External skills

External skills let netclaw read skill directories owned by other AI tools: Claude Code, Open Code, or any directory on disk. Point netclaw at an existing directory and it scans those skills alongside its own. No copying required.

External skills use the SKILL.md format with description in the frontmatter and a markdown body. See Skills overview for the format and where external skills rank.

Add a source

To add Claude Code’s skills:

netclaw skill source add claude-code --well-known claude-code

For any other directory, use --path:

netclaw skill source add team-skills --path /opt/skills/shared

Adding a source changes netclaw.json, so the daemon restarts itself in-process and picks up the new directory. You can also run netclaw config, open Skill Sources and choose + Add local folder to browse for one.

The directory has to exist. skill source add --path refuses a missing one with [FAIL] directory not found.

Well-known sources

An alias expands to a standard set of paths:

Alias	Reads
claude-code	~/.claude/skills/, ~/.claude/commands/, and ~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/*/skills/ for each marketplace folder that exists
open-code	~/.open-code/skills/

The claude-code alias reads marketplace folders in alphabetical order, so precedence stays stable. It works out the list of marketplace folders when the daemon starts. Install a new marketplace and you need to restart the daemon (any config change does it) before netclaw sees it. New skill files inside a folder netclaw already watches show up live.

The alias reads skills only. It doesn’t read Claude Code plugin commands, agents, hooks or MCP servers, and it skips ~/.claude/plugins/cache/. Flat .md files in ~/.claude/commands/ count as skills even without frontmatter. netclaw takes the name from the file name and the description from the first line.

Configuration

External sources live under ExternalSkills.Sources in netclaw.json:

{
  "ExternalSkills": {
    "Sources": [
      {
        "Name": "claude-code",
        "WellKnown": "claude-code",
        "Enabled": true,
        "AllowSymlinks": true
      },
      {
        "Name": "team-skills",
        "Path": "/opt/skills/shared",
        "Enabled": true,
        "AllowSymlinks": false
      }
    ]
  }
}

Field	Type	Default	Description
Name	string	-	Unique identifier for the source
Path	string	none	Absolute path to a skill directory. Set this or WellKnown, not both.
WellKnown	string	none	Well-known alias. Set this or Path, not both.
Enabled	bool	true	Whether the source is active
AllowSymlinks	bool	false	Follow symlinks inside the directory. skill source add --well-known sets it to true.

Manage sources from the CLI

netclaw skill source list                    # show configured sources
netclaw skill source disable team-skills     # keep it in config, stop scanning
netclaw skill source enable team-skills
netclaw skill source remove team-skills      # config entry only, files stay

These commands edit netclaw.json and don’t need the daemon. A running daemon restarts itself when the file changes. Skill servers aren’t managed here. See Skill feeds.

The Claude Code folder is the well-known source added with netclaw skill source add. In the Skill Sources screen, + Add local folder opens a directory picker (Ctrl+N makes a new folder) and + Add skill server connects a remote feed.

Precedence

system  >  native  >  server feeds  >  external

External sources always rank last. Within them, the order of the Sources array decides, so put the one you want to win first. A shadowed skill shows up as a DuplicateName issue in netclaw skill issues.

Live changes

The daemon watches every external path. When a *.md file changes, it rescans after a 500 ms pause, so several quick writes cause one rescan. A new skill file in an external directory is available to new sessions without a restart. A path that doesn’t exist at startup is logged and skipped.

Security

netclaw doesn’t scan external skills for prompt injection. Skill scanning is off for every tier, so point netclaw only at directories you trust.

• Symlinks are blocked unless the source sets AllowSymlinks: true. Well-known aliases get it automatically because their standard paths often include symlinks. A custom path defaults to false.
• allowed-tools is informational and grants nothing. Tool access follows the security model.
• Frontmatter has to parse and include a description. A skill without one is rejected with MissingDescription.

Validate a skill

netclaw skill validate /opt/skills/shared/deploy/SKILL.md
netclaw skill issues

validate applies the native rules: the frontmatter name must match the directory name, and symlinks aren’t followed. A skill that the daemon loads happily from an external source can still fail validate for either reason. netclaw skill issues scans the native and external sources and lists everything it rejected or shadowed.

Troubleshooting

A source shows 0 skills

• Symptom: netclaw skill list shows nothing from the source.
• Cause: The directory holds no SKILL.md directories or .md files with a description, or the source is disabled.
• Fix: Run netclaw skill source list, then netclaw skill issues. Missing description is the usual cause.

Symlink blocked

• Symptom: netclaw skill issues or the daemon log reports a blocked symlink.
• Cause: The source has AllowSymlinks: false and the directory contains links.
• Fix: Restructure the directory, or set AllowSymlinks: true if you trust where the links point.

Edits don’t show up

• Symptom: You changed a skill, but the agent still sees the old one.
• Cause: The daemon isn’t running, the source is disabled, or the session started before the change.
• Fix: Check netclaw status and netclaw skill source list, then start a new session.

Related pages

• Skills overview: format, tiers and precedence
• Skill feeds: skills from a skill server
• netclaw skill: the full command reference
• Slash commands: run any skill with /name

Resources

• AgentSkills.io: the SKILL.md format specification
• Claude Code documentation: Claude Code setup and its skill and plugin folders
• FileSystemWatcher: the .NET file watcher netclaw uses