sebastienrousseau/agtmls/vetting-a-skill-before-install

Vetting a skill before install

Trigger. Someone wants to add a skill, plugin, marketplace or skills repository this registry did not produce: /plugin install, a clone into .claude/skills or .agents/skills, import-skill, or "can I trust this repo?". A skill runs with your permissions: its text is read as instructions, its hooks run on events you did not trigger, its scripts run in your shell. Install counts are not a control.

Keep tool calls few: every call re-sends the conversation so far. Start with the audit, which answers the first questions for you.

Steps

1. Audit. agtmls audit --foreign <path, or url@commit>, with

--format json to parse it. A CRITICAL or HIGH finding fails. Its coverage section states the source, and lists every NOT AUDITED file: agent configuration it did not judge (hooks.json, settings.json, .mcp.json, plugin.json, CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md) and scripts outside any skill. Silence about a file is not a pass.

1. Pin. Take the 40-hex commit from the audit's source: line; a

branch or tag can move between the audit and the install. If it says the source is not a git checkout, it cannot be pinned: count that against it rather than searching further. Check the owner and name against the project you meant; note the licence.

1. Read what runs unasked, in one call. Read every file the audit

lists as NOT AUDITED at once: one cat of them all, or all the reads in a single turn. Look for hooks that fetch and run code or send data out (curl | sh, a transcript upload), MCP servers not pinned to a version or able to run any command, and checksums fetched from the same place as the download. Say what reading cannot show, such as what a download does when it runs.

1. Decide.

• Install: no CRITICAL or HIGH finding, every NOT AUDITED file

read, nothing runs unasked that you would not run yourself. Install the audited commit, not the branch.

• Mirror: worth having, but you want control of updates. Copy it at

the audited commit; re-audit before taking an upstream change.

• Refuse: a finding you cannot explain away, hooks or scripts you

have not read, or a source you cannot pin.

An install through agtmls is recorded, and agtmls verify shows later drift. A plugin manager's install is not: audit again before each update.

Report

Open with the source: the commit you would install, or that it cannot be pinned and so cannot be installed as audited. Then the audit command and its counts, what you read by hand, what could not be checked, and the decision with its reason. reference.md has worked outcomes and the red flags.

When not to use

• Auditing this registry's own skills: agtmls audit --all.
• Reviewing ordinary code changes: that is code review.
• The source is already mirrored and pinned, and unchanged since its audit.