---
title: "Start with Skillset"
description: "Guides authors from a first Skillset build through adoption, daily work, and deliberate shipping workflows."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://nimbus.focal.host/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Start with Skillset

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Skillset's author journey is **Start → Adopt → Work → Ship**. Follow it in order for a first repository, or jump to the stage that matches the outcome you need.

## Start

[Build](/skillset/glossary/#build) one small, reviewable [projection](/skillset/glossary/#projection) from [canonical source](/skillset/glossary/#canonical-source).

1. [Install Skillset](/skillset/start/installation/) — choose the native global, Homebrew, GitHub asset, Bun, CI, local dependency, or contributor route with exact runtime requirements.
2. [Quickstart](/skillset/start/quickstart/) — initialize a repository, author one skill, and verify [generated output](/skillset/glossary/#generated-output).
3. [First-author walkthrough](/skillset/start/first-author/) — inspect and modify the executable `examples/first-author` fixture.
4. [How rendering works](/skillset/start/how-rendering-works/) — understand source, [targets](/skillset/glossary/#target), [destinations](/skillset/glossary/#destination), locks, and [drift](/skillset/glossary/#drift).
5. [Build versus activation](/skillset/start/build-versus-activation/) — keep repository generation separate from runtime authority.

## Adopt

Bring existing [provider-native](/skillset/glossary/#provider-native) work into Skillset source without overwriting it silently.

- [Importing existing work](/skillset/guides/importing/) covers repository surveys, selected imports, previews, and review boundaries.

## Work

Keep source and generated output current while you edit.

- [Development loop](/skillset/guides/development-loop/) covers check, preview, write, watch, inspect, and commit.
- [Troubleshooting](/skillset/troubleshooting/) starts from observable symptoms when that loop fails.

## Ship

Shipping is a set of explicit workflows, not a side effect of build. The Ship guides cover:

1. [Continuous integration](/skillset/guides/continuous-integration/) — make source, generated output, and release intent reviewable in hosted checks.
2. [Publishing](/skillset/guides/publishing/) — release source units and choose the correct external publication boundary.
3. [Marketplaces](/skillset/guides/marketplaces/) — verify curated plugin entries and write supported provider catalog indexes.

Skillset renders files. It does not install, trust, activate, symlink, or mutate user-level provider configuration. See [Build Versus Activation](/skillset/start/build-versus-activation/).

Source: https://nimbus.focal.host/skillset/start/index.mdx