ash skill

Manage skills - install external skills, list available skills, and validate skill files.

Usage

ash skill <subcommand> [OPTIONS]

Subcommands

Subcommand	Description
add	Add and install a skill source
remove	Remove a skill source
sync	Sync all sources from config
update	Update installed skill repos
sources	List configured skill sources
list	List available skills
validate	Validate a skill file format

skill add

Add and install a skill source. Supports GitHub repos and local paths.

ash skill add <source>

Source Formats

Format	Example	Description
GitHub repo	owner/repo	Clone from GitHub
Repo with ref	owner/repo@v1.0	Pin to specific version/branch
Local path	~/my-skills	Symlink local directory

Examples

Install from GitHub:

ash skill add anthropic/skills

Pin to a specific version:

ash skill add anthropic/skills@v1.0.0

Install from local path:

ash skill add ~/my-local-skills

Note

ash skill add both adds the source to your config.toml and installs it immediately. This is similar to uv add or npm install --save.

skill remove

Remove a skill source from config and delete installed files.

ash skill remove <source>

Examples

ash skill remove anthropic/skills
ash skill remove ~/my-local-skills

skill sync

Install/update all sources configured in [[skills.sources]].

ash skill sync

This is useful after manually editing config.toml or when setting up a new machine.

Example

# After cloning your dotfiles with config.toml
ash skill sync

skill update

Update installed skill repos to latest commits.

ash skill update [source]

Examples

Update all repos:

ash skill update

Update specific repo:

ash skill update anthropic/skills

Note

Local path sources are symlinked, so they don’t need updating - changes are reflected immediately.

skill sources

List configured skill sources and their installation status.

ash skill sources

Output

┌──────┬──────────────────┬───────┬───────────┬────────────────────┐
│ Type │ Source           │ Ref   │ Status    │ Skills             │
├──────┼──────────────────┼───────┼───────────┼────────────────────┤
│ repo │ anthropic/skills │ -     │ installed │ research, calendar │
│ repo │ other/repo       │ v2.0  │ installed │ helper             │
│ path │ ~/my-skills      │ -     │ installed │ custom-tool        │
└──────┴──────────────────┴───────┴───────────┴────────────────────┘

skill list

List all discovered skills from all sources.

ash skill list [OPTIONS]

Options

Option	Description
--source, -s	Show source type for each skill
--config, -c	Path to configuration file

Examples

List skills:

ash skill list

Show where each skill comes from:

ash skill list --source

Output with —source

┌─────────────┬─────────────────────────┬───────────┬──────────────────┐
│ Name        │ Description             │ Source    │ Repo/Path        │
├─────────────┼─────────────────────────┼───────────┼──────────────────┤
│ research    │ Research topics online  │ installed │ anthropic/skills │
│ calendar    │ Manage calendar events  │ installed │ anthropic/skills │
│ my-tool     │ Custom workspace tool   │ workspace │ -                │
└─────────────┴─────────────────────────┴───────────┴──────────────────┘

skill validate

Validate a skill file format.

ash skill validate <path>

Examples

Validate by directory:

ash skill validate ~/.ash/workspace/skills/my-skill

Validate by file:

ash skill validate ~/.ash/workspace/skills/my-skill/SKILL.md

Validation Checks

• File exists and is readable
• Has valid YAML frontmatter
• Contains required description field
• Has instructions in markdown body

Configuration

Skill sources are stored in ~/.ash/config.toml:

[skills]
auto_sync = true      # Sync sources on startup
update_interval = 24  # Hours between auto-updates

[[skills.sources]]
repo = "anthropic/skills"

[[skills.sources]]
repo = "other/repo"
ref = "v2.0"

[[skills.sources]]
path = "~/my-local-skills"

See Skills for details.

Creating Skills

To create a new skill manually:

# Create skill directory
mkdir ~/.ash/workspace/skills/my-skill

# Create the skill file
cat > ~/.ash/workspace/skills/my-skill/SKILL.md << 'EOF'
---
description: My custom skill
---

Instructions for the agent go here...
EOF

# Validate the skill
ash skill validate ~/.ash/workspace/skills/my-skill

Tip

Skills are automatically discovered when the agent starts. No reload needed.

See Also

• Skills - How skills work and configuration
• Extending Ash - Adding custom skills