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skillshub

skillshub external

skillshub external

Section titled “skillshub external”

The external command installs a skill directly from any GitHub repository URL, bypassing the tap system entirely. This is useful for installing skills that are not published in any tap, such as private skills or skills still in development.

Usage

Section titled “Usage”
Terminal window
skillshub external <url>

The <url> argument must be a valid GitHub repository URL. The repository must contain a SKILL.md file at its root for skillshub to recognize it as a valid skill.

How it works

Section titled “How it works”
  1. Fetch — skillshub clones or downloads the repository at the given URL.
  2. Validate — The SKILL.md file is located and validated against the skill schema.
  3. Install — The skill files are placed in the local skills directory and registered in the manifest.

Unlike tap-installed skills, externally installed skills are not tracked by any tap and must be updated manually.

Examples

Section titled “Examples”

Install a skill from a public GitHub repository:

Terminal window
skillshub external https://github.com/user/repo
Fetching skill from https://github.com/user/repo...
Validated SKILL.md.
Installed repo to ~/.skillshub/skills/repo.

Install and immediately link to an agent:

Terminal window
skillshub external https://github.com/user/my-skill && skillshub link claude my-skill
Fetching skill from https://github.com/user/my-skill...
Validated SKILL.md.
Installed my-skill to ~/.skillshub/skills/my-skill.
Linked my-skill to claude.

Install a skill from a private repository (requires GitHub authentication):

Terminal window
skillshub external https://github.com/org/private-skill
Fetching skill from https://github.com/org/private-skill...
Authenticated via gh CLI.
Validated SKILL.md.
Installed private-skill to ~/.skillshub/skills/private-skill.