsmith.app/account.

Note: Never paste API keys in chat. Configure via settings.json only.

CLI Installation (Development)

The CLI is available for local development:

# From the repository root
npm run build
node packages/cli/dist/index.js search "testing"

Usage

Once configured, Claude Code can use Skillsmith tools:

"Search for testing skills"
→ Uses search tool to find testing-related skills

"Show me details for community/jest-helper"
→ Uses get_skill tool to retrieve full skill information

"Install the jest-helper skill"
→ Uses install_skill tool to add it to ~/.claude/skills

"Compare jest-helper and vitest-helper"
→ Uses compare tool to show side-by-side comparison

CLI Usage (Development)

# From the repository, after building
node packages/cli/dist/index.js search "testing" --tier verified --min-score 80
node packages/cli/dist/index.js get community/jest-helper
node packages/cli/dist/index.js install community/jest-helper

Documentation

• Skill Security Guide - Understanding skill trust, safety, and how Skillsmith protects you
• Getting Started - Complete setup and usage guide
• Engineering Standards - Code quality policies
• ADR Index - Architecture Decision Records
• Security Checklist - Security review guidelines (developers)
• Phase Retrospectives - Phase learnings and improvements

Development

Skillsmith uses Docker-first development. All commands run inside Docker to ensure consistent native module support across all platforms.

Prerequisites

• Docker Desktop (v24+) or Docker Engine with Docker Compose
• Git (for cloning the repository)
• Node.js (optional, only for local tooling outside Docker)

Quick Start

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Smith-Horn-Group/skillsmith.git
cd skillsmith

# 2. Start the development container
docker compose --profile dev up -d

# 3. Install dependencies (first time only)
docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm install

# 4. Build and test
docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm run build
docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm test

Running Commands in Docker

All npm commands should be run inside the Docker container:

Container Management

# Start development container
docker compose --profile dev up -d

# Check container status
docker ps | grep skillsmith

# View container logs
docker logs skillsmith-dev-1

# Stop container
docker compose --profile dev down

# Restart after Dockerfile changes
docker compose --profile dev down
docker compose --profile dev build --no-cache
docker compose --profile dev up -d

After Pulling Changes

When you pull changes that modify package.json or package-lock.json:

docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm install
docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm run build

Troubleshooting

Container won't start

docker compose --profile dev down
docker volume rm skillsmith_node_modules
docker compose --profile dev up -d
docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm install

Native module errors (ERR_DLOPEN_FAILED)

Native modules like better-sqlite3 and onnxruntime-node may need rebuilding:

docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm rebuild

Tests fail with shared library errors

If you see errors about ld-linux-aarch64.so.1 or similar, ensure you're running inside Docker (not locally):

# Wrong - don't run locally
npm test

# Correct - run in Docker
docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm test

Why Docker?

Skillsmith uses native Node.js modules (better-sqlite3, onnxruntime-node) that require glibc. Docker provides a consistent Debian-based environment with glibc, avoiding compatibility issues on systems using musl libc (like Alpine Linux).

For the full technical decision, see ADR-002: Docker with glibc for Native Module Compatibility.

See CLAUDE.md for full development workflow and skill configuration.

Tech Stack

• Runtime: Node.js 20+ (Docker with glibc)
• Protocol: MCP (Model Context Protocol)
• Database: SQLite with FTS5
• Embeddings: all-MiniLM-L6-v2 via onnxruntime-node
• Testing: Vitest
• CI/CD: GitHub Actions

License

Skillsmith is source-available under the Elastic License 2.0.

You CAN:

• Use Skillsmith for personal or internal business purposes
• Modify the source code for your own use
• Self-host for your team
• Contribute bug fixes and improvements

You CANNOT:

• Offer Skillsmith as a managed service to third parties
• Circumvent license key enforcement features

For the full license text, see the LICENSE file.

Author

Smith Horn Group Ltd

Skillsmith is not affiliated with Anthropic. Claude and Claude Code are trademarks of Anthropic.