CoWork Guide

Complete reference for the CoWork Skills CLI tool

Overview

CoWork Skills (cowork / co) is a CLI tool for managing Claude Code skills and plugins:

Install skills from GitHub repositories
Generate skills from source code (Rust, TypeScript, Python)
Manage project-level skill configuration via Skills.toml
Search GitHub for skill repositories

Installation

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/anthropics/cowork-skills
cd cowork-skills/cli
cargo install --path .

# Initialize built-in skills
cowork init

Commands Overview

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | cowork init | Install built-in skills to ~/.claude/skills/ | | cowork install | Install skills from GitHub or local path | | cowork generate | Generate skills from a GitHub repository | | cowork search | Search GitHub for skill repositories | | cowork plugins | Manage Claude Code marketplace plugins | | cowork config | Manage project-level skill configuration | | cowork list | List all available skills | | cowork status | Show current configuration | | cowork doctor | Check for configuration issues | | cowork test | Generate trigger tests for skills |

Use co as a short alias for cowork.

cowork init

Initialize built-in skills to ~/.claude/skills/.

# Install all built-in skills
cowork init

# List available built-in skills
cowork init --list

# Install specific skills only
cowork init -s memory-filesystem

# Force overwrite existing
cowork init --force

Built-in Skills:

memory-filesystem - CoALA-based memory system (remember, recall, reflect)

cowork install

Install skills from GitHub or local repositories.

Basic Usage

# Install from GitHub (user/repo format)
cowork install ZhangHanDong/rust-skills

# Install from full URL
cowork install https://github.com/user/repo

# Install current project to global
cowork install

# List installed repositories
cowork install --list

Installation Options

# Install specific skills only
cowork install user/repo -s skill1 -s skill2

# Install to specific agents
cowork install user/repo -a claude-code -a cursor

# Install as plugin (preserves full repo structure)
cowork install user/repo --plugin

# Install to project local (.claude/skills/)
cowork install user/repo --local

# Force reinstall
cowork install user/repo --reinstall

# Update to latest version
cowork install user/repo --update

# Skip confirmation prompts
cowork install user/repo -y

Uninstall

cowork install --uninstall repo-name

Supported Agents

Install skills to 16+ coding agents:

| Agent | Flag | |-------|------| | Claude Code | --agent claude-code | | Cursor | --agent cursor | | Codex | --agent codex | | GitHub Copilot | --agent github-copilot | | Windsurf | --agent windsurf | | Goose | --agent goose | | Kiro | --agent kiro-cli | | Amp | --agent amp | | ... | See cowork install --help |

cowork config

Manage project-level skill configuration via Skills.toml.

Initialize Configuration

# Initialize with auto-detection of installed plugins/skills
cowork config init

# Skip auto-detection
cowork config init --no-detect

# Force overwrite existing
cowork config init --force

Auto-detection scans:

~/.claude/ for global plugins
~/.claude/skills/ for global skills
.claude/ for project plugins
.claude/skills/ for project skills

View Configuration

# Show current config
cowork config show

# List available skill groups
cowork config groups

Add Dependencies

# Add from GitHub (global)
cowork config add rust-skills ZhangHanDong/rust-skills

# Add to project local
cowork config add my-skills user/skills --local

# Add specific skills
cowork config add tokio user/tokio-skills -s tokio-runtime -s tokio-sync

# Add as plugin
cowork config add makepad user/makepad-skills --plugin

# Add as disabled
cowork config add old-lib user/old --disabled

# Add with git ref
cowork config add pinned user/repo --ref v1.0.0

# Add development link (symlink for testing)
cowork config add dora-dev /path/to/dora-skills --dev

Install Dependencies

# Install all dependencies from Skills.toml
cowork config install

Sync Configuration

# Sync enabled/disabled status with lock file
cowork config sync

# Also update remote repos (git pull)
cowork config sync --update

Enable/Disable

# Enable skill groups
cowork config enable rust-core makepad

# Enable individual skills
cowork config enable memory-filesystem

# Disable skills or groups
cowork config disable rust-domains

Trigger Configuration

# Set priority order
cowork config priority dora-router rust-router makepad-router

# Override specific trigger
cowork config override "async" rust-router
cowork config override "widget" makepad-router

Generate Output

# Generate SKILLS.md from config
cowork config apply

# Generate to custom path
cowork config apply -o ./docs/SKILLS.md

# Generate dynamic router based on installed plugins
cowork config router

# Generate router with hooks for auto-triggering
cowork config router --hooks

Skills.toml

Project-level configuration file stored at .cowork/Skills.toml.

Basic Structure

[project]
name = "my-project"
description = "Project description"

[skills.global]
enabled = ["memory-filesystem"]
disabled = []

[skills.install]
rust-skills = "ZhangHanDong/rust-skills"

[skills.groups]
enabled = ["rust-core"]
disabled = []

[triggers]
priority = ["dora-router", "rust-router"]

[triggers.overrides]
"async" = "rust-router"

Dependency Forms

Simple form:

[skills.install]
rust-skills = "ZhangHanDong/rust-skills"

Detailed form:

[skills.install]
tokio = { repo = "user/tokio-skills", skills = ["tokio-runtime", "tokio-sync"] }
local = { path = "../my-local-skills" }
pinned = { repo = "user/repo", ref = "v1.0.0" }
makepad = { repo = "user/makepad-skills", plugin = true }
my-project = { repo = "user/skills", local = true }
old-lib = { repo = "user/old", enabled = false }

Dev Links

Development symlinks for testing local skills:

[skills.dev]
my-skill = "/path/to/my-skill-project"
dora-dev = { path = "/path/to/dora-skills" }
dora-plugin = { path = "/path/to/dora-skills", plugin = true }

Skill Groups

| Group | Skills | Description | |-------|--------|-------------| | rust-core | 8 | Basic Rust (ownership, concurrency, error handling) | | rust-patterns | 7 | Design patterns (domain modeling, performance) | | rust-domains | 7 | Domain-specific (web, CLI, fintech, embedded) | | makepad | 11 | Makepad UI framework | | dora | 8 | Dora-rs robotics framework | | dora-hubs | 9 | Dora hub integrations |

cowork generate

Generate skills from source code of any GitHub repository.

# Generate from GitHub repo
cowork generate user/repo

# Specify language(s)
cowork generate tokio-rs/tokio --lang rust
cowork generate vercel/next.js --lang typescript

# Only generate llms.txt
cowork generate user/repo --llms-only -o ./output

# Generate from existing llms.txt
cowork generate --from-llms ./llms.txt

# Specify git ref
cowork generate user/repo --ref v1.0.0

Supported Languages

| Language | Parser | Extracts | |----------|--------|----------| | Rust | syn | pub fn, struct, enum, trait, impl | | TypeScript | tree-sitter | export function, class, interface, type | | Python | tree-sitter | def, class (excluding _ private items) |

Output

llms.txt - API documentation following llms.txt specification
SKILL.md - Generated skill files with triggers and references

cowork search

Search GitHub for skill repositories.

# Search by keyword
cowork search tokio

# Search by GitHub topic
cowork search agent-skill --topic

# Limit results
cowork search rust-skills --limit 5

# Show detailed results
cowork search rust-skills --verbose

cowork plugins

Manage Claude Code marketplace plugins.

# List marketplace plugins
cowork plugins list

# Show plugin status
cowork plugins status

# Uninstall a plugin
cowork plugins uninstall rust-skills

# Enable/disable plugins
cowork plugins enable rust-skills
cowork plugins disable rust-skills

# List marketplaces
cowork plugins marketplaces

# Remove a marketplace
cowork plugins remove-marketplace rust-skills

Storage Locations

| Location | Purpose | |----------|---------| | ~/.cowork/repos/ | Cloned GitHub repositories | | ~/.claude/skills/ | Global skills directory | | ~/.claude/<plugin>/ | Global plugins | | .claude/skills/ | Project-local skills | | .claude/<plugin>/ | Project-local plugins | | .cowork/Skills.toml | Project configuration | | .cowork/Skills.lock | Installed packages lock |

Environment Variables

| Variable | Description | |----------|-------------| | GITHUB_TOKEN | Required for generate/search commands |

Troubleshooting

Check Configuration

cowork doctor
cowork status

Common Issues

Skills not loading:

Check if skill exists: cowork list
Verify enabled status: cowork config show
Ensure triggers match: cowork test triggers

Installation fails:

Check GitHub token: echo $GITHUB_TOKEN
Verify repo exists: gh repo view user/repo
Try with verbose: cowork install user/repo --reinstall

Plugin conflicts:

Set trigger priority: cowork config priority router1 router2
Override specific triggers: cowork config override "keyword" skill-name
Check for conflicts: cowork test --check-conflicts