johnlindquist/skill-publish-skill

Overview

This skill publishes a local skill to GitHub so it becomes discoverable via the npx skills CLI. It guides collection of key details, validates the skill manifest and supporting files, creates or updates a GitHub repo, and pushes the skill into a standardized skills directory for discovery.

How this skill works

The skill inspects the local skill folder for a skill manifest file with required name and description frontmatter and confirms supporting folders (references, scripts, assets) are present. It uses the GitHub CLI to create or open a target GitHub repo, copies the skill into a skills/ subfolder, commits, and pushes changes. Finally it verifies the skill can be listed by the npx skills tool.

When to use it

• When you want to share a local skill so others can install it with npx skills
• When asked to "publish skill", "share skill", or "make skill discoverable"
• When consolidating multiple skills into a public GitHub collection
• When preparing a skill for community discovery or distribution
• When you need an automated, repeatable publish workflow

Best practices

• Ensure the skill manifest includes a clear name and short description in frontmatter
• Keep the manifest concise (under ~200 lines) and include only required metadata
• Include references/, scripts/, and assets/ folders if the skill depends on extra files
• Use the GitHub CLI (gh) for authentication and repo creation to automate publishing
• Publish to a public GitHub repo so the npx skills CLI can discover it
• Add a brief root-level project README describing the collection and installation steps

Example use cases

• Publish a single local skill so a team member can install it with npx skills add org/repo
• Aggregate several internal skills into one public GitHub collection for sharing
• Automate CI to validate and republish updated skills after changes
• Migrate an experimental skill from local development to a public installable package
• Quickly share a working skill example during a demo or onboarding session