---

name: manage-agent-skills description: Audit, search, enable, disable, and apply presets to installed Agent Skills without deleting their files. Use when the user wants to reduce idle skill context, keep rarely used skills manual, inspect newly installed skills on demand, or manage skills across Codex, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot CLI, OpenClaw, and Hermes Agent.

Manage Agent Skills

Use the bundled scripts/skillctl.py for deterministic, on-demand management. Never start a daemon or watcher. Discover current skills again on every invocation.

Workflow

1. Run doctor or status before changing anything.
2. Use search to resolve exact skill names.
3. Preview mutations with --dry-run.
4. Apply the requested mutation.
5. Report the platform, affected skills, config or native command used, backup path, and whether a new agent session is required.

Choose the Python launcher available on the current operating system (python on Windows, commonly python3 on macOS/Linux) and resolve the skill directory before running the script.

Windows PowerShell:

$skillctl = "<skill-directory>\scripts\skillctl.py"
python "$skillctl" doctor
python "$skillctl" --platform codex status
python "$skillctl" --platform all search azure

macOS/Linux:

skillctl="<skill-directory>/scripts/skillctl.py"
python3 "$skillctl" doctor
python3 "$skillctl" --platform codex status
python3 "$skillctl" --platform all search azure

Mutation commands use the same arguments on every operating system:

<python> <skillctl> --platform claude disable deploy --dry-run
<python> <skillctl> --platform claude disable deploy
<python> <skillctl> --platform copilot enable my-skill --dry-run
<python> <skillctl> --platform openclaw disable browser-tools --dry-run
<python> <skillctl> --platform hermes --hermes-scope telegram disable shell-tools --dry-run

For automation, pass --json either before or after the command. Use the format that keeps the caller's command template readable:

<python> <skillctl> --platform all --json status
<python> <skillctl> --platform all status --json

Mutations require an explicit --platform codex, --platform claude, or --platform copilot, --platform openclaw, or --platform hermes. Selectors are exact names, group:<name>, path:<path>, or all; partial names are intentionally rejected. Hermes defaults to global scope; pass --hermes-scope <platform> for a platform-specific disable.

For path: selectors, use the native absolute path printed by search, and quote the entire selector when it contains spaces:

Windows: path:C:\skills\demo\SKILL.md
macOS:   path:/Users/alice/.agents/skills/demo/SKILL.md
Linux:   path:/home/alice/.agents/skills/demo/SKILL.md

Do not translate paths between operating systems; matching uses the path rules of the system running skillctl.py.

Presets

Use a JSON preset file matching references/presets.md:

<python> <skillctl> --platform codex preset lean --file skill-presets.json --dry-run
<python> <skillctl> --platform codex preset lean --file skill-presets.json

Safety

• Do not delete, relocate, or rewrite any installed SKILL.md.
• Keep changes scoped to native platform controls.
• Codex edits only its marked TOML block.
• Claude Code edits only skillOverrides in its settings JSON.
• Copilot writes the documented disabledSkills setting and uses copilot skill list --json for native discovery when available.
• OpenClaw delegates mutations to openclaw config set so its JSON5 config is not normalized or hand-edited. Agent allowlists may still restrict a skill.
• Hermes writes only skills.disabled or skills.platform_disabled.<scope> in config.yaml. PyYAML may normalize formatting and comments, so the backup is the lossless recovery copy.
• Create a sibling .manage-agent-skills.bak before changing a config file.
• Protect manage-agent-skills, skill-creator, and plugin-creator from disable-all unless the user explicitly requests --force.
• Explain that Codex, Claude Code, OpenClaw, and Hermes changes may require a new session or gateway restart; Copilot follows its native command behavior.

Read references/platforms.md when platform semantics or support boundaries matter. Read references/presets.md only when creating or applying presets.