Declarative Skill Manifest

Define your skill collection as code — install, share, and reproduce setups from a single manifest file.

When does this matter?

Use the declarative manifest when you want reproducible skill setups across machines, team onboarding with a single command, or open-source project bootstrap.

What Is a Skill Manifest?

A skill manifest is a portable declaration of your skill collection. Instead of manually installing skills one by one, you list them in a manifest file and run skillshare install to bring everything up.

The manifest location depends on the mode:

Mode	Manifest location	Committable?
Project	.skillshare/config.yaml (skills: section)	Yes — commit to share with team
Global	~/.config/skillshare/skills/.metadata.json	No — personal machine state

Project Mode Manifest

In project mode, skills: lives in config.yaml alongside targets::

# .skillshare/config.yaml
targets:
  - claude
  - cursor

skills:
  - name: react-best-practices
    source: anthropics/skills/skills/react-best-practices
    group: frontend
  - name: _team-skills
    source: my-org/shared-skills
    tracked: true
  - name: commit
    source: anthropics/skills/skills/commit

This file is committed to git — teammates clone the repo and run skillshare install -p to install all listed skills.

The manifest records what to install. The exact commit each skill resolved to is recorded next to it in .skillshare/skills.lock.json, which is written automatically and should be committed too. With both files, skillshare install -p gives every teammate the same commit even after upstream moves on. See Lockfile.

Global Mode Manifest

In global mode, skill records are stored in .metadata.json (the centralized metadata store). This file also contains runtime tracking data (hashes, timestamps) and is auto-managed.

How It Works

Install from Manifest

Running skillshare install with no arguments reads the manifest and installs all listed skills:

# Global mode — installs all skills from ~/.config/skillshare/skills/.metadata.json
skillshare install

# Project mode — installs all skills from .skillshare/config.yaml skills: section
skillshare install -p

# Preview without installing
skillshare install --dry-run

Skills that already exist are skipped automatically. In project mode, a skill whose installed commit differs from the lockfile is brought to the locked commit instead.

Automatic Reconciliation

The manifest stays in sync with your actual skill collection:

• skillshare install <source> — adds the installed skill to the manifest automatically
• skillshare uninstall <name>... — removes the entry from the manifest automatically

In project mode, config.yaml and skills.lock.json are updated. In global mode, .metadata.json is updated. You never need to edit the manifest manually (though you can).

Skill Entry Fields

Each entry in the skills: list has these fields:

Field	Required	Description
name	Yes	Skill name (directory name in source)
source	Yes	Install source (GitHub shorthand, HTTPS URL, SSH URL)
tracked	No	true for tracked repositories (preserves .git)
group	No	Subdirectory path (e.g. frontend or frontend/vue). Corresponds to --into during install.

Use Cases

Personal Setup

Maintain your personal skill collection across machines:

# On machine A — skills are already installed and tracked in registry
skillshare push   # backup config + registry to git

# On machine B — fresh machine
skillshare pull   # restore config + registry from git
skillshare install  # install all skills from manifest
skillshare sync   # distribute to all targets

Team Onboarding

New team members get the same AI context in one command:

# .skillshare/config.yaml skills: section is committed to the repo
git clone <project-repo>
cd <project-repo>
skillshare install -p   # installs all declared skills
skillshare sync -p      # links to project targets

Open-Source Bootstrap

Project maintainers declare recommended skills in config.yaml:

# .skillshare/config.yaml
targets:
  - claude
  - cursor

skills:
  - name: react-best-practices
    source: anthropics/skills/skills/react-best-practices
    group: frontend
  - name: commit
    source: anthropics/skills/skills/commit

Group field and --into

When you install with --into, the group is recorded automatically:

skillshare install anthropics/skills/skills/pdf --into frontend -p
# config.yaml will contain: name: pdf, group: frontend

Running skillshare install -p (no args) recreates the same directory structure from the manifest.

Contributors clone and run skillshare install -p to get project-specific AI context immediately.

Workflow Summary

Project mode:
1. Install skills normally      →  config.yaml skills: auto-updates
2. Commit config.yaml and skills.lock.json via git  →  same skills, same commits for the team
3. Run `skillshare install -p`  →  reproduce on clone
4. Run `skillshare sync`        →  distribute to all targets

Global mode:
1. Install skills normally      →  .metadata.json auto-updates
2. Push/pull config via git     →  portable across machines
3. Run `skillshare install`     →  reproduce on new machine
4. Run `skillshare sync`        →  distribute to all targets

Extras Configuration

In addition to skills, config.yaml can declare extras — non-skill resources (rules, commands, prompts) synced to separate directories. Extras are configured in the extras: section of config.yaml (both global and project):

extras:
  - name: rules
    targets:
      - path: ~/.claude/rules
      - path: ~/.cursor/rules
        mode: copy

See sync extras for details.

Related

• Install command — skillshare install with and without arguments
• Push/Pull — backup and restore config via git
• Project Skills — project-level manifests