Getting Started

July 26, 2026 · View on GitHub

Skillfold manages the skills in your Claude config the way a package manager manages dependencies: a manifest declares them, a lockfile pins them, one command installs them.

Install

npm install -g skillfold

or run it ad hoc with npx skillfold.

1. Initialize a project

From your project root:

skillfold init

This creates:

skillfold.yaml - the manifest, with one example skill declared
skills/hello-skillfold/SKILL.md - the example skill's source

2. Install

skillfold install

Every declared skill is materialized into .claude/skills/, and skillfold.lock is written next to the manifest. Commit both files.

$ skillfold install
  + hello-skillfold          ./skills/hello-skillfold

1 installed, 0 unchanged -> .claude/skills
lockfile: skillfold.lock

3. Add skills from anywhere

# a skill directory on GitHub (pin optional: tag, branch, or commit SHA)
skillfold add github:anthropics/skills/skills/frontend-design

# a skill from an npm package
skillfold add npm:skillfold/code-review

# a local directory
skillfold add ./skills/commit-helper

add fetches the skill, names it from its SKILL.md frontmatter (override with --name), appends it to the manifest, installs it, and updates the lockfile.

4. Stay in sync

skillfold list     # status of every skill: ok / modified / not installed / not locked
skillfold check    # offline verification; nonzero exit on drift (use in CI)
skillfold update   # deliberately move pins to the latest ref / version

The lockfile pins exact revisions: install will keep giving you the same bytes until you run update or change the source in the manifest.

5. Reproduce anywhere

On a fresh clone (or in CI):

skillfold install --frozen

This installs exactly what the lockfile pins and fails loudly if the manifest and lockfile disagree, like npm ci.

Composing skills

Composed skills concatenate other skills into a single generated SKILL.md:

skills:
  code-review: npm:skillfold/code-review
  testing: npm:skillfold/testing

compose:
  reviewer:
    description: Review code changes together with their tests.
    use: [code-review, testing]

After skillfold install, .claude/skills/reviewer/SKILL.md contains both bodies in order, with provenance comments marking it as generated.

User-level skills

The same workflow works for your personal ~/.claude/skills:

skillfold add -g github:anthropics/skills/skills/frontend-design
skillfold list -g

The global manifest lives at ~/.claude/skillfold.yaml. Keep your dotfiles repo pointing at it and your skills follow you to every machine.