GitHub - skill-vendor/skv: Vendor and manage AI coding assistant skills

Repo-local, deterministic dependency management for agent skills, built in Go.

Status: Early WIP. Feedback welcome.

Who is this for?

SKV is for teams who want repo-local, deterministic skills—vendored into the repo, pinned by commit, and verified in CI. If you want a global cache or a centralized registry, SKV isn't the right fit.

Quick Start

# 1. Install
brew install skill-vendor/tap/skv

# 2. Initialize
skv init

# 3. Add a skill
skv add https://github.com/acme/skill-foo

# 4. Vendor and link
skv sync

# 5. Commit
git add skv.cue skv.lock .skv/
git commit -m "Add skill-foo"

Commit these files: skv.cue (your spec), skv.lock (pinned versions), and .skv/ (vendored skills).

How it works

skv sync reads skv.cue.
Skills are vendored into .skv/skills/<name>.
skv.lock is updated with resolved commit SHA and checksum.
Per-skill symlinks are created in supported tool directories.

Why

Skills are becoming a shared standard across tools (Claude Code, Codex CLI, OpenCode), but there is no good ecosystem for dependency management. SKV brings a Go-modules-like workflow to skills:

CUE spec + lock file
Deterministic installs (pinned commits + checksums)
Vendored skills committed to the repo
Convention over configuration, with optional overrides

Installation

Using Homebrew (macOS and Linux):

brew install skill-vendor/tap/skv

Using Go:

go install github.com/skill-vendor/skv/cmd/skv@latest

From GitHub Releases:

Download the latest binary for your platform from GitHub Releases, then:

chmod +x skv-*
sudo mv skv-* /usr/local/bin/skv

Supported tools

Claude Code: .claude/skills/<name>
OpenAI Codex: .codex/skills/<name>
OpenCode: .opencode/skill/<name>
Cursor (via Codex/Claude-compatible skills handling)

All are enabled by default; you can exclude any subset in the spec.

Commands

Command	Description
`skv init`	Scaffold spec, lock, and `.skv/skills/`
`skv add <repo>[#ref][:path]`	Add a skill to the spec
`skv sync`	Vendor skills, update lock, refresh symlinks
`skv update [name]`	Update floating refs (branches/tags)
`skv verify`	Check vendored skills match the lock (CI-friendly)
`skv list`	List all skills with their status
`skv remove <name>`	Remove a skill
`skv import <path>`	Move a local skill into SKV management

See the docs site for full command reference and options.

Examples

# Add a single-skill repo (expects SKILL.md at repo root)
skv add https://github.com/acme/skill-foo

# Add a skill from a monorepo path
skv add https://github.com/acme/skill-pack:skills/skill-foo

# Add pinned to a tag
skv add https://github.com/acme/skill-pack#v1.2.3:skills/skill-foo

# Update all non-commit-pinned skills
skv update --all

# Verify in CI
skv verify

# Offline mode (no network)
skv sync --offline

Spec (CUE)

See the schema and example for full details.

skv: {
  tools: {
    exclude: ["opencode"]
  }
  skills: [
    {
      name: "skill-foo"
      repo: "https://github.com/acme/skill-pack"
      path: "skills/skill-foo"
      ref:  "v1.2.3"
    },
    {
      name:  "local-bar"
      local: "./.skv/skills/local-bar"
    },
  ]
}

CI verification

- name: Verify skills
  run: skv verify

If vendored content doesn't match the lock, skv verify exits non-zero.

Reference

For detailed documentation on the lock file format, safety limits, edge cases, and more, see the docs site.