🥷 Agent Resources Ninja
Search, Install, and Manage Agent Resources for AI Coding Assistants
Agent Resources Ninja is a new resource-oriented VS Code extension for managing skills, agents, prompts, instructions, hooks, and related AI coding resources.
It gives you three practical views for the release workflow: Workspace Resources for project files, User / Global Resource Home for machine-wide customizations, and Remote Resources for bundled and GitHub sources. Install targets are explicit, MCP config files are staged before any optional merge, and built-in VS Code / Copilot resources stay read-only.
License notice: This extension is distributed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Non-commercial use is allowed; commercial use requires permission. See LICENSE.
GitHub Copilot • Claude Code • Cursor • Windsurf • Cline
Features •
Installation •
Usage •
Copilot Chat •
Settings •
Development
Japanese / 日本語版はこちら
🥷 Features
🧭 Resource Management
- Browse Workspace Resources, User / Global Resource Home, and Remote Resources from the Activity Bar
- Manage multiple resource kinds: skills, agents, prompts, instructions, hooks, and MCP config resources
- Browse remote resources by source or by Resource Type
- Inspect user/global resources from VS Code User Data and the selected Global Resource Home
- Choose explicit install targets: Workspace, User Profile, Global Resource Home, or Custom
📁 Local Resource Management
- Auto-detect skills, agents, prompts, instructions, hooks, and MCP config resources in workspace
- Automatically sync detected workspace skills to the generated instruction index (with
resourceNinja.includeLocalResources setting)
- Manual register / unregister commands for local workspace skills
- Create new skills, agents, prompts, instructions, hooks, and MCP config resources from templates
- Create Resource and Settings actions are available from every resource view; instruction index open/update actions are available from Workspace Resources and User / Global Resource Home.
- Create Resource uses the same configured Workspace, User Profile, and Global Resource Home roots as install/scan paths, so the previewed destination matches the created file.
🔍 Resource Search & Discovery
- Search resources by keyword (local & GitHub)
- Filter QuickPick search results by resource kind: skills, agents, instructions, prompts, hooks, or MCP config resources
- Install Sets are curated, selectable install groups. Plugin Contents are browse groups for resources found under plugin paths; install the whole indexed plugin group with a checklist, or install individual resources.
- Multi-keyword Search - Scored by name, path, description relevance
- Parallel Fetch - Fast results with 50 concurrent requests
- Fallback Search - Auto-retry with fewer keywords if no results
- Search results with descriptions & category tags
- Star counts & organization badges
- Install / Preview / Favorite directly from search results
📦 Install & Manage
- Double-click installation defaults to Workspace, with a setting for Ask / User Profile / Global Resource Home
- Context menu installation always shows the target picker for Workspace, User Profile, Global Resource Home, or Custom
- MCP config resources are copied to the Workspace MCP Directory first, then you can keep them for review or explicitly merge compatible servers into
.vscode/mcp.json; existing server keys always require overwrite confirmation.
- Auto-update the generated Agent Skills index in instruction files (AGENTS.md / copilot-instructions.md / CLAUDE.md) when skill resources change
- Table Format - Skill entries displayed in a generated table with a "When to Use" column
- Auto-extract "When to Use" - Extracted from SKILL.md
## When to Use section
- Edit Description - Right-click installed skills to customize the instruction-file description
- Uninstall workspace and user/global resources from the relevant resource view
- Reinstall All Workspace Skills - Batch reinstall installed workspace skills from latest source metadata (with auto index update)
- Install Feedback - NEW badge, status bar notification, auto-select in tree view
- Open Folder - Quick access to installed resource folder
- Index Integrity Check - Auto-detect missing resources and prompt for index update
- Auto-detection of AI tools in workspace (Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot)
- Automatic format selection based on detected tool
- Manual override available in settings
- Supported output formats:
- Markdown (AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, copilot-instructions.md)
- Cursor Rules (.cursor/rules/)
- Windsurf Rules (.windsurfrules)
- Cline Rules (.clinerules)
💬 GitHub Copilot Chat Integration
@resources commands for direct chat operations/search, /install, /list, /recommend- Project-based resource recommendations
- Automatically available as tools in Agent Mode
- 9 Tools:
#searchResources, #installResource, #uninstallResource, #listResources, #recommendResources, #updateResourceIndex, #webSearchResources, #addResourceSource, #localizeResource
- Trust badges (Official / Curated / Community)
- Auto-update instruction file for skill installs where applicable
🌐 Multi-language & UI
- Japanese / English UI (auto-detect + manual switch)
- Resource preview in Webview
- Favorites feature
🎬 Demo
📥 Installation
VS Code Marketplace
ext install yamapan.agent-resources-ninja
Or search for "Agent Resources Ninja" in VS Code Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)
Manual Installation
- Download
.vsix from Releases
- In VS Code:
Ctrl+Shift+P → Extensions: Install from VSIX...
- Select the downloaded
.vsix file
📚 Included Resource Sources
Preset index includes skills, agents, prompts, instructions, hooks, and MCP config resources from official, curated, and community sources out of the box.
Azure appears through two official Microsoft sources. microsoft/GitHub-Copilot-for-Azure indexes plugin-embedded skills from the Copilot for Azure repository, while microsoft/azure-skills indexes the top-level Azure Skills Plugin distribution and its Azure MCP config. The Azure Skills bundle is selectable: skills can be installed together, and the MCP config can be copied for review or explicitly merged into .vscode/mcp.json.
When two sources provide the same resource name, search results show the friendly source name and add source/path details for duplicates. Distribution-ready top-level paths are listed ahead of embedded plugin paths when relevance is otherwise tied.
Generic MCP config file names such as mcp.json and .mcp.json are installed with a source prefix, for example microsoft-azure-skills-mcp.json, to avoid overwriting MCP configs from another source. MCP files are copied first, and merging into .vscode/mcp.json is an explicit install-time choice with backup and overwrite confirmation.
Use Update Index to refresh the latest resources and metadata from these sources.
Official product and plugin repositories are path-filtered so bundled presets include distribution-ready resource roots, not samples, manifests, or test fixtures.
For github/awesome-copilot, resources published from plugins/ are indexed from distribution-ready top-level resource paths when available, avoiding duplicate raw plugin paths.
🥷 Usage
- Click the spiral shuriken icon in the Activity Bar
- Workspace Resources - Installed & local resources list
- Groups resources by kind: skills, agents, instructions, prompts, hooks, and MCP config resources
- Installed workspace resources with the same display name used in Remote Resources
- Local workspace skills that can be registered in the generated instruction index
- Built-in VS Code / Copilot resources are centralized in User / Global Resource Home to avoid duplicating environment resources in the workspace list
- Create new skills, agents, instructions, prompts, hooks, or MCP config resources from the toolbar
- Choose Workspace, User Profile, Global Resource Home, or a custom folder when creating resources
- Newly installed resources (temporary badge)
- Toolbar: Instruction File / Create / Refresh / Settings
- Skill-only menu: Reinstall All Workspace Skills / Uninstall All Workspace Skills / Multiple selection
- Open resource folder (right-click menu)
- User / Global Resource Home - Browser for this machine
VS Code User prompts (including .agent.md), instructions, and legacy agents
Global Resource Home resources under the selected preset (~/.copilot, ~/.claude, or ~/.agents)
Built-in VS Code / GitHub Copilot Chat / GitHub Copilot CLI resources are hidden by default and can be toggled into source-specific groups, including Copilot Chat /create-* prompt skills bundled under assets/prompts
Built-in resources are read-only definitions scanned from known VS Code, GitHub Copilot Chat, and GitHub Copilot CLI locations; they are shown for discovery, not modification.
Non-built-in User / Global Resource Home resources can be opened, revealed, copied, or deleted from the right-click menu
Built-in resources are read-only and can never be selected as install targets
Workspace .github resources stay in Workspace Resources
- Remote Resources - Browse web resources by source repository
- Toggle between repository-first and resource-type-first layouts from the toolbar
- Repository-first groups by source, then skills, agents, instructions, prompts, hooks, and MCP config resources
- Resource-type-first groups by skills, agents, instructions, prompts, hooks, and MCP config resources, then source
- Repository sections are ordered Official → Curated → Community
- Shows installed status with green icons
- Double-click install from list; optional single-click install uses the configured default target
Icon Legend
| Icon |
Meaning |
| check (green) |
Installed resource |
| circle (yellow) |
Local resource (not registered in instruction file) |
| NEW badge |
Recently installed (temporary badge) |
| star-full (yellow) |
Favorites section |
| verified (blue) |
Official source (Anthropic, OpenAI, GitHub, Microsoft) |
| star (yellow) |
Curated awesome-list |
| repo |
Community repository |
Command Palette
| Command |
Description |
Agent Resources Ninja: Search Resources |
Search and install resources |
Agent Resources Ninja: Update Index |
Update index from all sources |
Agent Resources Ninja: Search on GitHub |
Search resources on GitHub |
Agent Resources Ninja: Add Source Repository |
Add new source repository |
Agent Resources Ninja: Remove Source Repository |
Remove source repository |
Agent Resources Ninja: Uninstall Resource |
Uninstall a resource |
Agent Resources Ninja: Show Workspace Resources |
Show workspace resources |
Agent Resources Ninja: Create New Resource |
Create a local skill, agent, prompt, instruction, hook, or MCP config resource |
Agent Resources Ninja: Register Local Resource |
Register a local skill in the instruction file |
Agent Resources Ninja: Unregister Local Resource |
Unregister a local skill from the instruction file |
Agent Resources Ninja: Reinstall All |
Reinstall installed skills from latest source metadata |
Agent Resources Ninja: Uninstall All |
Uninstall all installed workspace skills (with confirmation) |
Agent Resources Ninja: Uninstall Multiple |
Select multiple installed skills to uninstall |
Agent Resources Ninja: Reinstall Multiple |
Select multiple installed skills to reinstall |
Agent Resources Ninja: Update Instruction |
Update instruction file manually |
Agent Resources Ninja: Open Resource Folder |
Open installed resource folder in OS |
Quick Start
1. Ctrl+Shift+P → "Agent Resources Ninja: Search Resources"
2. Enter keywords (e.g., "pdf", "azure", "git")
3. Select resource → Choose action (Install / Preview / Favorite / GitHub)
4. Choose install target from the context menu, or double-click to install to the default target
5. Done! Skill installs can auto-update the matching generated instruction index
Install Targets
| Target |
Best for |
Resource placement |
| Workspace |
Project-specific resources |
Configured workspace directories; defaults to .github/skills, .github/agents, .github/instructions, .github/prompts, .github/hooks |
| User Profile |
VS Code user customizations and shared skills/hooks |
Agents and prompts use VS Code User prompts by default; instructions use VS Code User instructions; skills/hooks use the selected Global Resource Home |
| Global Resource Home |
Shared resources for Copilot CLI, Claude, or agents |
Selected preset (~/.copilot, ~/.claude, ~/.agents) or override, with kind-specific subfolders |
| Custom |
Manual placement |
Chosen folder |
The install picker shows a destination preview for the selected resource kind before writing files. Built-in VS Code / Copilot resources are scan-only and are never used as install targets.
Search Tips 💡
| Example |
Effect |
azure |
Keyword search |
azure devops |
Multiple keywords, ranked by relevance |
username keyword |
First word searched as username |
user:anthropics |
Explicit user search |
repo:owner/repo |
Repository search |
If no results found, keywords are automatically reduced and retried.
💬 Copilot Chat
Use @resources in GitHub Copilot Chat for resource operations:
@resources /search MCP server # Search resources
@resources /install github-mcp # Install a resource
@resources /list # List workspace resources
@resources /recommend # Project-based recommendations
@resources what tools for Python? # Natural language search
Commands
| Command |
Description |
/search <query> |
Search resources by keyword |
/install <name> |
Install a resource |
/list |
List workspace resources |
/recommend |
Recommendations based on workspace |
Search results include install buttons for direct installation
In GitHub Copilot's Agent Mode, tools are automatically available.
| Tool Reference |
Description |
#searchResources |
Search resources by keyword |
#installResource |
Install a resource |
#uninstallResource |
Uninstall a resource |
#listResources |
List workspace resources |
#recommendResources |
Get project-based recommendations |
#updateResourceIndex |
Update resource index |
#webSearchResources |
Web search resources on GitHub |
#addResourceSource |
Add new resource source |
#localizeResource |
Localize resource descriptions |
Usage Examples
💬 "Find Azure-related resources"
→ #searchResources automatically invoked, displays results
💬 "Install the bicep-mcp resource"
→ #installResource installs, auto-updates instruction file
💬 "Search GitHub for MCP servers"
→ #webSearchResources searches GitHub repositories
💬 "What resources would you recommend for this project?"
→ #recommendResources analyzes workspace and recommends
Features
- Trust Badges: Shows Official / Curated / Community
- Recommended Resources: Suggests best resources from search results
- Index Update Info: Shows last update date with warnings if outdated
- Settings Integration: Respects
resourceNinja.autoUpdateInstruction / resourceNinja.includeLocalResources
- Token Efficiency: Save conversation context by using MCP tools
If you don't need MCP tools, you can disable them from GitHub Copilot Chat:
- Copilot Chat panel → Settings → Tools
- Toggle off "Agent Resources Ninja" tools
⚙️ Settings
Settings are ordered by the workflow users usually follow:
| Group |
Settings |
Purpose |
| Install behavior |
defaultInstallTarget, singleClickInstall |
Decide where click installs go |
| Workspace roots |
resourcesDirectory, workspace*Directory |
Project-specific resources tracked with the workspace |
| User roots |
user*Directory |
VS Code User Profile agents, prompts, and instructions |
| Global Resource Home |
globalResourceHomePreset, globalHomeDirectory |
Shared resources for Copilot CLI, Claude-compatible tools, or open agents |
| Instruction sync |
autoUpdateInstruction, instructionFile, customInstructionPath, includeLocalResources |
Optional Agent Skills index generation |
| Display and maintenance |
outputFormat, showBuiltInResources, remoteResourceViewMode, language, githubToken |
Presentation, discovery, and GitHub API behavior |
globalResourceHomePreset is the common case. globalHomeDirectory is an override: when it is not empty, it wins over the preset. Choose custom only when you also provide an override path.
| Order |
Setting |
Default |
Description |
| 0 |
resourceNinja.defaultInstallTarget |
workspace |
Default target for click/double-click installs |
| 1 |
resourceNinja.singleClickInstall |
false |
Install resources with single click |
| 2 |
resourceNinja.resourcesDirectory |
.github/skills |
Workspace skill directory |
| 3 |
resourceNinja.workspaceAgentsDirectory |
.github/agents |
Workspace agent directory |
| 4 |
resourceNinja.workspaceInstructionsDirectory |
.github/instructions |
Workspace instruction directory |
| 5 |
resourceNinja.workspacePromptsDirectory |
.github/prompts |
Workspace prompt directory |
| 6 |
resourceNinja.workspaceHooksDirectory |
.github/hooks |
Workspace hook directory |
| 7 |
resourceNinja.workspaceMcpDirectory |
.github/mcp |
Safe workspace MCP config staging directory before optional .vscode/mcp.json merge |
| 8 |
resourceNinja.userAgentsDirectory |
"" |
Optional User Profile agent override; empty stores .agent.md in VS Code User prompts |
| 9 |
resourceNinja.userInstructionsDirectory |
"" |
Optional User Profile instruction directory override |
| 10 |
resourceNinja.userPromptsDirectory |
"" |
Optional User Profile prompt directory override |
| 11 |
resourceNinja.globalResourceHomePreset |
copilot |
Known Global Resource Home preset (~/.copilot, ~/.claude, ~/.agents) |
| 12 |
resourceNinja.globalHomeDirectory |
"" |
Optional custom Global Resource Home override |
| 13 |
resourceNinja.autoUpdateInstruction |
true |
Auto-update the Agent Skills index after skill changes |
| 14 |
resourceNinja.instructionFile |
AGENTS.md |
Agent Skills index sync target (requires Auto Update) |
| 15 |
resourceNinja.customInstructionPath |
"" |
Custom Agent Skills index path (only when 'custom' selected) |
| 16 |
resourceNinja.includeLocalResources |
true |
Include local SKILL.md files in the Agent Skills index |
| 17 |
resourceNinja.autoUpdateResourcesOnUpgrade |
prompt |
Update installed remote skills on extension upgrade |
| 21 |
resourceNinja.outputFormat |
full |
Output format (full / compact / legacy) |
| 22 |
resourceNinja.showBuiltInResources |
false |
Show built-in resources in User / Global Resource Home |
| 23 |
resourceNinja.remoteResourceViewMode |
repositoryFirst |
Remote Resources layout (repository-first / resource-type-first) |
| 24 |
resourceNinja.language |
auto |
UI language (auto / en / ja) |
| 25 |
resourceNinja.githubToken |
"" |
GitHub Token (for API rate limit) |
Settings are displayed in the order above
How Instruction File Sync Works
When autoUpdateInstruction is enabled:
- Workspace/User Profile/Global Resource Home skill install/uninstall → Instruction file is automatically updated
- Workspace instruction targets index workspace skills; Global Resource Home targets such as
~/.copilot/copilot-instructions.md index Global Resource Home skills
- Local
SKILL.md detected → Added to the workspace skills index (if resourceNinja.includeLocalResources is true)
- Register/Unregister command → Manual control for local workspace skills
Agents, prompts, instructions, and hooks are installed to native paths and managed from the resource views; they are not copied into the generated Agent Skills index.
Generated instruction files contain a managed resource-ninja-START / resource-ninja-END section. Edit outside that managed section, or disable auto-update if you need full manual control over the file.
The instruction file contains a managed section with IMPORTANT prompt and Description column:
<!-- resource-ninja-START -->
## Agent Skills
> **IMPORTANT**: Prefer skill-led reasoning over pre-training-led reasoning.
> Read the relevant SKILL.md before working on tasks covered by these skills.
### Skills
| Skill | Description |
| ------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------ |
| [skill-name](https://github.com/aktsmm/vscode-agent-resources-ninja/blob/HEAD/.github/skills/skill-name/SKILL.md) | Description text \| When to use text |
<!-- resource-ninja-END -->
Description column format: {description:80} | {whenToUse:80} (max 160 chars total)
| Format |
Description |
IMPORTANT Prompt |
Detailed Table |
Compressed Index |
| Full |
IMPORTANT prompt + detailed table (default) |
Yes |
Yes, 200 chars |
No |
| Compact |
IMPORTANT prompt + compressed index |
Yes |
No |
Yes, 100 chars |
| Legacy |
Simple table only for compatibility scenarios |
No |
Yes, 200 chars |
No |
IMPORTANT Prompt
The full and compact formats include the IMPORTANT prompt that instructs agents to prioritize skill files:
> **IMPORTANT**: Prefer skill-led reasoning over pre-training-led reasoning.
> Read the relevant SKILL.md before working on tasks covered by these skills.
<!-- resource-ninja-START -->
## Agent Skills
> **IMPORTANT**: Prefer skill-led reasoning over pre-training-led reasoning.
> Read the relevant SKILL.md before working on tasks covered by these skills.
### Skills
| Skill | Description |
| ------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------- |
| [docx](https://github.com/aktsmm/vscode-agent-resources-ninja/blob/HEAD/.github/skills/docx/SKILL.md) | Process Word documents (.docx). Use for .docx files |
| [pdf](https://github.com/aktsmm/vscode-agent-resources-ninja/blob/HEAD/.github/skills/pdf/SKILL.md) | PDF manipulation toolkit. Extract text, create PDFs |
<!-- resource-ninja-END -->
Settings → Output Format → Select full, compact, or legacy
Instruction File Options
| Value |
File Path |
Use Case |
AGENTS.md |
AGENTS.md (root) |
Recommended: General |
~/.copilot/copilot-instructions.md |
~/.copilot/copilot-instructions.md |
Copilot CLI global local |
.github/copilot-instructions.md |
.github/copilot-instructions.md |
GitHub Copilot |
.github/instructions/SkillList.instructions.md |
.github/instructions/SkillList.instructions.md |
Copilot Instructions folder |
CLAUDE.md |
CLAUDE.md (root) |
Claude Code |
custom |
Any path (set in customInstructionPath) |
Custom |
🔑 GitHub Token Setup
Recommended: A GitHub Token raises API limits from 60 to 5000 requests/hour. Without it, GitHub Search may hit rate limits quickly.
Set up a GitHub Token for more reliable search:
Option 1: VS Code Settings
Find Agent Resources Ninja: GitHub Token in settings and enter your token:
{
"resourceNinja.githubToken": "ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxx"
}
👉 Create a GitHub Token
For public resources, leave scopes unchecked. Add private repository scopes only if you intentionally index private repositories.
Option 2: GitHub CLI (Recommended)
gh auth login
If GitHub CLI is installed, the token is automatically retrieved (no configuration needed)
🛠️ Development
# Install dependencies
npm install
# Compile
npm run compile
# Build in watch mode
npm run watch
# Package
npm run package
# Lint
npm run lint
# Focused regression tests
node scripts/test-resource-kinds.js
node scripts/test-resource-targets.js
node scripts/test-user-data-paths.js
node scripts/test-manifest-consistency.js
node scripts/test-logger.js
node scripts/test-whenToUse.js
node scripts/test-search-logic.js
# Extension Host smoke test
npm test
# Dependency audit
npm audit --audit-level=moderate
Debugging
- Press
F5 in VS Code
- Test the extension in a new VS Code window
- Run
Agent Resources Ninja commands from Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
Diagnostics
- Extension diagnostics are written to Output → Agent Resources Ninja.
- Runtime code does not write diagnostic logs to the process console; this keeps local Extension Host and
vscode-test runs less prone to pipe-related failures.
- If a VS Code/Electron
EPIPE dialog appears while testing, rerun npm test from a normal terminal first, then check Output → Agent Resources Ninja for extension-level diagnostics.
🤝 Contributing
- Fork this repository
- Create a feature branch (
git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
- Commit changes (
git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
- Push to branch (
git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
- Open a Pull Request
📄 License
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 © yamapan
- Free for non-commercial use, modification, and redistribution
- Commercial use requires permission
- Microsoft employees may use for work purposes
Use of this content for AI/ML training, data mining, or other analytical purposes is prohibited.
👤 Author
yamapan (https://github.com/aktsmm)
| |
