ask

README

ASK: Agent Skills Kit

One command. Every agent.

Install once — works with Claude, Cursor, Codex, Copilot, Windsurf, Gemini, OpenClaw, and 12 more.

English | 中文

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💡 Why ASK • 🚀 Quick Start • ✨ Features • 📋 Commands • 📚 Documentation

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💡 Why ASK

You find a great skill on Claude, but you also use Cursor. You set up rules in Cursor, but your teammate uses Copilot. You want to audit third-party skills, but there's no standard tool.

ASK solves this. One install, every agent stays in sync — with version locking, security scanning, and offline support built in.

$ ask install browser-use
✓ Installed browser-use
  Synced to: Claude   (.claude/skills/)
             Cursor   (.cursor/skills/)
             Codex    (.codex/skills/)

✨ Key Features

Feature	Description
🤖 19 Agents, One CLI	Install once, auto-sync to Claude, Cursor, Codex, Copilot, Windsurf, Gemini CLI, OpenClaw, and 12 more. No vendor lock-in.
📦 Version Locking	ask.lock pins exact commits for reproducible builds. ask lock-install for CI/CD like npm ci.
🛡️ Security Scanner	15+ built-in rules check for secrets, dangerous commands, and malware. SARIF output for GitHub Code Scanning.
🔍 Curated Registry	Search across the official registry, GitHub repos, and community sources.
⚡ Blazing Fast	Written in Go. Parallel downloads, sparse checkouts, and zero runtime dependencies.
🔌 Offline & Enterprise	Full offline mode, private repo support, source whitelists, and HTML audit reports.
🌎 Global & Local	Project-specific skills (.agent/skills) or user-wide tools (~/.ask/skills).
🖥️ Desktop & Web	Beautiful UI via ask serve web server or native desktop app via Wails.

🖥️ Web UI & Desktop App

ASK provides a beautiful web interface for skill discovery and management — available as a web server (ask serve) or a native desktop app.

Feature	Description
📊 Visual Dashboard	Overview of installed skills, repos, and system stats
🔍 Skill Browser	Search, filter, and install skills with rich metadata
📦 Repository Manager	Add and sync skill sources from GitHub
🛡️ Security Audit	View generated safety reports

Launch

# Web Server
ask serve

# Desktop App (requires Wails CLI)
wails build && ./build/bin/ask-desktop

📖 Explore the Web UI Documentation →

🚀 Quick Start

1. Install

Homebrew (macOS/Linux):

brew tap yeasy/tap
brew install yeasy/tap/ask              # CLI version
brew install --cask yeasy/tap/ask-desktop  # Desktop App (macOS only)

[!NOTE] macOS Users: When opening ask-desktop for the first time, if you see an "unidentified developer" warning, please go to System Settings > Privacy & Security, and click "Open Anyway" in the Security section.

Go Install:

go install github.com/yeasy/ask@latest

Source Install:

git clone https://github.com/yeasy/ask.git
cd ask
make build && mv ask /usr/local/bin/
make build-desktop  # Build Desktop App (requires Wails)

Binary / Manual Install (Windows / Linux / Desktop): Download the latest pre-compiled binary or Desktop App for your system from Releases.

2. Initialize

Enter your project directory and run:

ask init

This creates an ask.yaml configuration file.

3. Use

# Search for skills
ask search mcp

# Install a skill (by name or repo, `ask add` is an alias for `ask install`)
ask install anthropics/mcp-builder
ask install superpowers

# Install a skill from a root-level repository
ask install op7418/Youtube-clipper-skill

# Install specific version
ask install mcp-builder@v1.0.0

# Install for specific agent
ask install mcp-builder --agent claude
ask install mcp-builder --agent claude,cursor

# Security Check
ask check .
ask check anthropics/mcp-builder -o report.html

# Restore skills from ask.lock or ask.yaml (if no arguments provided)
ask install

# Start Web UI
ask serve

# Install skills from a specific repository
ask skill install --repo anthropics pdf
# Install all skills from a specific repository
ask skill install --repo anthropics

📋 Commands

Skill Management

Command	Description
ask skill search <keyword>	Search across all sources
ask skill install <name>	Install skill(s) (aliases: add, i)
ask skill list	List installed skills
ask skill uninstall <name>	Remove a skill
ask skill update	Update skills to latest version
ask skill outdated	Check for newer versions
ask skill info <name>	Show detailed skill information
ask skill check <path>	Security scan + SKILL.md format validation
ask skill score <path>	Compute trust score for a skill
ask skill test <path>	Run validation checks on a skill
ask skill prompt [paths]	Generate XML for agent system prompts
ask skill create <name>	Create a new skill from template
ask skill publish <path>	Validate and prepare skill for publishing

Repository Management

Command	Description
ask repo list	Show configured repositories
ask repo add <url>	Add a custom skill source (use --sync or run ask repo sync after to download)
ask repo remove <name>	Remove a repository
ask repo sync	Download/update repos to local cache (~/.ask/repos)

System Commands

Command	Description
ask doctor	Diagnose and report on ASK health (config, skills, cache, system)
ask serve	Start web UI for visual skill management
ask audit	Generate security audit report for installed skills
ask lock-install	Install exact versions from ask.lock (like npm ci)
ask init	Initialize ASK project configuration
ask benchmark	Run performance benchmarks on configured repos
ask quickstart	Install recommended skill packs
ask version	Show current version

🌐 Skill Sources

ASK comes pre-configured with trusted sources:

Source	Description
Featured	Curated registry yeasy/awesome-agent-skills
Anthropic	Official anthropics/skills
Composio	ComposioHQ/awesome-claude-skills collection
OpenAI	Official openai/skills
Vercel	vercel-labs/agent-skills AI SDK skills
OpenClaw	openclaw/openclaw Built-in skills from OpenClaw

Optional Repositories

For specific needs, you can add these additional sources:

Repository	Command to Add	Description
Community	ask repo add yeasy/awesome-agent-skills	Top-rated community skills (GitHub agent-skill topics)
Scientific	ask repo add K-Dense-AI/claude-scientific-skills	Data science & research skills
MATLAB	ask repo add matlab/skills	Official MATLAB integration
Superpowers	ask repo add obra/superpowers	Full dev workflow with sub-agents
Planning	ask repo add OthmanAdi/planning-with-files	File-based persistent planning
UI/UX Pro	ask repo add nextlevelbuilder/ui-ux-pro-max-skill	57 UI styles, 95 color schemes
NotebookLM	ask repo add PleasePrompto/notebooklm-skill	Auto-upload to NotebookLM
AI DrawIO	ask repo add GBSOSS/ai-drawio	Flowchart & diagram generation
PPT Skills	ask repo add op7418/NanoBanana-PPT-Skills	Dynamic PPT generation
Antigravity	ask repo add sickn33/antigravity-awesome-skills	Collection of 600+ skills for Claude Code & Cursor

🏗️ Architecture & Layout

For detailed architecture diagrams and installation layout, see Architecture Guide.

🐞 Debugging

To see detailed operational logs (scanning, updating, searching), use --log-level debug:

ask --log-level debug skill install browser-use

⌨️ Shell Completion

ASK supports intelligent tab completion for skill names, repository names, and agent flags.

Setup (one-time):

# Bash
ask completion bash > $(brew --prefix)/etc/bash_completion.d/ask

# Zsh
ask completion zsh > "${fpath[1]}/_ask"

# Fish
ask completion fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/ask.fish

Features:

• ask skill install <TAB> - Complete from cached skills
• ask skill uninstall <TAB> - Complete from installed skills
• ask repo sync <TAB> - Complete from configured repositories
• ask install --agent <TAB> - Complete agent names (claude, cursor, codex, etc.)

📊 Security Audit Reports

See detailed security audit reports generated for top skill repositories:

• 🛡️ Anthropic Security Audit Report
• 🛡️ OpenAI Security Audit Report
• 🛡️ Composio Security Audit Report
• 🛡️ Vercel Security Audit Report
• 🛡️ Superpowers Security Audit Report

🆚 Comparison

	ASK	Claude Native	Cursor Rules
Multi-agent support	✅ 19 agents	Claude only	Cursor only
Version locking	✅ ask.lock	❌	❌
Security scanning	✅ 15+ rules	❌	❌
Offline mode	✅	❌	❌
Team sharing	✅ lock file	❌	❌
Private repos / Enterprise	✅	❌	❌
CLI interface	✅	❌	❌
Curated registry	✅	❌	❌

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

📄 License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

Documentation

Overview

Package main is the entry point for the ask CLI.