Skills Hub

Mantra v0.9.0 introduces Skills Hub, the second pillar of Mantra's "Unified Configuration Plane" (alongside MCP Hub). It centralizes Skills scattered across multiple AI tools into one place: import once, use everywhere.

What is Skills Hub?

When you use multiple AI tools like Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, and Gemini CLI simultaneously, each tool has its own Skills directory. The same Skill needs to be manually copied across tools, and updates must be synced individually.

Skills Hub solves this problem. It stores all Skills centrally in ~/.mantra/data/skills/ and automatically distributes them to each AI tool's Skills directory via symlinks. Manage in one place, take effect everywhere instantly.

Core Capabilities

Multi-Tool Skills Scanning

Skills Hub can automatically discover Skills across four major AI tools, covering both user-level and project-level directories:

AI Tool	User-level Path	Project-level Path
Claude Code	~/.claude/skills/	.claude/skills/
Cursor	~/.cursor/skills/	.cursor/skills/
Codex	~/.codex/skills/	.codex/skills/
Gemini CLI	~/.gemini/skills/	.gemini/skills/

Three-Tier Smart Classification

Before importing, Skills Hub classifies detected Skills into three tiers:

Classification	Meaning	Action
Auto Import	New Skill, doesn't exist in Hub	Import directly, no intervention needed
Auto Skip	Identical to an existing Skill in Hub	Automatically skipped to avoid duplicates
Needs Decision	Content differs, potential conflict	Prompts you to review diff and decide

Safe Takeover with Auto Backup

Before importing, Skills Hub automatically backs up the original Skill directories. If anything goes wrong during import, it automatically rolls back to the backup state. You can also manually restore from backups at any time.

Backup strategy:

• Automatic backup before each takeover operation
• Retains the last 5 versions
• Expired backups are automatically cleaned up
• Integrity verification during restore

Cross-Tool Symlink Distribution

Imported Skills are stored centrally in ~/.mantra/data/skills/ and distributed to each AI tool's Skills directory via symlinks:

~/.mantra/data/skills/
├── my-coding-standards.md      # Source file
└── project-rules.md            # Source file

~/.claude/skills/
├── my-coding-standards.md → symlink  # Points to central storage
└── project-rules.md → symlink

~/.cursor/skills/
├── my-coding-standards.md → symlink  # Points to central storage
└── project-rules.md → symlink

All tools read the same file — edit once, take effect globally.

Cross-Platform Support

• Linux / macOS: Uses standard symlinks
• Windows: Automatically falls back to junctions, no admin privileges required

Project-Level Skill Linking

Skills Hub supports flexible project linking:

• User-level Skills: Automatically linked to all projects
• Project-level Skills: Only linked to the source project
• You can manually link or unlink any Skill to any project at any time
• After changes, symlinks in tool directories are automatically synced

Reverse-Flow Detection

When you open a project, Skills Hub automatically detects whether any AI tool has directly created new Skill files (bypassing Mantra's management). If detected, it prompts you to decide whether to bring them under unified management.

Workflow

5-Step Import Wizard

Skills Hub provides a guided import process:

1. Scan: Select AI tools to scan, automatically discover Skills
2. Preview: View the detected Skills list and three-tier classification results
3. Conflict Resolution: Review diffs and make decisions for "Needs Decision" Skills
4. Execute: Confirm and execute the import, establish symlink distribution
5. Link: Link imported Skills to relevant projects

Scan Progress

The import wizard shows per-tool scan progress feedback, so you always know the current status even with many Skills.

Skills Management Page

Skills Hub provides a dedicated management interface:

• Overview Metrics: Total Skills count, linked projects, backup status
• Filter & Search: Filter by source tool, search by name
• View Toggle: List view / Grid view
• Backup Summary: Collapsible backup status panel

Skill Details

Click any Skill to view:

• Full metadata (name, source, creation time, etc.)
• Skill content preview
• Linked projects list
• Deletion impact preview
• Restore from backup option

Project Detail Integration

Skills cards are embedded in the project detail page, showing:

• Linked Skills list
• Unmanaged Skill alerts (reverse-flow detection results)
• Quick actions (link, unlink, view details)

This mirrors MCP Hub's project integration with symmetric design for a consistent experience.

v0.9.1 Enhancement: Project integration experience further improved:

• SkillContextCard: New compact overview card showing associated skill count, tool brand icons, and an expandable skill list — symmetric with MCP Hub's project integration
• Unmanaged Skills Alert: When unmanaged skills are detected in a project directory, an amber banner appears inside the card with a one-click import button
• Cross-Page Navigation: Bidirectional navigation between Skills Hub and project detail pages — skill cards link to associated projects, project detail links back to Skills Hub
• Associated Skills Search: When a project has more than 5 associated skills, a search box appears for quick filtering by name or description This follows a symmetric design with MCP Hub's project integration, maintaining a consistent user experience.

Relationship with MCP Hub

Skills Hub and MCP Hub together form Mantra's Unified Configuration Plane:

Dimension	MCP Hub	Skills Hub
Manages	MCP Services (tool capabilities)	Skills (knowledge and conventions)
Workflow	Takeover → Centralize → Distribute	Takeover → Centralize → Distribute
Storage	SQLite database	~/.mantra/data/skills/
Distribution	Config file rewriting	Symlink / Junction
Project linking	Supported	Supported
Backup/Restore	Supported	Supported

Both follow the same design pattern: Takeover → Central Storage → Distribution, allowing you to manage all AI tool configurations from one place.

Next Steps

• MCP Hub - Learn about unified MCP service management
• Project Management - Learn about project-level Skills and MCP linking
• Compatibility - Check Skills support across AI tools