skill-management

name	skill-management
description	CharlieBot skill directory layout, sync rules, and CLI tool mappings. Use when creating, installing, or syncing skills across Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, OpenCode, and Antigravity.

Skill Management

Skill Sources (canonical)

Location	Scope	Description
<charlie-bot-repo>/skills/	General (shared across hosts)	Integration skills, self-knowledge
~/.charliebot/skills/	Host-specific (per-machine)	Domain skills tied to local repos/hardware

CLI Tool Skill Directories

CLI Tool	User Skills Path	Shared Standard	Notes
Claude Code	~/.claude/skills/<name>/SKILL.md	Proprietary	Also reads .claude/skills/ at project level
Codex CLI	~/.agents/skills/<name>/SKILL.md	Agent Skills (open standard)	.system/ in ~/.codex/skills/ is Codex built-in; user skills go in ~/.agents/skills/
Gemini CLI	~/.gemini/skills/<name>/SKILL.md OR ~/.agents/skills/<name>/SKILL.md	Agent Skills (open standard)	~/.agents/skills/ takes precedence over ~/.gemini/skills/
OpenCode	scans ~/.claude/ and ~/.agents/	reuses both standards	No dedicated target — auto-discovers Claude Code + Agent Skills. Disable via OPENCODE_DISABLE_CLAUDE_CODE_SKILLS=1
Antigravity (agy)	~/.gemini/antigravity-cli/skills/<name>/SKILL.md	Agent Skills (open standard)	Global customizations root (also scans ~/.gemini/skills/); does NOT read ~/.claude/~/.agents

Deduplication

Three sync targets cover all five CLIs:

1. ~/.claude/skills/ — Claude Code
2. ~/.agents/skills/ — Codex + Gemini (shared open standard)
3. ~/.gemini/antigravity-cli/skills/ — Antigravity (agy)

OpenCode needs no target: it auto-scans ~/.claude/ and ~/.agents/, both already populated above.

Sync Rules

• Each skill entry in target dirs is a symlink pointing to the canonical source
• Never overwrite non-symlink entries or dotfiles (e.g. Codex .system/)
• Remove stale symlinks whose targets no longer exist
• Sync script: <charlie-bot-repo>/scripts/sync-skills.sh
• Workers see skills through the backend CLI's skill dir — not directly from ~/.charliebot/skills/.

Host-Specific Content Boundary

Repo-level shared files (<charlie-bot-repo>/skills/**, <charlie-bot-repo>/prompts/**) MUST NOT contain host-specific info — hostnames, local paths, GPU specs, per-host ports/IPs. Anything host-specific belongs in the memory store's host topic (~/.charliebot/memory/entries/host/) or ~/.charliebot/skills/<name>/. Rules like "feature X is local-host only" must be flagged in the repo-level skill so that workers running anywhere see them.

Repo-level skills must also stay free of session-specific debug artifacts: dated transcripts (observed in D4, 2026-05-04 run), internal task IDs, specific bug strings (bytes-vs-str + train_ranges API mismatches), or any phrasing that reads like a LESSONS.md entry. Workers loading shared skills cannot see ~/.charliebot/LESSONS.md and have no context for those references. Keep shared skills as static principles; only promote a finding into a shared skill once the debug is closed and the lesson rewrites cleanly as a generic rule.

A local pre-commit hook enforces this boundary. One-time setup per clone:

git config --local core.hooksPath scripts/git-hooks

Additional host-specific blocklist patterns (real names, internal project names, tenant identifiers, etc.) live at ~/.charliebot/skills_leak_patterns.local.txt — one regex per line, NEVER committed to this repo. Run scripts/check-skills-host-leak.sh manually anytime to scan the whole tree.

File Name Convention

All CLIs require SKILL.md (exact name, case-sensitive) as the entry point file.

Updating Existing Skills

When new lessons surface and a skill needs an update, follow these rules:

• Reorganize, don't append. If related content already lives in the skill, edit the existing section in place rather than tacking on a new paragraph. Skills must stay concise so they remain scannable; growing them by accretion (one new bullet per session) defeats the purpose. Re-read the whole skill first, then propose the smallest diff that captures the new lesson.
• Ask before modifying any local skill. Surface the intended edit to the user before writing it — never silently mutate a skill file, even when "just adding a clarifying line".
• Always present the change as a file diff. Show the actual before/after (or Edit patch) so the user can see surrounding context and judge whether the edit fits. Don't summarize the change as "I'd add a note about X" — the user needs to see the literal lines being added/changed/removed to approve.