skill-cli

Quick reference for testing and using skill-cli - the progressive disclosure tool for AI coding assistants.

When to Use This Skill

Load when:

• Testing skill-cli functionality
• Verifying progressive disclosure works
• Setting up skill-cli in new environments
• Debugging skill-cli issues
• Learning how to use skill-cli

Quick Reference

What is skill-cli?

A CLI tool that brings Claude Code's Skills system to any environment

Key features:

• 🚀 Works in GitHub Actions, Cursor, Windsurf, Codex
• 🔄 Hot-swap skills without restarting IDE
• 📦 70-90% token savings via progressive disclosure
• 🌍 Zero dependencies (pure Node.js)
• 🔍 Search across all skills

Basic Commands

./skill-cli.js list                    # List available skills
./skill-cli.js show <skill-name>       # Quick reference
./skill-cli.js files <skill-name>      # Available detail files
./skill-cli.js detail <skill> <file>   # Load detail file
./skill-cli.js search <query>          # Search skills

Testing Checklist

Run these commands to verify skill-cli works:

# 1. List skills (should show this skill + example-skill)
./skill-cli.js list

# 2. Show this skill's quick reference
./skill-cli.js show skill-cli

# 3. Check for detail files
./skill-cli.js files skill-cli

# 4. Load testing guide
./skill-cli.js detail skill-cli TESTING

# 5. Search functionality
./skill-cli.js search "progressive disclosure"

Environment Variable Override

# Test with different skills directory
SKILLS_DIR=/path/to/skills ./skill-cli.js list

# Test with Claude Code skills
SKILLS_DIR=~/.claude/skills ./skill-cli.js list

Progressive Detail Loading

For deeper information, use Read tool to load:

• TESTING.md - Complete testing procedures and verification steps
• TROUBLESHOOTING.md - Common issues and solutions

Common Use Cases

GitHub Actions:

- run: |
    git clone https://github.com/raw391/skill-cli.git
    export SKILLS_DIR=./.ai-skills
    ./skill-cli/skill-cli.js show my-skill

Cursor/Windsurf:

# Add to project, point AI to it
SKILLS_DIR=.ai-skills ./skill-cli.js show my-skill

Hot-swap development:

# Test new skill without restarting IDE
SKILLS_DIR=/tmp/test-skills ./skill-cli.js show new-skill

Expected Output

When working correctly:

• list shows skills with descriptions
• show displays formatted skill content
• files lists available detail files
• detail loads full documentation
• search finds and groups matches
• Exit codes: 0 for success, 1 for errors

Philosophy

Progressive disclosure saves tokens. Load minimal context first (quick reference), add details only when needed. This mirrors how humans read documentation and respects token budgets.