Skills Discovery Skill | Agent Skills

Skills Discovery

Find community skills and plugins, evaluate quality and safety before use.

<when_to_use>

Searching for existing skills before building from scratch
Evaluating community plugins for safety and quality
Finding inspiration for skill design patterns
Auditing plugins before installation

NOT for: creating new skills (use skills-dev), validating your own skills (use skills-dev)

</when_to_use>

Discovery Workflow

Search — Find candidates via GitHub topics or code search
Filter — Apply quality heuristics to shortlist
Audit — Security review before installation
Adapt — Customize or extract patterns for your use

GitHub Discovery

Topic Pages

High-signal discovery starting points:

| Topic | Content | URL | |-------|---------|-----| | claude-code-plugin | Plugins | https://github.com/topics/claude-code-plugin | | claude-code-plugin-marketplace | Marketplaces | https://github.com/topics/claude-code-plugin-marketplace | | claude-code-skills | Skill packs | https://github.com/topics/claude-code-skills | | claude-code-skill | Individual skills | https://github.com/topics/claude-code-skill |

Code Search Patterns

Precise searches for specific artifacts:

# Find SKILL.md files in .claude/skills paths
filename:SKILL.md path:.claude/skills

# Find marketplace configurations
".claude-plugin/marketplace.json"

# Find plugin manifests
".claude-plugin/plugin.json"

# Find hook configurations
"PreToolUse" AND hooks

# Find skills with specific features
filename:SKILL.md "context: fork"
filename:SKILL.md "allowed-tools"
filename:SKILL.md "disable-model-invocation"

Recency Filters

Focus on actively maintained projects (adjust dates as needed):

# Updated in last 90 days (calculate: date -v-90d +%Y-%m-%d)
pushed:>YYYY-MM-DD

# Updated since plugins era (Oct 2025+)
pushed:>2025-10-01

Official Sources

| Source | Trust Level | Notes | |--------|-------------|-------| | anthropics/claude-plugins-official | High | Curated, reviewed | | agentskills/agentskills | High | Spec + reference skills | | platform.claude.com docs | High | Official patterns | | Community topics | Medium | Popularity ≠ quality | | "Awesome" lists | Low-Medium | Curated but not audited |

Quality Heuristics

Real Usage Signals

| Signal | Good | Suspicious | |--------|------|------------| | Updates | Recent commits, active issues | Stale for 6+ months | | Stars | Steady growth | Sudden spike (star farming) | | Issues/PRs | Open and being addressed | Many open, no responses | | Install docs | Uses official commands | "curl | bash" installs | | Dependencies | Minimal, explained | Many unexplained deps |

Content Quality

| Check | Good | Bad | |-------|------|-----| | Description | Clear WHAT + WHEN + TRIGGERS | Vague "helps with files" | | allowed-tools | Minimal, justified | Full tool access | | disable-model-invocation | Used for side effects | Missing for deploy/commit | | Scripts | Documented, minimal | Obfuscated, complex | | Hooks | Obvious purpose | Hidden network calls |

Marketplaces

| Good Sign | Red Flag | |-----------|----------| | Version pinning | Floating branches | | Listed sources visible | Opaque references | | Clear update policy | Silent auto-updates | | Curated with criteria | "Everything goes" |

Security Audit

Threat Model

Installing skills/plugins = running code. Treat with same care as npm packages.

| Surface | Risk | Mitigation | |---------|------|------------| | Skills with Bash | Command execution | Review allowed-tools | | Hooks | Lifecycle interception | Review hook scripts | | MCP servers | External connections | Review endpoints | | Preprocessing ! | Shell before thinking | Review commands |

Audit Checklist

Before installing, review:

For Skills:

[ ] Read SKILL.md frontmatter (allowed-tools, disable-model-invocation)
[ ] Check for scripts/ directory — review any scripts
[ ] Search for ! ` preprocessing commands
[ ] Verify no secrets/credentials in files

For Plugins:

[ ] Read .claude-plugin/plugin.json
[ ] Check for hooks/ — review hook scripts
[ ] Check for .mcp.json — review MCP endpoints
[ ] Review all referenced skill SKILL.md files

For Hooks:

[ ] Understand exit code semantics (0=allow, 2=block)
[ ] Check for network calls in hook scripts
[ ] Verify no data exfiltration patterns

Sandboxing

When running untrusted skills:

Restrict tools — Start with minimal allowed-tools, expand as needed
Isolate context — Use context: fork to limit blast radius
Block side effects — Add disable-model-invocation: true initially
Monitor first run — Watch tool calls on first execution

Safe First Run

# Test skill in restricted mode:
---
name: untrusted-skill-test
allowed-tools: Read, Grep, Glob  # read-only first
context: fork                     # isolated
disable-model-invocation: true   # explicit only
---

Expand permissions only after reviewing behavior.

Use Case Catalog

Common skill categories with examples (for inspiration, not endorsement):

Workflow Automation

| Pattern | What It Does | Key Features | |---------|--------------|--------------| | PR workflows | Summarize, review, update PRs | Preprocessing with gh | | Issue pipelines | Triage → implement → ship | Artifact-based state | | Release automation | Preflight → deploy → verify | Side-effect gates |

Code Quality

| Pattern | What It Does | Key Features | |---------|--------------|--------------| | Spec gates | Verify scope before coding | Fork for clean analysis | | Adversarial review | Security-focused code review | Threat model in artifacts | | Refactor loops | Safe read-only explore first | Tool restrictions |

Domain Skills

| Pattern | What It Does | Key Features | |---------|--------------|--------------| | Framework-specific | Rails, React, etc conventions | Nested skill discovery | | DB-aware | Schema injection for queries | Preprocessing with psql | | Platform integrations | Jira, Linear, GitHub | MCP or API wrappers |

Safety & Guardrails

| Pattern | What It Does | Key Features | |---------|--------------|--------------| | Safety nets | Block irreversible operations | PreToolUse hooks | | Hardstops | Require human acknowledgment | Exit code blocking | | Test gates | Enforce tests before commit | Hook enforcement |

Context Management

| Pattern | What It Does | Key Features | |---------|--------------|--------------| | Memory plugins | Persist across sessions | MCP-backed storage | | Context ledgers | Rolling state in files | Hook-driven updates | | Constraint files | Minimal "always load" context | Shared conventions |

Extraction Patterns

When you find a useful skill, extract patterns rather than copying wholesale:

Identify the pattern — What makes it work?
Adapt to your context — Match your conventions
Minimize scope — Take only what you need
Document provenance — Note where the pattern came from

<rules>

ALWAYS:

Verify recency (prefer active projects)
Review security surfaces before install
Start with restricted permissions
Document what you installed and why

NEVER:

Blindly install from unknown sources
Trust stars as quality signal
Run obfuscated scripts
Skip hook script review

</rules> <references>

discovery-patterns.md — Detailed GitHub search patterns
security-checklist.md — Full audit checklist
use-cases.md — Extended use case catalog

</references>

Agent Skills: Skills Discovery

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