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SkillMeat Quickstart Guide

Get started with SkillMeat in 5 minutes. This guide covers the essentials to create your first collection and deploy artifacts.

This guide uses zero-auth local mode — the default with no authentication required. For team or production deployments, see Authentication Setup and Server Setup after completing this quickstart.

Installation

pip install skillmeat

Via uv (Fast)

uv tool install skillmeat

Via pipx

pipx install skillmeat

Using a virtual environment avoids permission issues and keeps your system Python clean:

python3 -m venv ~/.skillmeat-venv
source ~/.skillmeat-venv/bin/activate
pip install skillmeat

Add activation to your shell profile to persist across sessions:

echo 'source ~/.skillmeat-venv/bin/activate' >> ~/.bashrc  # or ~/.zshrc

From Source (Development)

git clone https://github.com/miethe/skillmeat.git
cd skillmeat
pip install -e ".[dev]"

First Steps

1. Initialize Your Collection

Create a default collection to store your Claude artifacts:

skillmeat init

This creates ~/.skillmeat/collections/default/ with an empty collection.

Output: 

Collection 'default' initialized
  Location: /home/user/.skillmeat/collections/default
  Artifacts: 0

2. Add Your First Artifact

Add a skill from GitHub using the add skill subcommand:

skillmeat add skill anthropics/skills/canvas

You'll be prompted with a security warning. Review and confirm to proceed.

Output: 

Fetching from GitHub: anthropics/skills/canvas...
Added skill: canvas

3. View Your Collection

List all artifacts in your collection:

skillmeat list

Output: 

Artifacts (1)
┌────────┬────────┬────────┐
│ Name   │ Type   │ Origin │
├────────┼────────┼────────┤
│ canvas │ skill  │ github │
└────────┴────────┴────────┘

4. Deploy to a Project

Deploy artifacts to your current project:

cd /path/to/your/project
skillmeat deploy canvas

Output: 

Deploying 1 artifact(s)...
Deployed 1 artifact(s)
  canvas -> .claude/skills/canvas/

The artifact is now available in your project's .claude/ directory!

Common Workflows

Add from Local Path

Add a custom artifact you've created:

skillmeat add skill ./my-custom-skill

Add Multiple Artifacts

skillmeat add skill anthropics/skills/python
skillmeat add command user/repo/commands/review
skillmeat add agent user/repo/agents/code-reviewer

Note: Use the skill, command, and agent subcommands to specify artifact type.

Deploy Multiple Artifacts

skillmeat deploy canvas python review

Check for Updates

skillmeat status

Create a Backup

Before making changes, create a snapshot:

skillmeat snapshot "Before cleanup"

Next Steps

Configuration

Set GitHub Token (for private repos)

skillmeat config set github-token ghp_your_token_here

Set Default Collection

skillmeat config set default-collection work

View All Settings

skillmeat config list

Directory Structure

After following this quickstart, you'll have:

~/.skillmeat/
├── config.toml              # Global configuration
└── collections/
    └── default/
        ├── collection.toml  # Collection manifest
        ├── collection.lock  # Version lock file
        ├── skills/
        │   └── canvas/      # Installed skill
        │       └── SKILL.md
        ├── commands/        # Command artifacts (if added)
        └── agents/          # Agent artifacts (if added)

/path/to/your/project/
└── .claude/
    ├── .skillmeat-deployed.toml  # Deployment tracking
    └── skills/
        └── canvas/               # Deployed skill
            └── SKILL.md

Collections organize artifacts by type into separate directories (skills, commands, agents).

Getting Help

  • View command help: skillmeat --help
  • View specific command help: skillmeat deploy --help
  • Check version: skillmeat --version

Troubleshooting

Collection already exists

# List collections
skillmeat collection list

# Use existing collection
skillmeat collection use default

GitHub rate limits

Set a GitHub token to increase rate limits:

skillmeat config set github-token ghp_your_token

Artifact not found

Make sure you're using the correct GitHub path format:

username/repo/path/to/artifact[@version]

Examples: - anthropics/skills/canvas (latest) - user/repo/skill@v1.0.0 (specific version) - user/repo/path/to/skill@abc123 (specific commit)

Web Interface (Optional)

Manage your collection visually with the web UI.

Prerequisites: Node.js 18+ must be installed on the system.

# Install frontend dependencies (first time only)
WEB_DIR=$(python -c "from pathlib import Path; import skillmeat; print(Path(skillmeat.__file__).parent / 'web')")
cd "$WEB_DIR" && npx pnpm@8.15.0 install --frozen-lockfile && cd -

# Start both servers
skillmeat web dev

This starts both the FastAPI backend and Next.js frontend on:

  • Frontend: http://localhost:3000
  • Backend API: http://localhost:8080

For more options (custom ports, hosts, etc.), see the CLI Reference.

Other web commands:

  • skillmeat web build - Build for production
  • skillmeat web start - Start production servers
  • skillmeat web doctor - Diagnose environment issues

What's Next?

You now know how to: - Initialize a collection - Add artifacts from GitHub and local paths - Deploy artifacts to projects - View and manage your collection - Create snapshots for backup - Access the web UI for visual management

Continue Learning