glab-skills

Q: How do I install glab-skills?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/vince-winkintel/gitlab-cli-skills --skill glab-skills in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/glab-skills/ (personal) or .claude/skills/glab-skills/ (project).

by vince-winkintelAI & Agents

Inspect bundled agent skills and install, list, or update bundled and curated remote skills for GitLab CLI. Use when printing a bundled skill file, installing agent skills, checking the skill catalog, updating installed skills, or installing the remote Orbit wrapper skill. Triggers on skills, agent skills, glab skills, skill get, skill install, skill update, skill bundles.

Installs: 110
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Install

Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.

npx skills add https://github.com/vince-winkintel/gitlab-cli-skills --skill glab-skills

01
Install
Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.
02
Describe the task
Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads glab-skills automatically when relevant.
03
Review the result
The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.

SKILL.md

The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.

glab skills

Overview

Help captured from the checksum-verified macOS arm64 release binary. Terminal padding and trailing whitespace are removed; release provenance is recorded in VERSION.


  Install the bundled glab agent skills so that AI agents can discover
  and use glab effectively.

  Skills follow the Agent Skills specification and work with
  any compatible agent, including GitLab Duo Agent Platform, Claude Code, Codex,
  and Gemini CLI.

  This feature is an experiment and is not ready for production use.
  It might be unstable or removed at any time.
  For more information, see
  https://docs.gitlab.com/policy/development_stages_support/.


  USAGE

    glab skills <command> [command] [--flags]

  COMMANDS

    get <name> [<path>]       Print a bundled agent skill file. (EXPERIMENTAL)
    install [name] [--flags]  Install glab's bundled agent skills. (EXPERIMENTAL)
    list                      List the available bundled agent skills. (EXPERIMENTAL)
    update [name] [--flags]   Update installed agent skills to the current shipped version. (EXPERIMENTAL)

  FLAGS

    -h --help                 Show help for this command.

⚠️ Experimental Feature

glab skills is marked EXPERIMENTAL upstream:

command shape and functionality may change
skill bundle format is not yet stable
availability may vary by glab version
use for exploration and prototyping, not production workflows

See: https://docs.gitlab.com/policy/development_stages_support/

Quick start

# View available skills commands
glab skills --help

# Inspect a bundled skill without installing it
glab skills get glab

# Install bundled agent skills
glab skills install

# List bundled skills
glab skills list

# Update the installed core skill to the current glab-shipped version
glab skills update glab

Common workflows

Inspecting, installing, listing, and updating bundled skills

# Print the bundled skill manifest without installing it
glab skills get glab

# Print a supporting file relative to a bundled skill root
glab skills get <name> references/<file>.md

# Install agent skills interactively
glab skills install

# Install a named bundled skill when supported by the shipped catalog
glab skills install <name>

# List available bundled skills
glab skills list

# Update all installed skills, including curated remote skills
glab skills update --all

# Update one installed skill (bundled or curated remote)
glab skills update <name>

get writes the requested bundled file to stdout and defaults to SKILL.md; it does not install the skill. The install command sets up skill bundles for automation and AI agent workflows. Use glab skills update <name> or glab skills update --all to refresh installed skills from their sources. A name and --all are mutually exclusive, and one is required.

glab also notifies when installed bundled skills differ from the versions shipped with the current binary. When update checks run, it can also notify about curated remote skill updates; those checks fetch from GitLab.com on the update-check cadence rather than on every command. Notifications are best-effort and can be disabled with notify_skill_updates or GLAB_NOTIFY_SKILL_UPDATES. A notice does not update files automatically: review the content and use glab skills update <name> or glab skills update --all when intended.

Curated remote Orbit skill

# Review the catalog before selecting a skill
glab skills list

# Install the remote Orbit wrapper skill into the current project
glab skills install orbit

# Alternatively, choose user scope or a custom parent directory
glab skills install orbit --global
glab skills install orbit --path ./reviewed-skills

# Refresh an installed copy in a standard project/user location
glab skills update orbit

glab skills list reads the bundled catalog and embedded remote registry without a network request. The orbit registry entry fetches the full skills/orbit-wrapper tree from the public gitlab-org/orbit/knowledge-graph project on GitLab.com, without authentication. Its latest ref means the project's default branch, not the latest release tag. The installer rewrites the upstream frontmatter name to orbit to match the installation directory. Review the remote content before allowing an agent to use it; it can change independently of the installed glab binary.

The default destination is .agents/skills/orbit/ at the current Git repository root; --global uses ~/.agents/skills/orbit/, and --path resolves relative to the current working directory. Existing skill files require --force to overwrite on install. glab skills update orbit re-fetches and overwrites changed content in standard locations, while --all updates all installed skills there. Custom --path locations are not discovered by update; explicitly reinstall into the reviewed custom path with --force when intended.

Despite help text that still says “bundled”, list, named install, and update also cover curated remote skills. Unnamed glab skills install installs only the bundled core glab skill. glab skills get orbit cannot print this remote skill: get is bundled-only. Installing the remote skill neither downloads nor runs the Orbit executable; managed-binary installation is a separate glab orbit --install operation.

Troubleshooting

skills: command not found:

glab skills manages CLI skills and extensions.
Check your version with glab version; upgrade if needed.

Skills install/update fails or hangs:

This is an experimental feature and may have rough edges.
For bundled skills, check destination permissions and the installed catalog; installation does not require network access or glab authentication.
For curated remote skills such as orbit, check connectivity to public gitlab.com and the gitlab-org/orbit/knowledge-graph project, plus destination permissions. These downloads are unauthenticated; self-managed-only or air-gapped hosts still need access to GitLab.com.
Review glab skills get --help, glab skills install --help, glab skills list, and glab skills update --help for any updated flags or requirements.

What skills are available?

Run glab skills list to see the bundled and curated remote catalog for your installed glab version.

Related Skills

glab-duo — GitLab Duo AI assistant integration
glab-mcp — Deprecated glab MCP compatibility; use the GitLab MCP Server for new integrations
glab-orbit — Managed Orbit binary and graph workflows
glab-auth — Authentication for GitLab operations; curated public remote skill downloads do not use it

Command reference

skills get

Complete help from the verified release binary; immutable capture ID 5686d7484 maps to the release and archive checksums in VERSION. Only trailing whitespace is removed; indentation, blank lines, wrapping, truncation, and product spelling are preserved.


  Print a file from an agent skill bundled with this glab binary without installing it.

  The path is relative to the skill root and defaults to `SKILL.md`.

  This feature is an experiment and is not ready for production use.
  It might be unstable or removed at any time.
  For more information, see
  https://docs.gitlab.com/policy/development_stages_support/.


  USAGE

    glab skills get <name> [<path>] [--flags]

  EXAMPLES

    # Print the manifest for the bundled glab skill
    glab skills get glab

    # Print the other bundled skill
    glab skills get glab-stack

    # For skills that ship supporting files, use the path form
    # glab skills get <name> references/<file>.md

  FLAGS

    -h --help  Show help for this command.

skills install

Complete help from the verified release binary; immutable capture ID 5686d7484 maps to the release and archive checksums in VERSION. Only trailing whitespace is removed; indentation, blank lines, wrapping, truncation, and product spelling are preserved.


  Install bundled `SKILL.md` files to `.agents/skills/`, the
  cross-agent standard defined by the Agent Skills specification. This works
  with GitLab Duo Agent Platform, Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, and any
  other compliant agent.

  By default, only the core `glab` skill is installed. Pass a positional
  `name` argument to install a specific bundled skill instead. Run
  `glab skills list` to see what is available.

  Install scope:

  - By default, skills are installed for the current project, in `.agents/skills/`
    at the root of the current Git repository.
  - Use `--global` to install skills for the current user, in
    `~/.agents/skills/`.
  - Use `--path` to install skills to a custom directory. The path is resolved
    relative to the current working directory, not the repository root.

  To overwrite an existing skill file, use `--force`.

  This feature is an experiment and is not ready for production use.
  It might be unstable or removed at any time.
  For more information, see
  https://docs.gitlab.com/policy/development_stages_support/.


  USAGE

    glab skills install [name] [--flags]

  EXAMPLES

    # Install the core glab skill in the current project (default)
    glab skills install

    # Install a specific bundled skill by name
    glab skills install glab-stack

    # Install the core skill globally (user scope)
    glab skills install --global

    # Install a skill to a custom directory
    glab skills install glab-stack --path /path/to/skills

    # Overwrite an existing skill file
    glab skills install --force

  FLAGS

    -f --force   Overwrite existing skill files.
    -g --global  Install skills at user scope (~/.agents/skills/).
    -h --help    Show help for this command.
    --path       Install skills to the directory at <path>.

skills list

Complete help from the verified release binary; immutable capture ID 5686d7484 maps to the release and archive checksums in VERSION. Only trailing whitespace is removed; indentation, blank lines, wrapping, truncation, and product spelling are preserved.


  List the agent skills bundled with glab. Use the name of a skill with
  'glab skills install <name>' to install just that one.

  This feature is an experiment and is not ready for production use.
  It might be unstable or removed at any time.
  For more information, see
  https://docs.gitlab.com/policy/development_stages_support/.


  USAGE

    glab skills list [--flags]

  EXAMPLES

    # List every bundled skill with its description
    glab skills list

  FLAGS

    -h --help  Show help for this command.

skills update

Complete help from the verified release binary; immutable capture ID 5686d7484 maps to the release and archive checksums in VERSION. Only trailing whitespace is removed; indentation, blank lines, wrapping, truncation, and product spelling are preserved.


  Re-fetch installed agent skills from their source (bundled in this
  glab binary, or the curated remote registry) and overwrite the on-disk
  copy if it differs.

  By default, updates only the named skill in every well-known location
  it is installed (the current project's '.agents/skills/' and the
  user-scope '~/.agents/skills/'). Use --all to update every installed
  skill in those locations.

  Skills whose on-disk content already matches the source are left alone.
  Skills installed via 'glab skills install --path' are not considered —
  update only knows about the two well-known locations.

  This feature is an experiment and is not ready for production use.
  It might be unstable or removed at any time.
  For more information, see
  https://docs.gitlab.com/policy/development_stages_support/.


  USAGE

    glab skills update [name] [--flags]

  EXAMPLES

    # Update the bundled glab skill in every location it is installed
    glab skills update glab

    # Update every installed skill
    glab skills update --all

  FLAGS

    --all      Update every installed skill.
    -h --help  Show help for this command.

FAQ

What does the glab-skills skill do?

How do I install glab-skills?

Run npx skills add https://github.com/vince-winkintel/gitlab-cli-skills --skill glab-skills in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/glab-skills/ (personal) or .claude/skills/glab-skills/ (project).

Which AI agents can use glab-skills?

Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.

Is glab-skills safe to install?

No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.

Who maintains glab-skills?

It is published by vince-winkintel in vince-winkintel/gitlab-cli-skills. It has 110 recorded installs.