skill-cli Skill

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

bash

./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:

bash

# 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

bash

# 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:

yaml

- 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:

bash

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

Hot-swap development:

bash

# 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.