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| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +title: Reusable agent skills across CLI and Registry |
| 3 | +sidebar_label: 'Apr 6: Agent skills' |
| 4 | +description: |
| 5 | + ToolHive adds agent skills support across the CLI and Registry Server, letting |
| 6 | + teams create, publish, and install reusable instruction bundles that teach AI |
| 7 | + agents how to use MCP tools effectively. |
| 8 | +--- |
| 9 | + |
| 10 | +ToolHive now supports agent skills - reusable bundles of instructions and |
| 11 | +configuration that teach AI agents how to perform specific tasks. MCP servers |
| 12 | +give agents the raw tools they can call; skills give them the knowledge of when, |
| 13 | +why, and how to use those tools effectively. With ToolHive, teams can create |
| 14 | +skills, publish them to a registry, and install them across supported AI clients |
| 15 | +from a single CLI. |
| 16 | + |
| 17 | +{/* truncate */} |
| 18 | + |
| 19 | +## ToolHive CLI: Install, package, and publish skills |
| 20 | + |
| 21 | +The ToolHive CLI adds full lifecycle management for agent skills, from discovery |
| 22 | +through distribution: |
| 23 | + |
| 24 | +- **Install skills from multiple sources** including the ToolHive Registry |
| 25 | + Server, OCI registries, or Git repositories. ToolHive writes skill files to |
| 26 | + your AI client's skills directory automatically, so the agent discovers them |
| 27 | + without manual file management. |
| 28 | +- **Scope skills to users or projects** depending on whether you want a skill |
| 29 | + available across all your work or limited to a specific codebase. User-scoped |
| 30 | + skills install globally, while project-scoped skills activate only when |
| 31 | + working in that repo. |
| 32 | +- **Build and publish skills** as OCI artifacts to share them with your team |
| 33 | + through any container registry. The CLI handles validation, packaging, and |
| 34 | + pushing using your existing registry credentials. |
| 35 | + |
| 36 | +Skills follow the |
| 37 | +[Agent Skills specification](https://agentskills.io/specification), an open |
| 38 | +standard for AI coding agents. See the |
| 39 | +[skills management guide](/toolhive/guides-cli/skills-management) for the full |
| 40 | +CLI reference and the |
| 41 | +[client compatibility page](/toolhive/reference/client-compatibility) for the |
| 42 | +current list of skill-capable clients. |
| 43 | + |
| 44 | +## Registry Server: Centralized skill discovery and versioning |
| 45 | + |
| 46 | +The [Registry Server](https://github.com/stacklok/toolhive-registry-server) adds |
| 47 | +an extensions API for publishing and managing skills alongside your MCP server |
| 48 | +registry: |
| 49 | + |
| 50 | +- **Publish versioned skills** with namespace isolation using reverse-DNS |
| 51 | + notation to prevent naming collisions across teams. The registry tracks |
| 52 | + multiple versions of each skill and automatically updates the latest pointer |
| 53 | + as new versions are published. |
| 54 | +- **Search and filter skills** by keyword, status, or namespace with |
| 55 | + cursor-based pagination, so teams can discover relevant skills from large |
| 56 | + catalogs without scrolling through everything. |
| 57 | +- **Lifecycle management** lets you mark skills as active, deprecated, or |
| 58 | + archived, giving platform teams clear controls over which skills are approved |
| 59 | + for use across the organization. |
| 60 | + |
| 61 | +Skills are stored under a separate extensions API path and not intermixed with |
| 62 | +MCP server entries. See the |
| 63 | +[registry skills guide](/toolhive/guides-registry/skills) for the API reference |
| 64 | +and publishing workflow. |
| 65 | + |
| 66 | +:::note |
| 67 | + |
| 68 | +Skills management in the ToolHive Desktop UI is coming soon, bringing discovery |
| 69 | +and installation into the app alongside MCP server management. |
| 70 | + |
| 71 | +::: |
| 72 | + |
| 73 | +## Getting started |
| 74 | + |
| 75 | +For detailed release notes, check the project repositories: |
| 76 | + |
| 77 | +- [ToolHive Runtimes](https://github.com/stacklok/toolhive/releases) (CLI and |
| 78 | + Kubernetes Operator) |
| 79 | +- [ToolHive Desktop UI](https://github.com/stacklok/toolhive-studio/releases) |
| 80 | +- [ToolHive Cloud UI](https://github.com/stacklok/toolhive-cloud-ui/releases) |
| 81 | +- [ToolHive Registry Server](https://github.com/stacklok/toolhive-registry-server/releases) |
| 82 | + |
| 83 | +You can find all ToolHive documentation on the |
| 84 | +[Stacklok documentation site](/toolhive). |
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