doctor

Check environment and diagnose issues with your skillshare setup.

skillshare doctor
skillshare doctor -p        # Project mode (.skillshare/config.yaml)
skillshare doctor -g        # Force global mode
skillshare doctor --json    # Structured JSON output for CI

skillshare doctor

Environment
✓ Config       ~/.config/skillshare/config.yaml
  Config dir   ~/.config/skillshare
  Data         ~/.local/share/skillshare
  State        ~/.local/state/skillshare
✓ Source       ~/.config/skillshare/skills · 43 skills
✓ Agents       ~/.config/skillshare/agents · 2 agents
  Skillignore  not configured
✓ Links        supported
! Git          not initialized (recommended for backup)
✓ Integrity    27/27 skills verified

Targets
✓ claude    skills  merged · merge · 43 shared
✓           agents  synced · merge · 2/2 linked
✓ cursor    skills  merged · merge · 43 shared, 1 local
✓           agents  synced · merge · 2/2 linked
✓ gemini    skills  merged · merge · 43 shared
…
! gemini will see content from: universal
  ~/.agents/skills ← universal
  suggestion: …
…
✗ claude: 1 broken symlink: frontend__css-review
…

Extras
✓ rules     2 files · 2/2 targets OK
✓ commands  1 file · 1/1 targets OK
✓ team      1 file · 4/4 targets OK

Storage
  Backups      last 2026-09-28_12-41-50 · 10m ago
  Trash        1 item, 247 B · oldest under a day

✗ 6 errors, 4 warnings · 1.2s

Next
  skillshare sync  bring the targets up to date

When to Use

• Something isn't working and you don't know why
• After upgrading skillshare or your OS
• Verify all targets, git, and symlinks are healthy
• First diagnostic step before filing a bug report

What It Checks

skillshare doctor

Environment
✓ Config       ~/.config/skillshare/config.yaml
  Config dir   ~/.config/skillshare
  Data         ~/.local/share/skillshare
  State        ~/.local/state/skillshare
✓ Source       ~/.config/skillshare/skills · 12 skills
✓ Agents       ~/.config/skillshare/agents · 8 agents
✓ Skillignore  2 patterns, 1 skill ignored
✓ Links        supported
✓ Git          initialized with remote
✓ Integrity    12/12 skills verified

Targets
✓ claude    skills  merged · merge · 8 shared, 2 local
✓           agents  synced · merge · 8/8 linked
✓ codex     skills  merged · merge · 8 shared
✓ cursor    skills  copied · copy · 8 managed
✓           agents  synced · merge · 8/8 linked

Extras
✓ commands  3 files · 1/1 targets OK
✓ rules     4 files · 1/1 targets OK

MCP, hooks and plugins
✓ MCP          all 2 servers OK
✓ Hooks        all 1 hook in sync
  Plugins      none configured

Storage
  Backups      last 2026-01-18_09-00-00 · 3d ago
  Trash        empty

Version
✓ CLI          0.23.5
✓ Skill        0.23.5

✓ All checks passed · 0.4s

Checks Performed

Environment

Check	What It Verifies
Config	Config file exists and is valid
Source	Source directory exists and is readable
Agents	Agents source directory exists (if configured)
Skillignore	.skillignore (and .skillignore.local) active patterns and ignored skill count
Source link	One line per first-level symlink or Windows junction in the skills source. With follow_source_links off (the default): info, not followed by discovery; its contents are invisible to skillshare. Set follow_source_links: true to follow it. With it on: info followed as a directory (follow_source_links), or a warning not followed: <reason> (target missing, the source root or a parent, or a sync target overlap)
Links	System can create symlinks
Git	Repository status and remote configuration

Source-link checks apply in both global and project mode. The source root is resolved as in discovery; only its first-level entries are checked. No source-link output is added when there are none. Each link also appears as an undeclared_source_links check in doctor --json, with status info, or warning for a link the policy skipped.

Targets

Each target shows sub-items for skills and agents (when agents are configured):

• Skills: path, sync mode, sync state, shared/local counts
• Agents: sync mode, linked count, drift detection. On Windows without Developer Mode, merge shows as copy; up-to-date managed copies count as linked. Identical local files that skillshare does not own are preserved. In copy fallback, agent counts show them separately as local preserved, for example 0/1 linked, 1 local preserved.
• No broken symlinks
• Duplicate-skill checks for unintended local collisions:
  • merge mode: skipped (local skills are expected)
  • copy mode: manifest-managed copies are ignored; only local colliding copies are warned
• Valid include/exclude glob patterns
• Info-level per-target compatibility hint when applicable (example target priority: cursor → antigravity → copilot → opencode; no hint when these targets are absent)

Path Overlap

Doctor flags two classes of duplicate-skill risk before they reach the runtime picker:

shared_target_paths — fires when two or more enabled targets resolve to the same primary path. Common cause: enabling both universal and a tool that writes to ~/.agents/skills (e.g. warp, witsy).

! Shared path ~/.agents/skills ← universal, warp

Resolution: disable one of the overlapping targets, or set a distinct path with skillshare target <name> --path <dir>.

When the targets sharing a path have different include or exclude filters, each sync adds what one target wants and prunes what another filters out, so the folder never settles and sync keeps showing the same pending changes. Doctor marks these and suggests turning skills off for all but one target (universal when it is one of them) instead of removing a target:

! Shared path ~/.agents/skills ← codex, universal (different filters, so they undo each other on every sync)
  suggestion: Keep universal syncing skills to ~/.agents/skills and stop the rest with `skillshare target codex --skills=false`.

sync prints the same targets with the command to run, and the dashboard's Sync page has a button that stops syncing skills for the target to drop. Targets sharing a path with identical settings keep the resolution above.

cross_target_discovery — fires when an enabled target's runtime is documented to also scan a directory another enabled target writes to. For example, a config left over from an older setup still points codex at the legacy ~/.codex/skills, while universal writes to ~/.agents/skills — which Codex also reads. Enabling both makes Codex see universal's content on top of its own.

! codex will see content from: universal
  ~/.agents/skills ← universal

Resolution: start by removing the scanning target (codex above). Its runtime already reads the shared directory, and no other tool is affected. Preview with skillshare target remove codex --dry-run. Removing the writer (universal) instead also hides those skills from every other tool that reads ~/.agents/skills. Keep both targets only if the scanning target carries skills the writer filters out, and accept the duplicate listings in the runtime picker.

OpenCode keeps one skill per name across ~/.claude/skills, ~/.agents/skills, and its own folder, so a skill synced from the source to both folders loads once. For opencode, the check only warns about skills it loads from another target's folder that are missing from OpenCode's own folder, and names them. A skill can be missing because sync leaves it out (through targets:, include/exclude, or a target_naming: standard skip) or because you keep it by hand in the other folder:

! opencode loads 1 skill missing from its own folder, from: claude
  ~/.claude/skills ← claude: claude-only

When a writer such as claude uses symlink mode and opencode does not, its folder is the source itself, so the check cannot tell which skills OpenCode receives there and shows the general warning.

Resolution: sync those skills to opencode too, or set OPENCODE_DISABLE_CLAUDE_CODE_SKILLS=1 (or OPENCODE_DISABLE_EXTERNAL_SKILLS=1, which also skips .agents/skills) where OpenCode runs. skillshare only sees its own environment: when the variable is also set where you run skillshare, doctor, sync, and the dashboard treat that folder as skipped, and doctor notes it:

opencode skips ~/.claude/skills: OPENCODE_DISABLE_CLAUDE_CODE_SKILLS is set in this environment

If OpenCode starts with a different environment, for example from a desktop launcher, set the variable there as well.

shared_target_paths reads configured paths only. cross_target_discovery also reads the built-in also_scans table, and for opencode the skills each target receives.

Version

• CLI version
• skillshare skill version, with a warning when a newer skill is published (skillshare upgrade --skill)
• Checks for available updates

Skill Integrity

For installed skills with file hash metadata, doctor verifies that no files have been tampered with since installation:

• Compares current SHA-256 hashes against stored hashes
• Reports modified, missing, and added files per skill
• Local skills (not in .metadata.json) are silently skipped — this is expected
• Installed skills with metadata but missing file_hashes are flagged with their names

! Integrity    5/6 skills verified
!              _team-repo__api-helper: 1 modified, 1 missing
!              1 skill missing file hashes: _old-repo__legacy-skill

Extras

When extras are configured, verifies:

• Each extra's settings are valid (mode, flatten, as) and no two extras claim the same file
• Source directory exists for each extra
• Target directories are reachable
• Broken symlinks in each directory target (error)
• Files that differ from the source, as skillshare diff reports them (warning). Targets with flatten or extension are not compared.

✗ rules     → ~/.claude/rules: broken symlink gone.md
!           → ~/.claude/rules: 1 file out of sync (a.md missing in target)

MCP

Runs the static part of mcp check: referenced environment variables are set, command resolves on PATH, client rules accept the server, and every entry is synced. Doctor does not resolve hosts or start servers; run skillshare mcp check or skillshare mcp check --live for that. Shows info when no server is configured.

✗ MCP          docs: command no-such-mcp-binary was not found on PATH
!              docs → claude: not synced yet; run skillshare sync mcp

Hooks

Previews skillshare sync hooks without writing. A failed preview is an error. Entries that sync would still add, update or remove, conflicts with native hooks, and advisory warnings (such as an event name the Agent does not document) are warnings. Shows info when no hook is configured.

! Hooks        bash-log → claude: not synced (add)

Plugins

Previews skillshare sync plugins without fetching any source. Doctor only asks each bound Agent's native CLI what is installed, and only when a plugin package exists. Blocked bindings (for example, the Agent's CLI is not installed) and bindings that still need a sync are warnings. Checking a source for new releases stays in skillshare plugin check. Shows info when no package is configured.

Other

• Skills without SKILL.md files
• Skill-level targets: field validation (warns on unknown target names)
• Last backup timestamp (global mode)
• Trash status (item count, total size, oldest item age)
• Broken symlinks in targets. Target links behind a source link whose target is unavailable (an unmounted drive) are reported separately as a warning, N links behind an unavailable source link, kept until it is back, with no prune suggestion: sync keeps them on purpose, and the broken_symlinks check is warning instead of error in doctor --json.

Project Mode

When a project has .skillshare/config.yaml, skillshare doctor auto-runs in project mode.

In project mode:

• Config/source checks use .skillshare/config.yaml and .skillshare/skills
• Trash status uses .skillshare/trash
• Backups show not used in project mode

Common Issues

"Needs sync"

Target mode was changed but not applied:

skillshare sync

"Not synced"

Target has fewer linked skills than source (e.g. after installing new skills):

skillshare sync

"Has uncommitted changes"

Tracked repo has local changes:

cd ~/.config/skillshare/skills/_team-repo
git status
# Commit or discard changes

"Broken symlink"

A skill was removed from source but symlink remains:

skillshare sync  # Will prune orphaned symlinks

If the line says behind an unavailable source link, kept until it is back instead, the skill lives behind a followed source link whose target is away. Nothing to prune: mount the drive or restore the checkout and run skillshare sync.

"Skills without SKILL.md"

Skill folders missing required file:

# Add SKILL.md to each skill, or remove the folder
skillshare new my-skill  # Creates proper structure

"Link not supported"

doctor links a test folder inside the system temp directory (%TEMP% on Windows, $TMPDIR or /tmp elsewhere). On Windows that link is an NTFS junction, which needs neither Administrator nor Developer Mode, so turning on Developer Mode does not fix this error. The junction error: line in the message shows why Windows refused. Check that the temp directory:

1. Is on a local NTFS drive, not FAT32, exFAT, or a network share (junctions only work on NTFS)
2. Is writable by your account, and not blocked by antivirus or security software

This check does not test file links. Without Developer Mode, agents and extras that link single files are copied instead; see Windows troubleshooting.

Example Output with Issues

Environment
✓ Config       ~/.config/skillshare/config.yaml
✓ Source       ~/.config/skillshare/skills · 12 skills
✓ Agents       ~/.config/skillshare/agents · 8 agents
✓ Links        supported
! Git          3 uncommitted changes
! Integrity    5/6 skills verified
!              _team-repo__api-helper: 1 modified
! Skills without SKILL.md: test-dir, temp

Targets
✓ claude    skills  merged · merge · 8 shared, 2 local
✓           agents  synced · merge · 8/8 linked
! codex     skills  linked · merge · needs sync
✓ cursor    skills  merged · merge · 6 shared
! claude    1 skill not synced · 2/3 linked
✗ cursor: 2 broken symlinks: old-skill, removed-skill

Storage
  Backups      last 2026-01-18_09-00-00 · 3d ago
  Trash        2 items, 45.2 KB · oldest 3 days

Version
✓ CLI          1.2.0
✓ Skill        0.16.0
  Update       v1.2.0 → v1.3.0 available

✗ 1 error, 5 warnings · 0.6s

Next
  skillshare sync          bring the targets up to date
  brew upgrade skillshare  update to v1.3.0

JSON Output

Use --json for machine-readable output in CI pipelines and automation:

skillshare doctor --json

{
  "checks": [
    { "name": "source", "status": "pass", "message": "Source: ~/.config/skillshare/skills (12 skills)" },
    { "name": "skillignore", "status": "pass", "message": ".skillignore: 3 patterns, 2 skills ignored", "details": ["test-*", "vendor/", "!important", "---", "test-draft", "vendor/lib"] },
    { "name": "sync_drift", "status": "warning", "message": "claude: 1 skill(s) not synced (7/8 linked)", "details": ["new-skill"] },
    { "name": "shared_target_paths", "status": "warning", "message": "1 shared target path(s) — enabled targets writing to the same directory may produce duplicate skills in runtime pickers", "details": ["~/.agents/skills ← universal, warp"], "suggestions": ["Choose one authoritative target for ~/.agents/skills; preview removing duplicate targets with `skillshare target remove <name> --global --dry-run` (currently: universal, warp)."] },
    { "name": "broken_symlinks", "status": "error", "message": "cursor: 1 broken symlink(s)", "details": ["old-skill"] }
  ],
  "summary": { "total": 14, "pass": 12, "warnings": 1, "errors": 1, "info": 0 },
  "version": { "current": "0.17.4", "latest": "0.18.0", "update_available": true }
}

Check statuses: pass, warning, error, info. The info status is used for informational checks (e.g., .skillignore not found) that are neither passing nor failing. Info checks count toward total but not toward pass, warnings, or errors.

Some warning checks (e.g. shared_target_paths, cross_target_discovery) also include an optional suggestions array with actionable remediation steps. The field is omitted when there is nothing to suggest.

Exit Codes

Condition	Exit Code
All checks pass (or warnings only)	0
Any check has error status	1

CI Example

# Fail pipeline if doctor finds errors
skillshare doctor --json | jq -e '.summary.errors == 0'

# Extract warnings for notification
skillshare doctor --json | jq '[.checks[] | select(.status == "warning")]'

Web Dashboard

The Health Check page in the web dashboard (skillshare ui) provides a visual version of doctor --json with filter toggles and expandable details.

See Also

• status — Quick status check
• sync — Fix sync issues
• upgrade — Update CLI and skill