aura skills

Manage skills available to the model and /skill command.

Syntax

aura skills add <source> [source...] [flags]
aura skills update [name...] [flags]
aura skills remove <name> [name...]

Description

Skills are packages rooted at SKILL.md with YAML frontmatter and optional bundled resources. The LLM invokes them via the Skill tool during a conversation, while users can invoke one with /skill <name>. The aura skills command manages installation, updates, and removal. Use aura show skills to list and inspect skills.

See Skills for details on writing skills.

Subcommands

Subcommand	Description
add <source> [source...]	Install skills from git URLs, local directories, or single .md files
update [name...]	Pull latest from git origin
remove <name> [name...]	Delete skill files or directories

Add Flags

Flag	Default	Description
--name	(derived)	Custom directory name for the skill
--ref	(default branch)	Git ref to checkout (tag, branch, or commit)
--subpath		Subdirectories within the source to use as skill root (repeatable)
--global	false	Install to ~/.aura/skills/ instead of local

Update Flags

Flag	Default	Description
--all	false	Update all git-sourced skills

Naming

The skill name defaults to the last path segment of the source URL, stripped of the aura-skill- prefix:

• github.com/user/aura-skill-commit → commit/
• github.com/user/git-skills → git-skills/

When a single --subpath is provided without --name, the name is derived from the subpath’s last segment:

• --subpath skills/commit → commit/

With multiple --subpath flags, the name falls back to URL-based derivation.

For single .md files, the name defaults to the filename without extension.

Override with --name (single source only — --name, --ref, and --subpath cannot be used with multiple sources).

Skill Format

my-skill/
├── SKILL.md
├── references/
│   └── details.md
└── scripts/
    └── helper.sh

---
name: my-skill
description: When and why the LLM should invoke this skill.
explicit: false
---

Instructions for the LLM to follow when this skill is invoked.
Read `{{ .Skill.Dir }}/references/details.md` when the additional detail is needed.

{{ .Skill.Dir }} resolves to the absolute directory containing SKILL.md. Aura substitutes only that reserved value; all other double-brace content remains literal.

Markdown resources beneath a package root are not loaded as skills. A repository can contain multiple skill packages by providing multiple SKILL.md files. Legacy standalone .md skills remain supported outside package roots.

explicit defaults to false. Set it to true to exclude the skill from the model-facing Skill tool while keeping it listed and available through /skill <name>.

Authentication

Same as aura plugins — see plugin authentication.

Examples

# List all skills
aura skills list

# Inspect a skill
aura skills show commit

# Install from git
aura skills add https://github.com/user/aura-skill-commit

# Install a skill pack (multiple SKILL.md packages in one repo)
aura skills add https://github.com/user/git-skills

# Install a single .md file
aura skills add ./my-skill.md

# Install from local directory
aura skills add ./path/to/skills --name my-skills

# Install globally
aura skills add https://github.com/user/aura-skill-commit --global

# Update a specific skill
aura skills update commit

# Update all git-sourced skills
aura skills update --all

# Remove a skill
aura skills remove commit