CLI reference

Reference command surface for the Open .skill Protocol — for agents and implementers. Hosts may implement the same operations via the @skillerr/* libraries without this CLI. Humans typically install once and prompt an agent; they do not need this page as a click-ops tutorial.

npm i -g skillerr
skill --help
skill --version

Bin: skill. Site: skillerr.com.

Environment

Variable	Role
SKILL_HOST	Required to create — agent host id (cursor, ollama, claude, …)
SKILL_PROVIDER / SKILL_MODEL	Self-reported model provenance
SKILL_DEPLOYMENT	local | hosted | hybrid | unknown
SKILL_ENDPOINT	Optional endpoint id — never credentials
SKILL_AGENT_INVOCATION / SKILL_SESSION_ID	Agent runtime markers (preferred; still locally spoofable)
SKILL_INPUT_TOKENS / SKILL_OUTPUT_TOKENS	Optional generation usage
SKILL_ACTOR	Human review actor when recording approval

SKILL_HOST alone never yields verified_issuer trust. Denylisted mint hosts: human, cli, shell, manual, bash, terminal, …

---

Create workspace

skill init

skill init --title "Demo"

Creates a local .skill/ working tree (sections/, stage index, config).

skill journey

skill journey --summary "Redacted human+AI work; secrets as refs."

Sets the redacted journey summary. No API keys, tokens, or private customer data.

skill propose

skill propose --title "Tone" --body "Keep answers short." --type decision
skill propose --json '[
  {"title":"Tone","body":"Keep answers short.","type":"decision"},
  {"title":"API","body":"POST {{base_url}}/v1","type":"integration"}
]'

Requires SKILL_HOST. Prefer exact human-approved bodies.

skill status / stage

skill status                 # completeness + staged sections
skill add [id...]            # stage (default: ALL)
skill unstage [id...]
skill review
skill discard <id>

skill checkpoint

skill checkpoint -m "WIP"

Continuity handoff package. Partial content allowed. Not mintable.

skill compile

skill compile -m "Demo" --approve --mint
skill compile -m "WIP" --profile continuity

Release profile refuses if incomplete (compile_refused). Legacy alias: skill bake (prints a note; prefer compile).

skill mint

skill mint [--host name] [--signer-key <pem>] [--key-id id]
skill mint --transparency [--rekor-url <url>]
skill mint --keyless [--fulcio-url <url>]

Seal an already-compiled complete release. Host required. Continuity drafts cannot be minted.

Default seal is the bundled development key (development trust only — never production). Pass --signer-key for a configured Ed25519 issuer seal (skill keygen generates one; see Trust and security) — verified_issuer trust additionally requires real agent-runtime evidence, not just a configured key.

--transparency and --keyless each add an independent, optional anchor on top of the seal above — never a replacement for it, and combinable with each other or with no signer at all:

• --transparency logs the sealed digest to the public Rekor transparency log using the configured signer key (requires --signer-key).
• --keyless binds a second anchor to an OIDC identity via Fulcio instead of a pinned key — zero setup inside GitHub Actions, fails closed outside CI (no local/interactive login yet).

skill load

skill load ./file.skill

Resume continuity context in another agent (intent, scrubbed journey, gaps, knowledge — not raw transcripts).

---

Multi-skill identify

skill agent-guide

skill agent-guide
skill agent-guide --json

Prints exact create / identify protocol steps for agents.

skill extract (alias: skill segment)

skill extract ./journey.json -o ./extraction
skill extract ./journey.json -o ./extraction --profile release

Input shape: { summary, candidates|topics: [...] }. Output: candidate scaffolds plus field-specific missing reports. One workspace per selected candidate → contract-check / status → checkpoint or release compile.

Contract helpers

skill contract-template
skill contract-check contract.json --profile release

---

Ingest / run / trust

skill inspect

skill inspect ./file.skill
skill inspect ./file.skill --trust [--trust-store <path>]
skill inspect ./file.skill --trust --claims

Manifest, digests, seals, TrustView — no execution. --claims adds every claim split into two structurally separate lists — verified (checked by math) and self_reported (env/signer-asserted, never independently checked) — offline only, so any transparency/keyless anchor isn't re-verified here (see skill verify-trust --claims for that).

skill validate

skill validate ./file.skill

Structure and hash integrity. Rejects traversal, symlinks, bombs, and hash mismatch.

skill verify-trust

skill verify-trust ./file.skill
skill verify-trust ./file.skill --profile minted
skill verify-trust ./file.skill --allow-development-issuer
skill verify-trust ./file.skill --allow-self-reported [--trust-store <path>]
skill verify-trust ./file.skill --online
skill verify-trust ./file.skill --claims

Public-dev HMAC is development-only; use --allow-development-issuer only when intentionally inspecting reference mints. --trust-store points at a specific pinned-key file (default ~/.skillerr/trust-store.json). If the package has a transparency-log or keyless-identity anchor, this also verifies its inclusion proof / Fulcio certificate chain offline by default — --online additionally re-fetches the entry live from Rekor as an extra check. --claims adds the same verified/self-reported split as skill inspect --trust --claims, here including the anchor-verification results.

skill run

skill run ./file.skill                              # dry-run (default)
skill run ./file.skill --mode execute               # refuses untrusted seals
skill run ./file.skill --mode execute --allow-untrusted

Deny-by-default for undeclared network / filesystem / secrets.

Other ingest helpers

skill unpack ./file.skill
skill pack ./source.json -o out.skill --approve --profile release
skill to-skill-md ./file.skill                      # lossy markdown adapter

Optional local registry

skill registry list
skill registry lookup <digest>

Local transparency log of package digests — not a hosted marketplace.

---

Typical agent flows

Create → handoff

export SKILL_HOST=cursor
skill init --title "…"
skill journey --summary "…"
skill propose --json '[…]'
skill checkpoint -m "WIP"

Create → release

skill compile -m "…" --approve --mint

Ingest safely

skill inspect ./file.skill --trust
skill validate ./file.skill
skill run ./file.skill

Human-facing prompts: Getting started.