FastSkill Cheatsheet
Quick reference for common FastSkill operations, ordered from everyday manifest workflow to advanced setup.Manifest and workspace
| Operation | Command | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Install from manifest | fastskill install | Resolves [dependencies] in skill-project.toml, installs skills, updates skills.lock |
| Reproducible install | fastskill install --lock | Installs exact versions from skills.lock (CI and locked environments) |
| Update skills | fastskill update | Refreshes installed skills and lock from manifest (see update command) |
| Check updates only | fastskill update --check | Reports newer versions without changing files |
| List installed | fastskill list | Lists locally installed skills with reconciliation status (table) |
| List installed (JSON) | fastskill list --json | Same as list, machine-readable |
| Read skill content | fastskill read my-skill-id | Full SKILL.md and base path in an agent-oriented format |
| Read skill metadata | fastskill read my-skill-id --meta | ID, version, description, source (add --json for machine output) |
| Dependency tree | fastskill read my-skill-id --tree | Dependency relationships for the skill |
| Remove skill | fastskill remove my-skill-id | Removes from skills dir, updates manifest and lock; prompts for confirmation |
| Force remove | fastskill remove my-skill-id --force | Removes without confirmation |
Add skills
| Operation | Command | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| From registry | fastskill add pptx | Installs from the configured registry into the skills directory; updates manifest and lock |
| Pinned version | fastskill add pptx@1.2.3 | Installs that version and pins it in the lock file |
| From Git | fastskill add https://github.com/org/skill.git | Clones, validates layout, registers and installs |
| Editable local path | fastskill add ./dev-skill -e | Symlink or reference; edits apply without reinstall |
| Private registry | fastskill add team-skill | Uses auth from skill-project.toml / environment |
| Folder of skills | fastskill add ./skills -r | Adds each subdirectory that contains SKILL.md (local trees only) |
| Network share (Windows) | fastskill add \\\\fileserver\\corp-skills\\team-tools | Copies from a corporate share into the local skills directory |
Search
| Operation | Command | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Catalog search | fastskill search "query" | Searches remote catalogs by default |
| Installed only | fastskill search "query" --local | Searches skills already on disk |
| Resolve paths (agents) | fastskill search "query" --local --paths | Emits canonical skill paths instead of result rows |
| Paths with content | fastskill search "query" --local --paths --content full | Includes SKILL.md content (none, preview, or full) in JSON |
Diagnostics
| Operation | Command | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Environment check | fastskill doctor | Reports configuration and environment readiness, including whether an embedding provider is configured for semantic search |
| Machine-readable | fastskill doctor --json | Same checks as JSON |
Modern agents (Claude Code, Cursor, …) read skills directly from the skills directory — there is no metadata-file sync step. Just
fastskill install (or fastskill add) and the agent discovers them.Skill authoring
| Operation | Command | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Initialize project | fastskill init | Reads SKILL.md frontmatter, prompts for gaps, writes skill-project.toml |
| Init with version | fastskill init --version 1.2.3 | Sets version without prompting |
| Init non-interactive | fastskill init --yes | Defaults from SKILL.md, no prompts |
Repositories and catalog
| Operation | Command | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| List repositories | fastskill repos list | Entries from skill-project.toml |
| Repository details | fastskill repos info repo-name | Type, URL or path, priority, auth hints |
| Add repository | fastskill repos add repo-name --repo-type git-marketplace <url> | Adds a source (git-marketplace, http-registry, zip-url, local) |
| Remove repository | fastskill repos remove repo-name | Drops the entry |
| Update repository | fastskill repos update repo-name --branch main --priority 1 | Branch or priority changes |
| Test repository | fastskill repos test repo-name | Connectivity check |
| Refresh cache | fastskill repos refresh | Refreshes cached catalog metadata |
| List catalog skills | fastskill repos skills | Skills advertised by registries |
| Show catalog skill | fastskill repos show skill-id | One skill from the catalog |
| List versions | fastskill repos versions skill-id | Published versions for an id |
Local server
| Operation | Command | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| HTTP server | fastskill serve | Web UI and HTTP API under /api/v1/… (--host, --port; see serve command) |
| Liveness probe | curl http://localhost:8080/healthz | Returns JSON with fastskill version; suitable for container health checks |
| Readiness probe | curl http://localhost:8080/readyz | Returns 200 when ready, 503 during graceful shutdown |
| List skills (API) | curl http://localhost:8080/api/v1/skills | JSON list of installed skills |
| Search (API) | curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/api/v1/search -d '{"query":"text"}' -H 'Content-Type: application/json' | Search skills via HTTP |