rulesync/Skill/Declarative Source

• Declarative Skill Sources | Rulesync

  • Rulesync can fetch skills from external repositories using the rulesync/install command. Instead of manually running fetch for each skill source, declare them in your rulesync.jsonc and run rulesync install to resolve and fetch them. Then rulesync/generate picks them up as local curated skills. Typical workflow: rulesync install && rulesync generate.
  • This lets you import sources from another repository

  • Configuration

    • Add a sources array to your rulesync.jsonc:
      • json

        {
          "$schema": "https://github.com/dyoshikawa/rulesync/releases/latest/download/config-schema.json",
          "targets": ["copilot", "claudecode"],
          "features": ["rules", "skills"],
          "sources": [
            // Fetch all skills from a GitHub repository (default transport)
            { "source": "owner/repo" },
        
            // Fetch only specific skills by name
            { "source": "anthropics/skills", "skills": ["skill-creator"] },
        
            // With ref pinning and subdirectory path (same syntax as fetch command)
            { "source": "owner/repo@v1.0.0:path/to/skills" },
        
            // Git transport — works with any git remote (Azure DevOps, Bitbucket, etc.)
            {
              "source": "https://dev.azure.com/org/project/_git/repo",
              "transport": "git",
              "ref": "main",
              "path": "exports/skills",
            },
        
            // Git transport with a local repository
            { "source": "file:///path/to/local/repo", "transport": "git" },
          ],
        }

  • How it works

    • The skills/ directory (or the path specified in the source URL) is listed from the remote repository.

  • rulesync/add

    • To add one source without editing rulesync.jsonc by hand, run rulesync add <source>. It preserves existing comments, appends the source entry, installs it, and updates the appropriate lockfile.
      • bash

        rulesync add anthropics/skills --skills skill-creator
        
        # Add one rule without selecting any skills
        rulesync add acme/ai-standards --rules testing-guidelines

  • Authentication for private repositories

    • The same source/add syntax works against a private GitHub repo's skills/ or rulesync/skills directory — the GitHub transport just needs credentials.
    • It uses the GITHUB_TOKEN or GH_TOKEN environment variable:
      • bash

        export GITHUB_TOKEN=$(gh auth token)
        rulesync install

    • Or pass a token explicitly: rulesync install --token ghp_xxxx.
    • Git transport (transport: "git", e.g. SSH remotes) relies on local git credential configuration instead.

  • Using local git auth (e.g. Git Credential Manager) instead of GITHUB_TOKEN

    • The plain owner/repo shorthand always uses the default "github" transport, which reads only GITHUB_TOKEN/GH_TOKEN — it never consults local git credentials.
    • To fetch a private repo's skills via local git auth (SSH keys or an HTTPS credential helper like Git Credential Manager) instead, set the transport to git and give a full URL rather than the owner/repo shorthand:
      • jsonc

        { "source": "https://github.com/owner/private-repo", "transport": "git", "ref": "main", "path": "rulesync/skills" }

    • No rulesync.jsonc hand-editing is required — rulesync add exposes this as flags directly:
      • bash

        rulesync add https://github.com/owner/private-repo --transport git --ref main --path rulesync/skills --skills skill-creator