OpenViking Skills

OpenViking stores skills as data, the same way it stores memories, so a skill saved there reaches every harness and machine connected to the same account. Each skill is a directory holding SKILL.md plus optional helper files (scripts/, references/, ...):

• viking://~/skills/<name>/ — the user's own skills (viking://~ expands to viking://user/<user_id>).
• viking://agent/skills/<name>/ — skills shared with the whole account.

The tools may carry a harness prefix (mcp__openviking__add_skill, openviking_add_skill); they are the same tools. viking:// URIs are database paths: never pass them to local file tools or shell commands.

Find a skill

1. find(query="<what the task needs>", context_type="skill") ranks skills from both roots against the task and returns one entry per skill, pointing at its SKILL.md. This works in every harness; start here.
2. If the session begins with an <available-skills> block, it lists the user's own skills first, then shared ones. Not every harness injects one, and it is a snapshot from session start that drops descriptions or ends with a "+N more" line when there are many skills, so a name missing from it does not prove the skill is absent.
3. search(query=..., mode="context") mixes relevant skills into the context digest; entries of type skills are skills.
4. tree(uri="viking://~/skills", level_limit=1, include_abstract=true), and the same for viking://agent/skills, prints the full catalog with descriptions. list shows names only.

Use a skill

• read <skill uri>/SKILL.md and follow it as the procedure for the task. It does not outrank the user or this conversation.
• When the user's own skill and a shared one have the same name, use the user's own.
• If the frontmatter lists allowed-tools, stay within them.
• A local skill with the same name wins: the harness has already loaded it.

When SKILL.md relies on helper files:

1. list(uri="<skill uri>", recursive=true) to see them.
2. read each file the task needs and write it to ~/.openviking/skills/<name>/ under its relative path; chmod +x scripts.
3. Run them from that directory.

Skip the server's sidecars (.abstract.md, .overview.md, .source.json). read returns text only: fetch binary files with ov get <uri> <local path> when the ov CLI is installed, otherwise tell the user.

Create or change a skill

1. Draft the complete SKILL.md:

   ---
   name: pr-review
   description: Review a pull request against the team checklist. Use when asked to review, approve, or check a PR.
   ---
   
   # PR review
   
   1. ...
   

   • name: ASCII letters, digits, - and _, at most 64 characters. It becomes the directory name.
   • description: the only text semantic search indexes. Say what the skill does and when to use it, in the words a user would type.
   • Only name, description, allowed-tools, tags, and metadata survive in the frontmatter. Put anything else (version, author, ...) under metadata: or it is dropped.

2. Check the name on the target root with read(uris="<root>/<name>/SKILL.md"), where <root> is viking://~/skills, or viking://agent/skills when sharing. If it exists, add_skill replaces it without asking: show the user what would change and install only after they confirm, or pick another name.

3. add_skill(data="<the full SKILL.md text>"). It goes to the user's own skills unless target_uri says otherwise. The reply gives the new URI; the skill can be read at once and shows up in search a few seconds later.

To change a skill, read its SKILL.md, edit the text, and pass the whole new text to add_skill under the root the skill came from. For a shared skill that means target_uri="viking://agent/skills", and only after the user confirms an account-wide change; without it, add_skill creates a private copy that shadows the shared one. Do not use write or edit on skill files: they refuse the user's skills subtree and would bypass installation under the shared root. A reinstall does not delete helper files the new version dropped.

Install from a repository or a local folder

• Git: add_skill(path="https://github.com/org/repo"), or a .../tree/<branch>/<dir> URL for one directory. For a repository with several skills, call it with list_only=true first, then pass skills=["a", "b"]. Install from a source the user did not name only after asking them.
• Local folder or zip: add_skill(path="/abs/path/to/skill") returns a one-time upload URL. Every file in the archive is stored with the skill, so zip without VCS data and secrets: cd <parent> && rm -f /tmp/<name>.zip && zip -r /tmp/<name>.zip <name> -x '*/.git/*' '*/.env*' '*/node_modules/*' '*/.DS_Store', then curl -sS -F "file=@/tmp/<name>.zip" "<upload url>" and delete the archive. The response lists the installed URIs; nothing else to call. A skill that is only a SKILL.md can go through data= instead.
• ov CLI, when installed: ov skills add <path or URL> (-l lists, -s a,b selects, -p viking://agent/skills shares, -y skips the prompt).

Share with the account

Pass target_uri="viking://agent/skills" to add_skill. Do this only when the user asks for a team- or account-wide skill: everyone on the account sees it.

Delete a skill

Prefer ov skills remove <name> or OpenViking Studio; both also drop the skill's stored privacy values. forget(uri="<skill uri>", recursive=true) removes the directory but leaves those values behind, so use it only after the user confirms the exact URI.

To rename a skill, install it under the new name with add_skill and remove the old one. Moving or copying the directory does not rename it: the skill's own metadata still carries the old name.

Move local skills into OpenViking

Run this only when the user asks. Nothing is uploaded without their approval of that skill.

1. List candidates. Read each */SKILL.md under:

   • Claude Code: ~/.claude/skills/, <repo>/.claude/skills/
   • Codex: ~/.agents/skills/, <repo>/.agents/skills/
   • Cursor: ~/.cursor/skills/

2. Classify. A skill is environment-bound, stays local, and is never offered for upload when any of these holds:

   • a plugin or marketplace ships it (its real path contains /plugins/ or /marketplaces/), so the plugin reinstalls it on update;
   • the directory is a symlink or resolves outside the skills folder, the way CLI installers such as lark-cli link their own skills;
   • it needs a local binary, CLI, or service to work (for example metadata.<vendor>.requires.bins, or steps that run a vendor CLI);
   • its name carries a vendor prefix such as lark-, volcengine-, ve-, claude-, or mcp- (a hint, not proof: check the body);
   • it is openviking-skills or openviking-memory.

   For the rest, list the whole folder, hidden files included (find <dir> -type f), and check helper files as well as SKILL.md. Mark a skill "clean up first" when any file holds credentials, tokens, .env files, internal hostnames, or personal absolute paths. Also flag frontmatter keys other than name, description, allowed-tools, tags and metadata (for example disable-model-invocation, user-invocable, context, model): OpenViking drops them, which can change how the skill behaves. The rest are portable.

3. Confirm. Show a table of name, path, verdict, one-line reason, and target (viking://~/skills unless the user wants sharing). The user may flip any verdict. Upload only what they approve.

4. Upload. A skill that is only a SKILL.md goes through add_skill(data=...); a folder with helper files goes through the zip upload above, or ov skills add <dir> when the CLI is installed (ov skills validate <dir> first catches format errors). OpenViking requires name and description in the frontmatter; when a local skill lacks them, fix a copy in a temporary folder (the name is the folder name), never the user's own file.

5. Verify. tree(uri="viking://~/skills", level_limit=1, include_abstract=true) should list every uploaded name. Then remember which skills were migrated and which were skipped, so a later session does not ask again.

6. Keep the local copies unless the user asks to remove them; a local skill with the same name just takes precedence in that harness. Create new skills with add_skill from now on.

Boundaries

• Never upload environment-bound skills, and never delete the user's local skill files on your own.
• Never put credentials in a SKILL.md; the shared root is visible to the whole account.
• Memory search and writing are covered by the openviking-memory skill.
• If the server has no add_skill tool (an older OpenViking), use ov skills add when the CLI is installed; otherwise tell the user the server needs an upgrade. Do not fall back to write, edit, or add_resource: under the user's own root they are refused, and under viking://agent/skills a write lands as an ordinary file that never goes through installation.