init

First-time setup. Auto-detects installed AI CLIs and configures targets.

skillshare init              # Interactive setup
skillshare init --dry-run    # Preview without changes

When to Use

• First time setting up skillshare on a machine
• Migrating to a new computer (with --remote to connect to existing repo)
• Adding skillshare to a project (with --project)
• Discovering newly installed AI CLIs (with --discover)

What Happens

Project Mode

Initialize project-level skills with -p:

skillshare init -p                              # Interactive
skillshare init -p --targets claude,cursor  # Non-interactive

What Happens

After init, commit .skillshare/ to git. See Project Setup for the full guide.

Discover Mode

Re-run init on an existing setup to detect and add new AI CLI targets:

Global

skillshare init --discover              # Interactive selection
skillshare init --discover --select codex,opencode  # Non-interactive

Scans for newly installed AI CLIs not yet in your config and prompts you to add them.

Project

skillshare init -p --discover           # Interactive selection
skillshare init -p --discover --select gemini  # Non-interactive

Scans the project directory for new AI CLI directories (e.g., .gemini/) and adds them as targets.

Discover + Mode behavior

When you combine --discover with --mode, the mode is applied only to targets added in this discover run. Existing targets in config are left unchanged.

# Adds cursor with mode=copy, does not change existing targets
skillshare init --discover --select cursor --mode copy

# Project mode variant (same rule)
skillshare init -p --discover --select cursor --mode copy

tip

If you run skillshare init on an already-initialized setup without --discover, the error message will hint you to use it.

Options

Flag	Description
--source, -s <path>	Custom source directory
--remote <url>	Set git remote (implies --git; auto-pulls if remote has skills)
--project, -p	Initialize project-level skills in current directory
--copy-from, -c <name|path>	Copy skills from a specific CLI or path
--no-copy	Start with empty source (skip copy prompt)
--targets, -t <list>	Comma-separated target names
--all-targets	Add all detected targets
--no-targets	Skip target selection
--mode, -m <mode>	Set default mode for newly configured targets (merge, copy, symlink). With --discover, affects only newly added targets.
--git	Initialize git without prompting
--no-git	Skip git initialization
--skill	Install built-in skillshare skill without prompting (adds /skillshare to AI CLIs)
--no-skill	Skip built-in skill installation
--discover, -d	Detect and add new AI CLI targets to existing config
--select <list>	Comma-separated targets to add (requires --discover)
--dry-run, -n	Preview without changes

init sets your starting mode policy. You can always fine-tune per target later:

skillshare target cursor --mode copy
skillshare sync

Common Scenarios

Remote setup (pick one)

Interactive (recommended for first-time setup when you want guided prompts):

skillshare init --remote [email protected]:you/my-skills.git

Non-interactive (no prompts, auto-detect installed targets):

skillshare init --remote [email protected]:you/my-skills.git --no-copy --all-targets --no-skill

Non-interactive (no prompts, and import existing Claude skills now):

skillshare init --remote [email protected]:you/my-skills.git --copy-from claude --all-targets --no-skill

Other scenarios

# Standard setup (auto-detect everything)
skillshare init

# Use existing skills directory
skillshare init --source ~/.config/skillshare/skills

# Project-level setup
skillshare init -p
skillshare init -p --targets claude,cursor

# Fully non-interactive setup
skillshare init --no-copy --all-targets --git --skill

# Start with copy mode defaults for newly added targets
skillshare init --mode copy

# Add newly installed CLIs to existing config
skillshare init --discover
skillshare init -p --discover

# Add a newly discovered target and force copy mode only for that new target
skillshare init --discover --select cursor --mode copy