Agent skill

Inspecting Skills

by oaustegard in oaustegard/claude-skills

Discovers and indexes Python code in skills, enabling cross-skill imports.

MITAuto-check passedWriting & Content

Install Inspecting Skills

skills CLI
$ npx skills add oaustegard/claude-skills --skill inspecting-skills -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install oaustegard/claude-skills inspecting-skills --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/oaustegard/claude-skills.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/inspecting-skills .claude/skills/inspecting-skills && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
inspecting-skills
GitHub stars
150
Token cost
~1.5k tokens
SKILL.md length
204 words
Files
7 (incl. scripts)
Skills in repo
67
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Discovers and indexes Python code in skills, enabling cross-skill imports.

  • Works in 3 steps: Scripts Directory → Root-Level Modules → Simple Package
  • Importing functions from other skills
  • SKILL.md covers Installation, Quick Start, Core Functions and Skill Layouts, plus 5 more sections
  • Runs Python scripts from its folder

What it does

Inspecting Skills is an agent skill from oaustegard/claude-skills. Discovers and indexes Python code in skills, enabling cross-skill imports. Use when importing functions from other skills or analyzing skill codebases.

Its SKILL.md is about 1.5k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 7 other files, including scripts (for example `CHANGELOG.md`, `__init__.py` and `scripts/__init__.py`).

It sits in Writing & Content. It works with Python and Bluesky. The repository describes itself as: My collection of Claude skills. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Importing functions from other skills
  • Analyzing skill codebases

Example prompts

  • “Use the inspecting-skills skill to discover and indexes Python code in skills, enabling cross-skill imports”
  • “/inspecting-skills”

Requirements

  • Python 3

Workflow steps

3 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Scripts Directory
  2. Root-Level Modules
  3. Simple Package

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 90b0f1b. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Ships 4 files in scripts/ (Python), which the agent can run.

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Inspecting Skills loads about 1.5k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 42 tokens; SKILL.md has 204 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~42
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.5k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from oaustegard/claude-skills at commit 90b0f1b, republished under its MIT licence (© oaustegard). 204 words, ~1,515 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/inspecting-skills/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 6 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
inspecting-skills
description
Discovers and indexes Python code in skills, enabling cross-skill imports. Use when importing functions from other skills or analyzing skill codebases.
metadata.version
1.0.3

Inspecting Skills

Discover Python code across skills and enable universal imports. Solves the dash-underscore naming mismatch between skill directories (e.g., browsing-bluesky) and Python imports (e.g., browsing_bluesky).

Installation

python
import sys
sys.path.insert(0, '/home/user/claude-skills')
from inspecting_skills import setup_skill_path, skill_import

Quick Start

Import a Skill
python
from inspecting_skills import skill_import

# Import by skill name (dash or underscore form)
bsky = skill_import("browsing-bluesky")
posts = bsky.search_posts("python")

# Import specific functions
search, profile = skill_import("browsing-bluesky", ["search_posts", "get_profile"])
Enable Transparent Imports
python
from inspecting_skills import setup_skill_path

# Configure once at session start
setup_skill_path("/home/user/claude-skills")

# Now import skills directly (underscore form)
from browsing_bluesky import search_posts, get_profile
from remembering import remember, recall
Discover Available Skills
python
from inspecting_skills import list_importable_skills

skills = list_importable_skills()
for s in skills:
    print(f"{s['name']} -> import {s['module_name']}")

Core Functions

Discovery
FunctionPurpose
discover_skill(path)Analyze a single skill directory
discover_all_skills(root)Find all skills with Python code
find_skill_by_name(name, root)Find skill by name (either form)
skill_name_to_module(name)Convert "browsing-bluesky" to "browsing_bluesky"
Indexing
FunctionPurpose
index_skill(layout)Extract symbols from a discovered skill
index_all_skills(root)Index all skills in repository
generate_registry(root, output)Create registry.json manifest
Importing
FunctionPurpose
setup_skill_path(root)Enable transparent skill imports
skill_import(name, symbols)Import skill or specific symbols
register_skill(name, path)Register skill at custom path
list_importable_skills()List all importable skills

Skill Layouts

Skills organize Python code in three patterns:

1. Scripts Directory
browsing-bluesky/
  SKILL.md
  __init__.py          # Re-exports from scripts/
  scripts/
    __init__.py
    bsky.py            # Main implementation
2. Root-Level Modules
remembering/
  SKILL.md
  __init__.py          # Re-exports functions
  memory.py            # Core functionality
  boot.py
  config.py
3. Simple Package
simple-skill/
  SKILL.md
  __init__.py          # Contains all code

Generating a Registry

Create a registry.json for offline symbol lookup:

python
from inspecting_skills import generate_registry
from pathlib import Path

registry = generate_registry(
    Path("/home/user/claude-skills"),
    output_path=Path("registry.json")
)

# Registry structure:
# {
#   "version": "1.0.0",
#   "skills": {
#     "browsing-bluesky": {
#       "module_name": "browsing_bluesky",
#       "exports": ["search_posts", "get_profile", ...],
#       "modules": [...]
#     }
#   }
# }

Indexing a Single Skill

python
from inspecting_skills import discover_skill, index_skill
from pathlib import Path

# Discover the skill layout
layout = discover_skill(Path("/home/user/claude-skills/remembering"))
print(f"Layout: {layout.layout_type}")
print(f"Has __init__.py: {layout.has_init}")
print(f"Python files: {[f.name for f in layout.python_files]}")

# Index symbols
index = index_skill(layout)
for module in index.modules:
    print(f"\n{module.file_path}:")
    for sym in module.symbols:
        print(f"  {sym.kind} {sym.name}{sym.signature or ''}")

Integration with tree-sitting

This skill complements tree-sitting, which extracts code structure at runtime:

  • tree-sitting: AST-derived structure via tree-sitter, multi-language
  • inspecting-skills: Runtime import support, Python-focused, dynamic discovery

Use both together:

  1. tree-sitting for navigation and code review
  2. inspecting-skills for actual code imports and execution

Troubleshooting

Import Errors
python
# If skill_import fails, check:

# 1. Skill exists and has __init__.py
from inspecting_skills import discover_skill
layout = discover_skill(Path("/path/to/skill"))
print(layout.has_init)  # Must be True for importing

# 2. Skills root is configured
from inspecting_skills import get_skills_root
print(get_skills_root())

# 3. Symbol is exported in __all__
import ast
init_code = open("/path/to/skill/__init__.py").read()
# Check for __all__ definition
Path Not Found
python
# Manually set skills root
from inspecting_skills import set_skills_root
set_skills_root("/home/user/claude-skills")

API Reference

SkillLayout
python
@dataclass
class SkillLayout:
    name: str              # "browsing-bluesky"
    path: Path             # Full path to skill directory
    layout_type: str       # "scripts" | "root" | "package" | "none"
    python_files: list[Path]
    has_init: bool         # Can be imported as package
    entry_module: str      # "browsing_bluesky"
SkillIndex
python
@dataclass
class SkillIndex:
    name: str              # "browsing-bluesky"
    module_name: str       # "browsing_bluesky"
    layout_type: str
    modules: list[ModuleIndex]
    exports: list[str]     # From __all__
Symbol
python
@dataclass
class Symbol:
    name: str              # Function/class name
    kind: str              # "function" | "class" | "method"
    signature: str | None  # "(self, x: int)"
    line: int | None       # 1-indexed
    docstring: str | None  # First line
    children: list[Symbol] # Methods for classes

© oaustegard, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 6 other files (scripts) in inspecting-skills of oaustegard/claude-skills.

  • SKILL.md
  • CHANGELOG.md
  • __init__.py
  • scripts/__init__.py
  • scripts/discover.py
  • scripts/index.py
  • scripts/skill_imports.py

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 90b0f1b

Compare with similar skills

Inspecting Skills next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Inspecting Skills compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Inspecting Skills this skilloaustegard/claude-skills150—~1.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Postizgitroomhq/postiz-agent5082 repos~7.9kAutomated safety check: PassAGPL-3.0
Typefullyfreekmurze/dotfiles1k1 repos~3.4kAutomated safety check: NotesNone
Release Postquarto-dev/quarto-r1601 repos~2.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
China Travel Kittczyliu/china-travel-kit194—~1.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Ghostwritersuperzhang21/ghostwriter304—~759Automated safety check: PassCC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

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Works with

Questions about Inspecting Skills

What does Inspecting Skills do?

Discovers and indexes Python code in skills, enabling cross-skill imports. Inspecting Skills is an agent skill from oaustegard/claude-skills. Discovers and indexes Python code in skills, enabling cross-skill imports.

When should I use Inspecting Skills?

Inspecting Skills fits situations like: importing functions from other skills; analyzing skill codebases.

How do I install Inspecting Skills in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add oaustegard/claude-skills --skill inspecting-skills -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (inspecting-skills in oaustegard/claude-skills) into .claude/skills/inspecting-skills in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Inspecting Skills in Codex?

Run `npx skills add oaustegard/claude-skills --skill inspecting-skills -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (inspecting-skills in oaustegard/claude-skills) into .agents/skills/inspecting-skills in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Inspecting Skills in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add oaustegard/claude-skills --skill inspecting-skills -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/inspecting-skills, .gemini/skills/inspecting-skills, .github/skills/inspecting-skills and .opencode/skills/inspecting-skills in your project.

What does Inspecting Skills need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Inspecting Skills needs Python for the scripts in its folder. Our summary lists: Python 3.

Does Inspecting Skills access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Inspecting Skills safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. The check reads SKILL.md only: the scripts in the folder are not scanned, so read them before running anything.

What licence does Inspecting Skills use?

Inspecting Skills is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Inspecting Skills use?

About 1.5k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 6.1k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Inspecting Skills?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Inspecting Skills: Postiz (gitroomhq/postiz-agent, 508 stars), Typefully (freekmurze/dotfiles, 1k stars), Release Post (quarto-dev/quarto-r, 160 stars) and China Travel Kit (tczyliu/china-travel-kit, 194 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Inspecting Skills?

oaustegard (a GitHub user) maintains it in oaustegard/claude-skills, which has 150 GitHub stars. The repository holds 67 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 9, 2026.

Source: oaustegard/claude-skills on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.