nuget-skills

A .NET CLI tool that discovers and loads AI coding skills bundled with NuGet packages. Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, Codex, Windsurf, Cline, and Goose.

Instead of copying skills into your repository, the tool reads them directly from the NuGet package cache or from the package's source repository on GitHub. Your AI agent gets library-specific guidance automatically.

Why does it matter?

When you ask an AI coding agent for help with a NuGet package, it has no structured way to access that library's conventions, patterns, or pitfalls. It falls back on training data that may be outdated or generic.

nuget-skills fixes this by creating a distribution channel for library-specific knowledge through NuGet itself. Package authors ship a skills/SKILL.md alongside their code, and AI agents discover and load it automatically. The result: your agent knows the right way to use Serilog, Polly, or MediatR — not just the API surface, but the conventions, gotchas, and patterns that matter.

For the .NET ecosystem, this is the equivalent of what npm-agentskills and vercel-labs/skills do for JavaScript — but designed to work with NuGet's package cache instead of copying files into your repo.

How it works

1. nuget-skills install installs a meta-skill and a session-start hook for your AI agent
2. When you start a session, the hook runs nuget-skills scan automatically
3. For each NuGet package, it checks two sources in order:
   • Local — skills/SKILL.md bundled inside the NuGet package
   • Remote — skills/SKILL.md in the package's GitHub repo (via gh CLI)
4. Your agent sees which packages have skills and loads them on demand with nuget-skills load

Quick start

# Install the tool
dotnet tool install -g nuget-skills

# Install globally for your agent(s)
nuget-skills install --agent claude
nuget-skills install --agent claude,cursor
nuget-skills install --agent all

# Verify your setup
nuget-skills doctor

That's it. Your AI agent will now discover NuGet package skills on session start.

Controlling which skills are loaded

By default, all discovered skills are surfaced. To pick which packages your project uses:

nuget-skills configure    # Interactive selection — saves to .nuget-skills.json

See nuget-skills configure for details.

Commands

nuget-skills install

Installs skills and session-start hooks for your AI coding agent(s). Installs globally (~/) by default.

nuget-skills install --agent claude            # Install for Claude Code
nuget-skills install --agent claude,cursor     # Multiple agents
nuget-skills install --agent all               # All supported agents
nuget-skills install --project-level           # Project-level (auto-detects agents)
nuget-skills install --no-remote               # Disable remote skill discovery

Global install requires --agent. Project-level install auto-detects agents from config directories (.claude/, .cursor/, etc.).

nuget-skills scan

Scans all NuGet packages in your project for available skills.

nuget-skills scan                    # Human-readable output
nuget-skills scan --json             # Machine-readable JSON
nuget-skills scan --project path.sln # Specific solution/project
nuget-skills scan --refresh          # Bypass cache, re-check remote repos

Output:

Scanning MyProject.sln...
Found 2 package(s) with skills (of 47 total):

  Contoso.Logging  3.1.1   [local]   Structured logging patterns
  Contoso.Http     2.0.0   [remote]  HTTP client best practices (github.com/contoso/http @ v2.0.0)

Use 'nuget-skills load <package>' to view a skill.

Skills are discovered from two sources:

• [local] — skills/SKILL.md bundled in the NuGet package
• [remote] — skills/SKILL.md found in the package's GitHub repo (requires gh CLI)

nuget-skills configure

Configures which package skills to load for this project. Creates a .nuget-skills.json file in the project root. Without this file, all discovered skills are shown. With it, only whitelisted packages appear in scan results.

nuget-skills configure                   # Interactive selection
nuget-skills configure --list            # Show current configuration
nuget-skills configure --add Contoso.Logging   # Add a package (non-interactive)
nuget-skills configure --remove Contoso.Http   # Remove a package (non-interactive)
nuget-skills configure --reset           # Remove config file (show all skills)

Interactive mode scans the project, then presents a toggle list:

  [x]  1. Contoso.Logging    (local)   Structured logging patterns
  [ ]  2. Contoso.Http       (remote)  HTTP client best practices
  [x]  3. Contoso.Messaging  (local)   Message bus patterns

  Toggle: enter number(s) separated by spaces
  Commands: [a]ll  [n]one  [s]ave  [q]uit
>

The config file is meant to be committed to your repository:

{
  "packages": [
    "Contoso.Logging",
    "Contoso.Messaging"
  ]
}

nuget-skills load <package>

Outputs the full skill content for a package. This command is not affected by the project configuration — you can always load any package's skill explicitly.

nuget-skills load Contoso.Logging                  # Auto-detect version from project
nuget-skills load Contoso.Logging --version 3.1.1  # Specific version

nuget-skills info <package>

Outputs package metadata as JSON (repository URL, description, skill status).

nuget-skills info Generator.Equals

{
  "id": "Generator.Equals",
  "version": "4.0.0",
  "description": "A source generator for generating Equals and GetHashCode methods",
  "repositoryUrl": "https://github.com/diegofrata/Generator.Equals",
  "hasSkills": true,
  "cachePath": "/Users/you/.nuget/packages/generator.equals/4.0.0"
}

nuget-skills doctor

Validates your setup.

  ✓  dotnet CLI       10.0.100
  ✓  gh CLI           gh version 2.79.0
                      authenticated as yourusername
  ✓  NuGet cache      /Users/you/.nuget/packages/
  ✓  Skills cache     /Users/you/Library/Application Support/nuget-skills/cache (12 entries)

  Settings:
    Remote scan:     enabled
    Config:          /Users/you/Library/Application Support/nuget-skills/settings.json

  Project config:
    Packages:        2 configured (Contoso.Logging, Contoso.Messaging)
    Config file:     /Users/you/myproject/.nuget-skills.json

Supported agents

Agent	Skills format	Hooks	Detection
Claude Code	.claude/skills/ SKILL.md	.claude/settings.json SessionStart	.claude/ dir
Cursor	.cursor/rules/ .mdc	.cursor/hooks.json sessionStart	.cursor/ dir
GitHub Copilot	.github/instructions/ .md	.github/hooks/ SessionStart	.github/copilot-instructions.md
Codex / Amp	.agents/skills/ SKILL.md	—	.codex/ or .agents/ dir
Windsurf	.windsurf/skills/ SKILL.md	—	.windsurf/ dir
Cline	.cline/skills/ SKILL.md	—	.cline/ dir
Goose	.goose/skills/ SKILL.md	—	.goose/ dir or .goosehints

Agents with hooks get automatic scanning on session start. Agents without hooks rely on the meta-skill instructing the agent to run nuget-skills scan manually.

For package authors

Ship skills with your NuGet package so AI agents can use them.

1. Create a skill

Add a skills/SKILL.md to your project:

---
name: your-package
description: One-line summary of what this skill teaches
---

# Your Package

## Best Practices

- Do this, not that
- Configuration examples
- Common pitfalls

## Examples

```csharp
// Practical code examples
```

A package can include multiple skill files:

skills/
  SKILL.md              # Main skill
  CONFIGURATION.md      # Configuration guide
  MIGRATION.md          # Migration guide

Multi-package repositories

If your repository produces multiple NuGet packages but a skill only applies to some of them, use the packages frontmatter field:

---
name: contoso-http
description: HTTP client patterns
packages: Contoso.Http*, Contoso.Core
---

Each entry is a glob pattern (* wildcard) matched case-insensitively against package IDs. Omitting the field means the skill applies to all packages from the repository.

2. Include in your package

Add this to your .csproj (or .fsproj / .vbproj):

<ItemGroup>
  <None Include="skills/**" Pack="true" PackagePath="skills/" />
</ItemGroup>

That's it. When users install your package, the skill is available immediately via nuget-skills scan.

What makes a good skill

• Actionable over informational — tell the agent what to DO, not what the library IS
• Conventions and gotchas — what's not obvious from the API alone
• Code over prose — show patterns, don't just describe them
• Concise — agents have limited context; every line should earn its place

Using the builder skill

Ask your AI agent: "Build me a skill for Serilog"

The built-in builder skill teaches the agent to research a package's docs, issues, and wiki, then generate a well-structured SKILL.md.

Remote skill discovery

For packages that don't ship skills yet, the tool checks the package's source repository on GitHub for a skills/SKILL.md. This requires the gh CLI:

# Install gh: https://cli.github.com
gh auth login

The tool matches the installed package version to a git tag (handling v1.0.0, release/1.0.0, PackageName.1.0.0 formats) and checks for skills at that tag, falling back to the default branch.

Remote results are cached per package version at:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/nuget-skills/cache/
• Linux: ~/.local/share/nuget-skills/cache/
• Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\nuget-skills\cache\

Use nuget-skills scan --refresh to bypass the cache.

Configuration

Global settings

Global settings are stored alongside the cache. The file is only created when you explicitly opt out of features:

nuget-skills install --no-remote    # Disables remote scan

Or edit directly:

{
  "enableRemoteScan": true
}

Project configuration

Per-project configuration is stored in .nuget-skills.json in the project root. This file controls which packages' skills are surfaced by scan. See nuget-skills configure for details.

Without a config file, all discovered skills are shown. With one, only listed packages appear in scan results. The load command is unaffected — you can always load any package's skill explicitly.

Project types

Supports all .NET project types:

• .slnx (default in .NET 10)
• .sln
• .csproj, .fsproj, .vbproj