Skillsmith
Discover, search, and install Claude Code skills directly in VS Code.
Why Skillsmith?
- Browse the Skillsmith skill registry from your VS Code sidebar
- View skill details with rendered SKILL.md documentation
- One-click install skills to
~/.claude/skills
Features
| Feature |
Description |
| Sidebar Skill Tree |
Browse skills organized by category and trust tier |
| Skill Search |
Search the registry with trust tier and category filtering |
| Detail Panel |
Rich skill detail view with rendered SKILL.md content, score breakdown, and metadata |
| MCP Integration |
Live data from the Skillsmith API via Model Context Protocol |
| Offline Fallback |
Works offline with cached local skill data |
Getting Started
- Install Skillsmith from the VS Code Marketplace.
- The extension auto-connects to the Skillsmith MCP server.
- Open the Skillsmith sidebar (activity bar icon) to browse and search skills.
For MCP server setup and configuration, see the Skillsmith documentation.
Configuration Reference
All settings are under the skillsmith.* namespace in VS Code Settings.
| Setting |
Type |
Default |
Description |
skillsmith.skillsDirectory |
string |
~/.claude/skills |
Directory where skills are installed |
skillsmith.apiEndpoint |
string |
"" |
Custom API endpoint for skill search (leave empty for default) |
skillsmith.mcp.serverCommand |
string |
npx |
Command to run the MCP server |
skillsmith.mcp.serverArgs |
string[] |
["@skillsmith/mcp-server"] |
Arguments for the MCP server command |
skillsmith.mcp.autoConnect |
boolean |
true |
Automatically connect to MCP server on extension activation |
skillsmith.mcp.autoReconnect |
boolean |
true |
Automatically reconnect when connection is lost |
skillsmith.mcp.connectionTimeout |
number |
30000 |
Connection timeout in milliseconds |
skillsmith.mcp.minServerVersion |
string |
"0.4.9" |
Minimum required MCP server version. Older servers trigger a non-blocking update prompt. |
skillsmith.telemetry.enabled |
boolean |
true |
Opt-out for anonymous usage telemetry. Also respects VS Code's global telemetry.telemetryLevel. |
skillsmith.telemetryEndpoint |
string |
"" |
Telemetry POST target. Empty (default) disables all network calls. |
Requirements
Node.js 18+ is required for the MCP server connection. The extension itself runs without Node.js.
Privacy
The extension emits anonymous usage events for the Create Skill and Uninstall Skill commands (SMI-4194) when — and only when — all of these are true:
- VS Code's global
telemetry.telemetryLevel is not off.
- The
skillsmith.telemetry.enabled setting is true (default).
- The
skillsmith.telemetryEndpoint setting is a non-empty URL (no default — telemetry is off out of the box).
Events carry an anonymous cohort UUID generated on first activation and persisted in the extension's globalState. The UUID is never tied to a user account, email, or any PII. Event payloads include only the event name, extension version, and VS Code version. Network calls are fire-and-forget with a 2-second timeout.
Disable at any time by setting skillsmith.telemetry.enabled: false or by clearing skillsmith.telemetryEndpoint.
Testing
Unit tests run inside the Skillsmith Docker dev container:
docker exec skillsmith-dev-1 npm test -w packages/vscode-extension
Integration tests use @vscode/test-electron, which launches a real VS Code Extension Host. Electron has no display server inside the container, so integration tests run on the host (per ADR-113, the VS Code extension is host-only):
npm --prefix packages/vscode-extension run test:integration
Links
License
Elastic License 2.0
