copy-skill

name	copy-skill
description	Copy Claude Code skills from GitHub repositories into local .claude/skills directory. Use when the user wants to install, download, or copy a skill from GitHub, or mentions a GitHub URL to a skill they want to add.

Copy Skill

Downloads and installs Claude Code skills from GitHub repositories to your local .claude/skills directory.

Quick Start

node scripts/copy-skill.js <github-url> [--target <path>]

Instructions

Step 1: Parse the GitHub URL

Accept URLs in these formats:

• https://github.com/owner/repo/tree/branch/path/to/skill
• https://github.com/owner/repo/tree/main/skills/skill-name

Step 2: Run the copy script

# Copy to project .claude/skills (default)
node scripts/copy-skill.js https://github.com/user/repo/tree/main/skills/my-skill

# Copy to user home ~/.claude/skills
node scripts/copy-skill.js https://github.com/user/repo/tree/main/skills/my-skill --target ~/.claude/skills

Step 3: Verify installation

The script will:

1. Fetch the directory listing from GitHub API
2. Recursively download all files (SKILL.md, scripts/, references/, etc.)
3. Create the local directory structure
4. Write all files preserving the structure

Usage Examples

Copy a skill from a public repository:

node scripts/copy-skill.js https://github.com/owner/repo/tree/main/skills/my-skill

Copy to a custom location:

node scripts/copy-skill.js https://github.com/user/skills/tree/main/my-skill --target /path/to/.claude/skills

Copy to home directory skills:

node scripts/copy-skill.js https://github.com/user/repo/tree/main/skill-name --target ~/.claude/skills

Script Options

Option	Description	Default
--target, -t	Target directory for skill installation	.claude/skills
--name, -n	Override skill directory name	Extracted from URL
--verbose, -v	Enable verbose output	false

Requirements

• Node.js 18+ (for native fetch support)
• Internet connection to access GitHub API

How It Works

1. URL Parsing: Extracts owner, repo, branch, and path from GitHub URL
2. API Fetching: Uses GitHub Contents API to list all files recursively
3. Content Download: Fetches raw content for each file
4. Directory Creation: Creates local directory structure mirroring the source
5. File Writing: Writes all files to the target location

Error Handling

The script handles:

• Invalid GitHub URLs
• Non-existent repositories or paths
• Network failures with retry logic
• Rate limiting (suggests using GITHUB_TOKEN)

Troubleshooting

Rate limit exceeded:

export GITHUB_TOKEN=your_token_here
node scripts/copy-skill.js <url>

Permission denied:

• Check write permissions on target directory
• Try with sudo or change target path

Skill not found after install:

• Restart Claude Code to reload skills
• Verify SKILL.md exists in the installed directory