SkillForge

A package manager for Claude Agent Skills.
Works from claude.ai as a remote connector, and from Claude Code as a local MCP server and CLI.

claude.ai setup · Claude Code setup · Deployment · Configuration · How installs work

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Skills are folders with a SKILL.md file that teach Claude how to do a specific job. Finding a good one, checking that it is safe, and getting it loaded is still manual work. SkillForge turns that into a conversation: you ask Claude for a skill, Claude searches the registry and git sources, compares the candidates, checks their scripts, and loads the winner.

What you get

• Search: query a hosted skill registry and any git repository, with filters for trust tier, popularity, format score and recency.
• Compare: fetch several candidates at once and rank them with a weighted rubric (task fit, instruction quality, provenance, score, popularity, token weight, script safety).
• Validate: run the format checker on any skill, local or remote, and get a 0 to 100 score with per-rule diagnostics.
• Install:
  • On Claude Code, skillforge_install writes the skill to disk in a global, shared or project scope, with a manifest that tracks version, source and score.
  • On claude.ai, skillforge_activate loads the full SKILL.md into the conversation and Claude follows it word for word. To keep it permanently, Claude recreates the skill in the claude.ai skill panel and you click "Copy to your skills".
• Skillsets: bundles of related skills, installable in one step.
• Suggestions: on Claude Code, skillforge suggest reads your project and proposes skills worth creating.

Skills are also exposed as MCP resources (skill://<name>/SKILL.md and skill://index.json) for clients that support skills over MCP (SEP-2640).

Quick start (claude.ai)

You need the server deployed somewhere public first (see Deployment).

1. Open claude.ai, go to Settings > Connectors > Add custom connector.
2. Paste your server URL followed by /mcp, for example https://skillforge.example.com/mcp. No authentication is needed unless you set a token.
3. Start a chat and ask something like "find me a skill for writing changelogs and install it".

Claude first calls skillforge_start, which returns the operating playbook (selection method, comparison rubric, security checklist). Then it searches, compares at least two candidates, and activates the best one. The playbook lives in docs/PLAYBOOK.md if you want to read what Claude reads.

Note: claude.ai drops the MCP instructions field for custom connectors, which is why the playbook ships as a tool instead.

Quick start (Claude Code)

npm install -g skillforge
claude mcp add skillforge -- skillforge mcp

That registers the stdio server. On top of the claude.ai tool set, it adds real install tools: skillforge_install, skillforge_uninstall, skillforge_list, skillforge_suggest, and the skillset equivalents.

The CLI works on its own too:

skillforge search changelog
skillforge install conventional-changelog --scope project
skillforge list
skillforge validate ./my-skill
skillforge suggest

Scopes: global (~/.skillforge/global), shared (~/.skillforge/shared), project (<repo>/.skillforge). Details in docs/scoping.md.

Deployment

With Docker:

git clone https://github.com/danbenba/skillforge.git
cd skillforge
cp .env.example .env    # set SKILLFORGE_ENV=prod and SKILLFORGE_PUBLIC_URL
docker compose up -d --build

Without Docker:

npm install
npm run build
npm run serve

Put HTTPS in front with your usual reverse proxy (Traefik, Caddy, nginx). A nixpacks.toml is included for Dokploy and Railway style platforms.

Endpoints:

Route	Purpose
POST /mcp	MCP Streamable HTTP endpoint
GET /health	Health check
GET /	Landing page
GET /logo.svg, /favicon.ico	Brand assets. claude.ai picks up the connector icon from the domain favicon, so keep these reachable.

Configuration

Everything is driven by .env (see .env.example):

Variable	Default	Purpose
SKILLFORGE_ENV	dev	dev binds 127.0.0.1 with verbose logs, prod binds 0.0.0.0 with quiet logs
SKILLFORGE_PORT	8765	HTTP port
SKILLFORGE_HOST	mode default	Bind address override
SKILLFORGE_PUBLIC_URL	http://localhost:8765	Public URL; the connector URL is this plus /mcp
SKILLFORGE_REGISTRY_URL	built-in	Registry API base, if you host your own
SKILLFORGE_AUTH_TOKEN	empty	When set, /mcp requires this bearer token
SKILLFORGE_BUNDLE_FILE_LIMIT	49152	Max bytes per inlined skill file
SKILLFORGE_BUNDLE_TOTAL_LIMIT	262144	Max bytes per skill bundle
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	empty	Only needed for skillforge_suggest

How installation works

Claude Code has a filesystem, claude.ai does not. So the two surfaces install differently:

	Claude Code	claude.ai
Mechanism	skillforge_install copies the skill to disk and records it in a manifest	skillforge_activate returns the whole SKILL.md, Claude applies it in the conversation
Persistence	Permanent	Conversation only, unless you click "Copy to your skills" on the recreated skill, or upload the zip in Settings > Capabilities > Skills
Safety	Format validation plus your review	Claude reviews scripts and instructions before loading, and refuses skills that look unsafe

The one rule that never changes: skill instructions are loaded and followed verbatim. SkillForge never rewrites, summarizes or "improves" a skill's content.

Tools

Remote and local:

skillforge_start · skillforge_search · skillforge_skillset_search · skillforge_inspect · skillforge_activate · skillforge_file · skillforge_compare · skillforge_validate_remote

Local only (stdio):

skillforge_install · skillforge_uninstall · skillforge_list · skillforge_validate · skillforge_suggest · skillforge_skillset_install · skillforge_skillset_uninstall · skillforge_skillset_list · skillforge_skillset_validate

Full reference in docs/mcp.md and docs/cli.md.

Project layout

src/
  cli/        commands and terminal UI
  core/       validator, installer, resolver, manifest, config
  mcp/        MCP server: http transport, stdio transport, tool groups
  registry/   registry client, git fetcher
  types/      shared types
docs/         user docs and the Claude playbook
tests/        vitest unit tests and fixtures
assets/       logo and favicons
schema/       architecture notes

Development

npm install
npm run dev        # http server with tsx, no build step
npm test           # vitest
npm run build      # tsc to dist/

Contributions welcome, see docs/contributing.md.

License

MIT. SkillForge started as a fork of Skilldex by Pandemonium Research (MIT) and keeps its copyright notice in LICENSE.