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wtf is skill-discovery?

surenode-ai/skill-discovery — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

13PythonAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5Setup · easy

TL;DR

A local, offline command line tool that finds and inventories every skill and instruction file installed for your AI coding agents, flagging risky ones.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((skill-discovery))
    What it does
      Inventories agent skills
      Flags risky patterns
      Runs fully offline
    Tech stack
      Python
      PyYAML
    Use cases
      Machine audits
      Fleet security checks
      CI findings gate
    Detection
      Frontmatter parsing
      Cross platform fingerprint
      Offline heuristic rules
    Supported agents
      Claude Code
      Codex CLI
      Cursor Copilot

Code map

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filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Run a single command to see every skill and instruction file installed across your AI coding agents.

REASON 2

Audit a machine or a fleet of machines for potentially malicious or unknown agent skills.

REASON 3

Use dry run mode to preview a report with zero network calls before deploying the tool anywhere.

REASON 4

Gate a CI pipeline on findings using the fail on findings option.

What's in the stack?

PythonPyYAML

How it stacks up

surenode-ai/skill-discovery1lystore/awaek47cid/wp2shell-lab
Stars131313
LanguagePythonPythonPython
Setup difficultyeasymoderatemoderate
Complexity2/52/54/5
Audiencedevelopervibe coderresearcher

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Requires Python 3.9 or newer.

Wtf does this do

Skill discovery is a small security tool built for people who use AI coding agents like Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot, Windsurf, Kiro, Antigravity, and opencode. These agents can be given skills, which are folders of standing instructions that shape what the agent does in every future session, along with separate instruction files such as rules or custom instructions. Over time these accumulate from repositories, marketplaces, and pasted snippets, and it becomes easy to lose track of exactly what is installed on your machine. The tool runs entirely on your own computer with a single command, no server or account required, and reports every skill and instruction file it can find. The author built it after realizing that with skills becoming cheap to create, there was no easy way to answer a basic question: what is actually installed on a given laptop. This matters because security researchers have documented real examples of malicious skill patterns being distributed, so simply assuming you know what is installed is no longer good enough. With no arguments, it automatically scans the known storage locations for each supported agent and also walks your home directory to find project level skills committed inside your own repositories. Output adapts to context: a readable summary at the terminal, or a JSON report when the output is piped elsewhere, so it can be combined with other command line tools. A dry run mode makes zero network calls, meaning nothing leaves your machine and you can see exactly what a report would contain first. For each skill found, the tool parses its name and description, computes a fingerprint that stays consistent across Windows, macOS, and Linux, and checks it against built in offline rules for known malicious patterns, such as hidden payloads or prompt injection attempts. It can also use an external scanner called NVIDIA SkillSpector if that is installed. It additionally flags secrets or personal information that would need to be redacted before any report is shared or uploaded elsewhere. Installing it requires Python 3.9 or newer and one dependency, PyYAML.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
Help me install skill-discovery and run it in dry-run mode to see what AI agent skills are on my machine.
Prompt 2
Explain how skill-discovery fingerprints a skill folder consistently across different operating systems.
Prompt 3
Show me how to pipe skill-discovery's JSON output into jq to filter for risky findings.
Prompt 4
What kinds of malicious skill patterns does skill-discovery check for using its offline heuristics?

Frequently asked questions

wtf is skill-discovery?

A local, offline command line tool that finds and inventories every skill and instruction file installed for your AI coding agents, flagging risky ones.

What language is skill-discovery written in?

Mainly Python. The stack also includes Python, PyYAML.

How hard is skill-discovery to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is skill-discovery for?

Mainly developer.

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