skill-vendor
Copy an external skill into your own collection the right way: license-clean and fully attributed.
Not a submodule. Not a raw cp. This is the primitive that turns "I want that skill" into a vendored copy you can edit, pinned to an upstream commit, with the credit and license obligations satisfied so the import is safe to publish.
Scope: imports exactly ONE skill you have already chosen. It does no discovery, ranking, or safety evaluation of whether to adopt — that is the orchestrator's job (see ## Composition below). Keep this primitive deterministic and idempotent.
When to use
- The user picked an upstream skill and wants it in their own repo (
t4ku/agent-skills, a private collection, .claude/skills/, …).
- You are a
skill-scout/curator step that has shortlisted a candidate and now needs to import it with provenance.
Inputs
/skill-vendor <upstream-ref> [--into <target-skills-dir>] [--as <local-name>] [--adapted]
<upstream-ref> — one of:
owner/repo/path/to/skill@<sha-or-tag-or-branch> (SHA strongly preferred)- a GitHub URL to the skill folder (blob/tree URL; extract owner/repo/ref/path)
--into — target skills dir. Default: the current repo's convention (skills/<skill>/ for a marketplace repo like t4ku/agent-skills, or .claude/skills/<skill>/ for a vault). Infer from where you are.--as — rename on import (default: keep upstream folder name).--adapted — you intend to modify after import; sets provenance: adapted (default verbatim).
Workflow
1. Resolve ref and PIN a commit SHA
Resolve the ref to a concrete commit SHA — this is non-negotiable. SKILL.md has no semver, no version field, and no dependency constraints, so the SHA is the only version. If given a branch/tag, resolve it to the SHA it points at now and record that SHA (not the branch name).
# via git (sparse) — preferred, gets the real tree + SHA
git clone --no-checkout --filter=blob:none <repo-url> <tmp> # NOT --depth 1
git -C <tmp> sparse-checkout set <path>
git -C <tmp> checkout <ref>
SHA=$(git -C <tmp> rev-parse HEAD)
# or via gh api if git is unavailable: gh api repos/<owner>/<repo>/commits/<ref> --jq .sha
--depth 1 を付けないこと。浅いクローンは既定ブランチの先端しか持たないので、
続く checkout <ref> が任意の SHA / タグで落ちる。どうしても浅くしたいなら
ref を名指しで fetch する:
git init <tmp> && git -C <tmp> remote add origin <repo-url>
git -C <tmp> fetch --depth 1 --filter=blob:none origin <ref>
git -C <tmp> sparse-checkout set <path>
git -C <tmp> checkout FETCH_HEAD
SHA=$(git -C <tmp> rev-parse HEAD)
2. Detect license and GATE ⛔
Read the license of the source repo (root LICENSE/LICENSE.md/COPYING, package.json license, or SPDX header in SKILL.md). Then:
| Detected | Action |
|---|
| MIT / BSD-2 / BSD-3 / ISC / Apache-2.0 / 0BSD / Unlicense / CC0 | ✅ proceed. (Apache-2.0: also carry any NOTICE file.) |
| GPL / LGPL / AGPL / MPL / other copyleft | ⛔ STOP. Do not auto-vendor. Report the license and hand the adoption decision back to the human (copyleft can impose obligations on the consuming repo). |
| No license found | ⛔ STOP. "No license" = all rights reserved by default; vendoring is not permitted. Report and ask the human to (a) confirm they obtained permission, or (b) request the author add a license upstream. |
Never downgrade or invent a license. If detection is ambiguous, treat as "no license found" and stop.
3. Copy the skill folder
Copy the upstream skill directory to <target>/<local-name>/ (real files, not a submodule — you want an editable, curatable copy). Preserve the folder's own files (SKILL.md, templates, scripts, assets).
4. Inject the provenance frontmatter block
Merge these keys into the vendored SKILL.md frontmatter. Keep the upstream name/description (adjust name only if --as renamed it). Put attribution under metadata: — top-level custom keys can be rejected by strict schemas; license: top-level is allowed.
name: <name> # upstream, or --as override
description: >
<upstream description, unchanged>
license: MIT # the DETECTED SPDX id (step 2)
metadata:
author: <upstream author/owner>
source: https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/tree/<sha>/<path>
upstream_commit: <full 40-char SHA> # the pin from step 1
vendored_at: "YYYY-MM-DD" # today
vendored_by: <your handle> # e.g. t4ku
provenance: verbatim # or "adapted" (--adapted)
5. Ship the upstream LICENSE (the legal core)
Satisfy the license's attribution requirement — this is the one hard obligation. Do one of:
- copy the upstream license text (with its original copyright line, verbatim) to
<target>/<local-name>/LICENSE, or
- append an entry (skill name, upstream URL, SHA, full license text) to a repo-root
THIRD-PARTY-LICENSES.md.
Prefer the per-skill LICENSE file — it travels with the skill if someone re-vendors it downstream.
6. Add a ## Credits section to the SKILL.md body
Append at the end of the vendored SKILL.md:
## Credits
Vendored from [`<owner>/<repo>`](<source-url>) by @<author> — <SPDX license>.
Pinned to commit `<sha>`, imported <YYYY-MM-DD>.
Provenance: verbatim. <!-- or: adapted — see changes below -->
<!-- if adapted, list the changes made after import -->
7. Record the ledger entry
Append one row to a repo-root CREDITS.md (human-readable) — create it if absent:
| Skill | Upstream | Author | License | Commit | Vendored | Provenance |
|-------|----------|--------|---------|--------|----------|------------|
| `<local-name>` | <source-url> | @<author> | MIT | `<sha7>` | YYYY-MM-DD | verbatim |
Optionally also write a machine-readable state.json keyed by local-name → {source, upstream_commit, vendored_at, provenance} so a skill-scout can diff against upstream later. (Skip if no orchestrator consumes it.)
8. Report
Emit: target path, pinned SHA, detected license, verbatim/adapted, and the files written (SKILL.md, LICENSE, CREDITS.md row). If a marketplace/collection manifest exists (.claude-plugin/marketplace.json, README skills table), remind the user to register the new skill there — do not silently mutate the manifest unless asked.
Safety gates (do not skip)
- License gate (step 2): copyleft or no-license → STOP, hand to human. Zero exceptions.
- SHA pin (step 1): always record a concrete commit SHA; never pin to a moving branch/tag name.
- Idempotent: if
<target>/<local-name>/ already exists, compare its recorded upstream_commit. Same SHA → no-op (report "already vendored at <sha>"). Different SHA → treat as an update: show the diff intent and refresh provenance (vendored_at, upstream_commit), do not blindly overwrite local --adapted edits (warn if provenance was adapted).
- provenance flag: mark
verbatim vs adapted honestly so a later upstream diff is meaningful.
- No secret/PII carry: skip any upstream file that isn't part of the skill (stray
.env, credentials); vendor only the skill's own files.
Composition
This is a leaf primitive. An orchestrator (skill-scout / curator) decides what and when:
scout monitors upstream repos on a schedule → diffs new/changed SKILL.md since last-seen SHA → deep-research evaluates each candidate (fit, dedupe, safety) → for each accepted candidate, calls skill-vendor with the pinned ref → opens a PR (human-merge gate). skill-vendor never loops and never decides adoption — that separation keeps this step deterministic and testable.
Why vendor, not submodule
Submodules give you upstream-tracking but are read-only-in-spirit (recursive-clone friction, awkward to edit for a curated collection). Vendor (copy) when you want to own and edit the skill in your collection; use a submodule/git subtree only when you plan to push changes back upstream. This skill implements the vendor path.