Agent skill

Xskill Helper

by SkillNerds in SkillNerds/xskill

A skill your agent uses for xskill. An agent skill from SkillNerds/xskill.

MITAuto-check: warnings

Install Xskill Helper

The automated check flagged lines worth reading first. See the safety section below.

skills CLI
$ npx skills add SkillNerds/xskill --skill xskill-helper -a claude-code

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

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install SkillNerds/xskill xskill-helper --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/SkillNerds/xskill.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/src/xskill/data/skill/xskill-helper .claude/skills/xskill-helper && 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
xskill-helper
GitHub stars
128
Token cost
~3.4k tokens
SKILL.md length
1,415 words
Files
3 (incl. references)
Skills in repo
4
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

A skill your agent uses for xskill. An agent skill from SkillNerds/xskill.

  • The user wants to init
  • SKILL.md covers Getting started, Controlling which trajectories…, Generate or rewrite a Skill and Import an existing Skill, plus 6 more sections
  • Calls pip
  • Join a team server

What it does

Xskill Helper is an agent skill from SkillNerds/xskill. Use this skill for xskill. Trigger when the user wants to init, connect or join a team server, generate or rewrite a team Skill from trajectories, search download upload or import team Skills, look up this user or a teammate's past chats across Claude Code Codex Cursor OpenCode Trae DeepSeek Harness and ngagent, upgrade the client, or debug a stuck daemon. Team chats: xskill traj search then traj read. This machine only: add --local to read ~/.xskill/sessions. Invoke as /xskill-helper.

Its SKILL.md is about 3.4k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. The skill folder holds 3 other files, including reference files (for example `references/platforms.md` and `references/troubleshooting.md`).

It works with DeepSeek. The repository describes itself as: Self-evolving skills lib for coding agents. The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • The user wants to init
  • Join a team server
  • Rewrite a team Skill from trajectories
  • Search download upload

Example prompts

  • “/xskill-helper”

Requirements

  • Python 3

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit aeee7c1. 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

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • pip

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

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use pip, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

    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

Xskill Helper loads about 3.4k tokens when it runs, and up to ~4.9k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 127 tokens; SKILL.md has 1,415 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~127
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~3.4k
With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them
~4.9k

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: warnings

The automated check found patterns that need a careful read before installing.

  • WarningContains instruction-override wording (e.g. “without asking the user”)SKILL.md:145
    DeepSeek Harness, and ngagent. Do not tell the user to open each tool's

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); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from SkillNerds/xskill at commit aeee7c1, republished under its MIT licence (© SkillNerds). 1,415 words, ~3,425 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/xskill-helper/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder). This skill also uses 2 other files; get the full folder from GitHub.
name
xskill-helper
description
Use this skill for xskill. Trigger when the user wants to init, connect or join a team server, generate or rewrite a team Skill from trajectories, search download upload or import team Skills, look up this user or a teammate's past chats across Claude Code Codex Cursor OpenCode Trae DeepSeek Harness and ngagent, upgrade the client, or debug a stuck daemon. Team chats: xskill traj search then traj read. This machine only: add --local to read ~/.xskill/*_sessions. Invoke as /xskill-helper.

xskill-helper

xskill is a thin client + background daemon that (1) mounts your team's shared Skills into every AI-agent tool you use (Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Cursor, Trae, DeepSeek Harness) and (2) collects your agent trajectories and syncs them to a team server; you choose which projects are uploaded (see "Controlling which trajectories are uploaded"). You join a server once, then it keeps skills in sync and auto-updates itself.

xskill init can install this guide into chosen harnesses on this machine. xskill connect also installs it after a team join. Invoke it as /xskill-helper from Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and the other supported tools.

All state lives under ~/.xskill/:

FileWhat
~/.xskill/local_init.jsonlocal harness scan marker (no team server required)
~/.xskill/team_client.jsonconnection identity (server_url, client_id, join_token, server privacy mode) — survives restarts
~/.xskill/privacy.jsonlocal upload rules: mode + per-project allow/deny — never sent to the server
~/.xskill/connect_daemon.jsoncurrent background daemon (pid / host task) — used by status/stop
~/.xskill/logs/xskill.*.logsplit logs (one file per component)
~/.xskill/skill/the local skill repo everything is mounted from

Getting started

After pip install xskill, local trajectory search does not need a team server. The first xskill traj search checks for a connection. If there is no xskill connect and this machine has not been initialized, it scans detected harnesses, converts their sessions into ~/.xskill/*_sessions, and builds the local index. After that, xskill traj search and xskill traj read work on this computer.

For a guided setup that lists harnesses, turns on trajectory processing, and asks which agents should get this guide:

bash
xskill init

xskill init -y is the non-interactive form: scan every detected harness and install /xskill-helper into all of them. --no-skill skips the guide. --skills-only only installs the guide. --force rescans even if the local index already exists.

Interactive xskill init then asks whether to join a team server. Enter, skip, or an empty address/token all leave the machine usable locally. Do not treat a skipped connect as failure. If they want to connect later, or run a standalone team server:

bash
xskill connect <host:port> --token <token> --name <user-id>
xskill serve --server

Never send the user to a public hub or any address you were not given. If they do not have host, token, or name, show the connect command as the example and ask their server operator. The operator prints the token with xskill serve --server. Do not invent an address or token, and do not paste one from the internet.

After a successful handshake, connect installs this guide and starts the background daemon. Later reconnects can omit the address and token; they reuse ~/.xskill/team_client.json.

In the agent, invoke this guide as /xskill-helper.

Controlling which trajectories are uploaded

Rules live only on this machine. A mode decides what happens to projects without a rule; the server and this machine each have one, and the stricter wins (allowlist is stricter than denylist):

  • allowlist — nothing is uploaded except projects you allow.
  • denylist — everything is uploaded except projects you deny (server default).

A server set to allowlist requires it from every client on this version or newer; older clients do not know the field.

bash
xskill privacy status                 # effective mode + every discovered project and its decision
xskill privacy mode allowlist         # this machine: only upload allowed projects (server cannot loosen it)
cd ~/code/my-service && xskill privacy allow   # allow this project (and subdirectories)
xskill privacy deny ~/code/secret     # never read or upload this project
xskill privacy clear ~/code/secret    # drop the rule, back to the mode default
xskill privacy review                 # interactive walk through discovered projects
xskill connect <host:port> --token <t> --privacy allowlist   # set the mode before the first upload

A skipped trajectory is never read, never uploaded and never marked as uploaded, so allowing it later uploads it on the next scan. A trajectory whose sidecar records no working directory (Cursor and Trae never do) cannot be matched to a project: it follows the mode default and status lists it separately. Rules never delete what was already uploaded.

Generate or rewrite a Skill

generate does not invent a Skill from scratch. It reads trajectories the team server already allows this client to see, and the instruction only describes what to create or change. The job may wait for a free SkillEdit seat; the CLI streams queue and run logs. When it finishes, the Skill is committed to main and pinned on the initiator's recommendation list.

bash
xskill generate "创建一个排查 Python 内存泄漏的 Skill,包含常用诊断命令"
xskill generate "改写现有的 python-memory-debug Skill,补充 Windows 排查步骤"
xskill generate --name alice,bob "根据这些用户的成功案例生成数据库迁移 Skill"

--name is a comma-separated list of employee ids the agent should read first. Omit it and the agent may search every trajectory the server authorizes. If the CLI says the server is too old, ask the operator to upgrade the team server.

Import an existing Skill

import takes a local Skill folder (or a parent that contains several) into the team's own repo. This is not upload: import becomes a first-party Skill on main, while upload only lands in the user's SkillHub share.

bash
xskill import ./my-skill
xskill import ./skills-parent --json
Show full SKILL.md (706 more words)Show less

Searching and reading trajectories

This is how the agent looks up past chats. xskill collects sessions from every harness it detected on this machine and converts them to traj_*.md. After xskill connect it also uploads them to the team server. One search covers Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode, Trae, DeepSeek Harness, and ngagent. Do not tell the user to open each tool's own history UI.

The default entry is the trajectory, not Atom.

xskill traj search is full-text over traj_*.md, not the first-user-query index. Default listing is one block per hit: traj_id, then the first match with three lines before and after (the hit line is marked *). Same-name prefixes are spread. A page shows at most 30 hits. --page N turns the page. --cards returns index cards (source, line count, user turns, tools, then L 问 / L 答), at most 8 per page; cards are not close reading. Close-read with xskill traj read <traj_id> --offset-start <L from the card>.

No team server (after pip, or after xskill init): search reads ~/.xskill/*_sessions. The first search on this machine runs the same harness scan as xskill init if that has not happened yet.

Team (online, after xskill connect): search reads uploaded traj_*.md this user and teammates can see. --name alice,bob narrows to those employee ids. Reading someone else's file needs the server switch team.server.allow_read_others; otherwise the CLI prints that the server has not opened others' trajectories.

This machine only (offline, or skip the server): add --local. xskill traj search --local and xskill traj read --local <traj_id> use ~/.xskill/*_sessions and do not call the team server. If this machine has not been initialized, the first --local search or read scans harnesses and converts sessions. --local also prints the concrete *_sessions directories. After that, grep those folders with this harness's own search tools (traj_*.md); do not invent a server path.

Putting the word traj after xskill search searches skills, not trajectories. Use xskill traj search.

xskill traj read takes --offset-start and --offset-end (1-based, half-open). Each reply prints the current window and the total window. One call returns at most 200 lines.

Local harness directories (this machine):

HarnessBridged markdown
Claude Code~/.xskill/cc_sessions/traj_*.md
Codex~/.xskill/codex_sessions/traj_*.md
Cursor~/.xskill/cursor_sessions/traj_*.md
OpenCode~/.xskill/opencode_sessions/traj_*.md
ngagent~/.xskill/ngagent_sessions/traj_*.md
nga3~/.xskill/nga3_sessions/traj_*.md
Trae~/.xskill/trae_sessions/traj_*.md
DeepSeek Harness~/.xskill/dsh_sessions/traj_*.md
bash
xskill traj search 内存泄漏
xskill traj search patentdagger --page 2
xskill traj search patentdagger --cards
xskill traj search --cards traj_cc_patentdagger_43773fc8
xskill traj search "alembic 半迁移" --cards --page 2
xskill traj search --name alice,bob 发票核对 --json
xskill traj read traj_cc_alice_memleak
xskill traj read traj_cc_alice_memleak --offset-start 12 --offset-end 88
xskill traj read --local traj_cc_alice_memleak
xskill traj read --local traj_cc_alice_memleak --offset-start 12 --offset-end 88

--name only applies in team mode. Search does not download files. Paste a traj_id into xskill generate when the instruction should name the evidence. Do not print server paths.

Advanced: atoms

Atom is a split-agent product. Granularity may change across versions. Prefer xskill traj search unless a script already has an atom_id.

bash
xskill atom search 内存泄漏
xskill atom search --name alice,bob 发票核对
xskill atom read atom_t_0001
xskill atom read atom_t_0001 --offset-start 40 --json

Searching & sharing team skills

bash
xskill init                    # this machine: scan harnesses, convert traj, optional helper
xskill search <query...>       # search team skills; returns metadata only
xskill traj search <query...>  # no team: local index; after connect: this user and teammates
xskill traj read <traj_id>     # read trajectory lines; prints current and total range
xskill traj read --local <id>  # this machine ~/.xskill/*_sessions, no team server
xskill search <query...> --download  # legacy 10-slot LRU download + auto-install
xskill download <skill-id>     # persist one result; interactively select harnesses
xskill download <skill-id> --agent claude-code --agent codex -y  # for agents/scripts
xskill search auth retry -k 3  # top-3 results (max 10)
xskill upload ./my-skill       # package a SKILL.md folder and share to the team
xskill dashboard               # print a passwordless link into the server dashboard
xskill stats                   # token usage & estimated cost

Already connected clients search SkillHub. Standalone machines search the local library (semantic index, falling back to BM25). search --download is the old rolling-slot path; prefer download <skill-id> to keep a Skill permanently.

Upgrading

bash
pip install -U xskill        # manual upgrade to the latest PyPI release
xskill update                # check PyPI now, upgrade + restart if newer exists

The daemon auto-checks PyPI every hour and upgrades itself when a newer version is out; disable with xskill connect --no-auto-update. Behind a corporate proxy, add --use-proxy (default is direct connection, bypassing the SWG proxy). Background hosting differs per platform — Windows uses a Scheduled Task, Linux/WSL uses a systemd user service. See references/platforms.md.

Debugging

bash
xskill connect --foreground          # run the daemon loop in the foreground, live logs
xskill connect --foreground --debug  # + verbose logging
SymptomCommandExpected
Is it running / connected?xskill statusprints background task + pid, or "not running"
My trajectories never reach the serverxskill privacy statusshows the effective mode and the decision per project; allow the project or switch mode
Skills not updatingxskill connect --foregroundwatch the reconcile loop; look for copy-mode / fell back to copy warnings
Stop itxskill stoptears down the Scheduled Task / systemd unit
Restart cleanxskill stop then xskill connectre-handshakes and re-daemonizes

Logs are at ~/.xskill/logs/xskill.*.log. See references/troubleshooting.md for the black-window, copy-mode, and can't-connect issues in detail.

Where skills land per tool

ToolInstall dirMount
Claude Code~/.claude/skills/<name>/symlink → junction (Win) → copy
Codex~/.agents/skills/<name>/ (shared)same
OpenCode~/.agents/skills/<name>/ (shared)same
Cursor~/.cursor/skills/<name>/same
TraeIDE workspace / ~/.trae-cn (auto-detected)same
DeepSeek Harness~/.dsh/skills/<name>/same

symlink/junction installs are live — server updates show up instantly and your edits round-trip back. A copy-mode install is a snapshot: it logs a warning, updates do not propagate live, and local edits do not round-trip. Copy mode only happens when neither symlink nor junction can be made (cross-drive, or non-NTFS). On Windows, enable Developer Mode so symlinks work — see references/platforms.md.

© SkillNerds, 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 2 other files (references) in src/xskill/data/skill/xskill-helper of SkillNerds/xskill.

  • SKILL.md
  • references/platforms.md
  • references/troubleshooting.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit aeee7c1

Compare with similar skills

Xskill Helper 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.

Xskill Helper compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Xskill Helper this skillSkillNerds/xskill128—~3.4kAutomated safety check: WarnMIT
ModLens Image Vision Bridgeliustack/modlens4.2k1 repos~1.3kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
Vision SkillsAnionex/agent-vision-toolkit1.2k1 repos~4kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Distilly Person Profile Buildertitanwings/distilly25k—~15kAutomated safety check: NotesMIT
Evals Contextzgsm-ai/costrict4.4k1 repos~1.9kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
J SpaceTiger3807861189/J-Space-Cognition-Suite3k—~3kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0

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Works with

Questions about Xskill Helper

What does Xskill Helper do?

A skill your agent uses for xskill. An agent skill from SkillNerds/xskill. Xskill Helper is an agent skill from SkillNerds/xskill. Use this skill for xskill.

When should I use Xskill Helper?

Xskill Helper fits situations like: the user wants to init; join a team server; rewrite a team Skill from trajectories; search download upload.

How do I install Xskill Helper in Claude Code?

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

How do I install Xskill Helper in Codex?

Run `npx skills add SkillNerds/xskill --skill xskill-helper -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (src/xskill/data/skill/xskill-helper in SkillNerds/xskill) into .agents/skills/xskill-helper in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Xskill Helper 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 SkillNerds/xskill --skill xskill-helper -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/xskill-helper, .gemini/skills/xskill-helper, .github/skills/xskill-helper and .opencode/skills/xskill-helper in your project.

What does Xskill Helper need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Xskill Helper needs the command-line tools its instructions call (pip). Our summary lists: Python 3.

Does Xskill Helper access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use pip, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Xskill Helper safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md flagged 1 warning(s): contains instruction-override wording (e.g. “without asking the user”). Read the flagged lines before installing; the check is not a guarantee either way.

What licence does Xskill Helper use?

Xskill Helper 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 Xskill Helper use?

About 3.4k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 14k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full. Its references folder adds about 1.5k tokens, read only when the agent opens those files.

What are the alternatives to Xskill Helper?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Xskill Helper: ModLens Image Vision Bridge (liustack/modlens, 4.2k stars), Vision Skills (Anionex/agent-vision-toolkit, 1.2k stars), Distilly Person Profile Builder (titanwings/distilly, 25k stars) and Evals Context (zgsm-ai/costrict, 4.4k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Xskill Helper?

SkillNerds (a GitHub organization) maintains it in SkillNerds/xskill, which has 128 GitHub stars. The repository holds 4 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on September 17, 2026.

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