explain-error

skillet

A tiny, zero-dependency package manager for MCP servers, Agent Skills, and Claude Code commands, hooks, subagents, and output styles.

Search a curated registry and install MCP servers, skills, slash commands, hooks, subagents, and output styles with one command - into Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, Copilot, and Cline.

skillet installs MCP servers (Model Context Protocol), Agent Skills (the open SKILL.md standard), and Claude Code slash commands, hooks, subagents, and output styles into Claude Code, Cursor, OpenAI Codex, Gemini CLI, Copilot, and Cline - from a curated, verified registry of 290+ entries. One static Go binary, no Node or npm.

$ skillet search example
NAME         DESCRIPTION                                                   TAGS
hello-skill  Minimal example skill that ships with skillet - install i...  example,starter,docs

$ skillet add hello-skill
Installing hello-skill from https://github.com/Brattlof/skillet ...
Installed hello-skill -> ~/.claude/skills/hello-skill

$ skillet add hello-skill --target agents
Installed hello-skill -> ~/.agents/skills/hello-skill   # Cursor, Codex, Gemini, Copilot

$ skillet list
NAME         KIND   INSTALLED  SOURCE                       STATUS
hello-skill  skill  a1b2c3d    github.com/Brattlof/skillet  tracking

---

Why use skillet?

Copy-pasting skill folders by hand, hunting through random repos, never knowing what's worth installing. skillet fixes that: search a curated registry and install with one command.

• One static binary, no dependencies. The registry ships embedded - no backend, no account.
• Curated from official and widely-used sources, with every link and package verified. No dead-link slop. Contributed entries follow the one rule: you've actually used it.
• Skills use the open Agent Skills SKILL.md format, so they work across tools. Install for Claude Code (default) or for the shared ~/.agents/skills directory with --target agents, which Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, and Copilot all read.

Supported tools

skillet installs for Claude Code by default (~/.claude/skills, plus its commands, hooks, subagents, and output styles). Add --target agents and skills go to the shared ~/.agents/skills directory that Cursor, OpenAI Codex, Gemini CLI, and GitHub Copilot all read. MCP servers install into each client's own config (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Gemini CLI, and Cline). Commands, hooks, subagents, and output styles are Claude Code specific; skills and MCP servers are the cross-tool part.

Install

# Go users
go install github.com/Brattlof/skillet/cmd/skillet@latest

# Or grab a binary from Releases
# https://github.com/Brattlof/skillet/releases

Building from source: git clone this repo, then go build -o skillet ./cmd/skillet.

Usage

skillet add <name>[@ref]   Install any registry entry (optionally pinned)
skillet install            Restore everything from skillet.lock
skillet install --frozen   Verify the install matches skillet.lock (no changes)
skillet lock               Write skillet.lock from what is installed
skillet update [name]      Update an installed item, or all of them
skillet doctor             Check installed items for problems
skillet remove <name>      Remove an installed item
skillet list               List installed items
skillet search <query>     Search the registry (ranked + fuzzy; --kind, --tag)
skillet info <name>        Show details of a registry entry
skillet registry           Show every registry entry
skillet publish            How to publish your own skill
skillet completion <sh>    Output a bash, zsh, or fish completion script
skillet self-update        Update the skillet binary to the latest release

Add --target agents to any command to use ~/.agents/skills instead of ~/.claude/skills, or set SKILLET_TARGET=agents.

Skills, commands, hooks, agents, output styles, and MCP servers

A registry entry has a kind: skill (the default), command, hook, agent, output-style, or mcp. skillet installs each into the place the tool reads:

• a skill is a folder copied to ~/.claude/skills/<name>/ (or ~/.agents/skills/<name>/ with --target agents, the shared location Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, and Copilot read),
• a command is a single .md file copied to ~/.claude/commands/<name>.md,
• a hook is a script copied to ~/.claude/hooks/, and skillet registers it in ~/.claude/settings.json under the event from the entry's hook block (and un-registers it on remove),
• an agent (subagent) is a single .md file copied to ~/.claude/agents/<name>.md,
• an output style is a single .md file copied to ~/.claude/output-styles/<name>.md,
• an MCP server is registered into a client's MCP config; --target picks the client.

Commands, hooks, agents, and output styles are Claude Code specific. Skills and MCP servers work across tools:

skillet add context7 --target cursor     # -> ~/.cursor/mcp.json
skillet add context7 --target windsurf   # -> ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json
skillet add context7 --target claude     # -> ./.mcp.json (project scope)
skillet remove context7 --target cursor

Supported MCP clients: claude, cursor, windsurf, gemini, cline. skillet merges the server into the existing config and leaves every other entry untouched.

Shell completion

# bash (current shell)
source <(skillet completion bash)
# zsh
skillet completion zsh > "${fpath[1]}/_skillet"
# fish
skillet completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/skillet.fish

Completion suggests subcommands, the --target and --dir flags, and skill names pulled from the local index, so it stays instant and works offline.

Choose where skills install, per-command or globally:

skillet add hello-skill --target agents          # ~/.agents/skills (cross-tool)
export SKILLET_TARGET=agents                      # make it the default
skillet add hello-skill --dir ~/somewhere/else    # an exact directory

Reproducible installs

Pin an install to an exact version with skillet add <name>@<ref> (a commit SHA or tag). skillet lock writes a skillet.lock capturing every installed item at its resolved commit and checksum, and skillet install (no arguments) restores exactly that set. Restore prunes anything skillet installed that is no longer in the lockfile, so the result matches the lock; a hand-placed file is left alone. skillet install --frozen reports whether the install already matches the lockfile without changing anything, which is what you want in CI. Point the lockfile elsewhere with SKILLET_LOCKFILE.

Environment

• SKILLET_REGISTRY_URL - override the registry index URL.
• SKILLET_OFFLINE=1 - never hit the network; use the cached or embedded index.
• SKILLET_TARGET - default install target (claude or agents).
• SKILLET_SKILLS_DIR - override the skills directory (skills kind only).
• SKILLET_CACHE_DIR - override where the fetched index is cached.
• SKILLET_LOCKFILE - override the lockfile path (default: ./skillet.lock).

How it w