Skills

TL;DR

Skills are self-contained packages that extend the CMDOP agent with new capabilities. A skill is a Python or Node package with a system prompt (skill.md), runtime code, and dependencies. Skills are distributed via PyPI/npm and the CMDOP marketplace, installed with one command, and run in isolated environments.

This doc vs marketplace vs authoring


Here (`/docs/skills`)	How the agent runtime discovers skills, merges `skill.md` into the prompt, and runs commands.
Skills marketplace	Browse and install published skills (catalog, not the runtime internals).
cmdop-skill	Build and publish skills (scaffold, tests, PyPI, marketplace release).

What is a skill?

A skill is a directory containing at minimum a skill.md file — a markdown document with YAML frontmatter that tells the agent what the skill does and how to use it. Package skills add runtime code (Python/Node), dependencies, and CLI commands on top of that.


my-skill/
├── skill.md              # System prompt + metadata
├── pyproject.toml        # Package metadata, dependencies
├── src/my_skill/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   └── _skill.py         # CLI commands
├── tests/
│   └── test_my_skill.py
└── Makefile

How does the agent use skills?

The agent loads all available skills from three sources (in priority order):
- Workspace — .cmdop/skills/ in the current directory (highest priority)
- Global — ~/.cmdop/skills/ (marketplace-installed)
- Builtin — embedded in the binary
Each skill’s skill.md becomes part of the agent’s system prompt
The agent runs skill commands via CLI (python -m my_skill check github.com)
Dependencies are auto-installed in isolated virtual environments

What can skills do?

Scaffold a new skill in 30 seconds with the SDK wizard

YAML frontmatter reference: name, model, requires, runtime

Define CLI commands with @skill.command and Arg()

Test skills with TestClient and pytest

Release to PyPI and the CMDOP marketplace

Install, uninstall, and manage skills

Add visual dashboards to data-oriented skills

Types, models, errors, and function style

Quick start


pip install cmdop-skill
cmdop-skill init

The wizard creates a complete skill project. Then:


cd my-skill
pip install -e '.[dev]'
make test
make install-skill   # symlink into ~/.cmdop/skills/
make release         # bump + PyPI + CMDOP marketplace