gskill-install

Install GSKILL

GSKILL is a package manager for agent skills, shipped as one gskill binary. This skill gets a working gskill onto the machine, or confirms one is already there. It needs only a shell.

Work through the steps in order. Stop at the first one that settles the request.

1. Check for a working install

command -v gskill
gskill --json version

• Both work and version is 0.12.0 or newer (a leading v is fine): GSKILL is ready. Report the path and version and change nothing. Continue at step 7 only if the user asked for a different version, else at step 8.
• A version with a suffix, such as v0.12.1-0.20261112112558-afb0314d28b3+dirty, is a build from source. Treat it as working and say so.
• Not found: try the usual locations before installing anything: "$HOME/.local/bin/gskill" version, /usr/local/bin/gskill version, and, when go is installed, "$(go env GOPATH)/bin/gskill" version. If one works, it is installed but not on PATH; go to step 6.
• Older than 0.12.0: go to step 7.

2. Check the platform

uname -s
uname -m

GSKILL supports Linux and Darwin on x86_64, amd64, aarch64, or arm64. On anything else, stop and explain (see troubleshooting).

3. Choose a method

Use the method the user asked for. With no preference, use the install script: it needs only curl or wget, tar, and sha256sum or shasum, it verifies the checksum, and gskill self upgrade can update it later. Check what the machine has:

for t in curl wget tar sha256sum shasum brew go npm node docker podman; do command -v "$t"; done

Each method's command, version pin, and needs are in install methods. Use only those methods.

4. Ask before changing the machine

Tell the user the method, the version, and the install directory, then wait for approval. Ask again, separately, before using sudo and before editing a shell profile. Skip a question only when the request already answered it ("install GSKILL with Homebrew").

5. Install and verify

Run the chosen method's command. Then run the new binary by its absolute path:

"$HOME/.local/bin/gskill" version

Use the path the installer printed. Success means it prints a version. When the user asked for a version, confirm it matches; if it does not, say so.

6. Make it usable in this session

• If command -v gskill now finds it, nothing more is needed.
• Otherwise, run every later command in this session by the absolute path. Many agent shells start a fresh shell per command, so an export PATH=... does not carry over.
• Give the user the line for new shells, and edit their profile only if they agree: export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH" (with the real directory).

7. Upgrade or change version

Ask GSKILL how it was installed and what an upgrade would do. Nothing changes in a dry run:

gskill --json --dry-run self upgrade
gskill --json --dry-run self upgrade --to 0.12.0

Read channel, installed_version, target_version, outcome, and next_command:

• standalone (install script or release archive): after approval, run gskill --yes self upgrade, adding --to X.Y.Z for an exact version. Then run gskill version.
• homebrew, npm-global, npm-project, npx, npm, go, container: that tool owns the install. Show next_command and run it only after approval. Never install a second copy through another method.
• unknown: GSKILL could not tell which tool owns it, so next_command lists every tool's command. Show executable and ask which tool installed it.
• development: a build from source, which cannot upgrade itself (exit 1). Explain and stop.

Exit code 8 means GSKILL printed the upgrade command and changed nothing. self upgrade never downgrades; an older version means reinstalling with that method's exact-version form, after the user agrees. Releases 0.9.0 and earlier have no self upgrade: rerun the install method.

8. Install the usage skill

With GSKILL working, offer the official gskill skill so the user can manage skills by asking. For this project:

gskill add github.com/glapsfun/gskill/skills/gskill --ref v0.13.0 --agent claude

Replace claude with the user's agent: claude, codex, cursor, antigravity, opencode, openclaw, or hermes. Add --global to install it for every project instead. After a project install for hermes, the user runs hermes skills trust once.

Do not reinstall this skill (gskill-install) with GSKILL. It was copied in by hand, and GSKILL refuses to overwrite a folder it does not manage.

9. When something fails

Match the error in troubleshooting and give its next step. Do not retry with sudo or another method without asking.

Report

End with: the path and version of gskill, the method used (or "already installed"), and anything the user still has to do, such as the PATH line or hermes skills trust.