Regression: skill tool cannot find valid skills in ~/.agents/skills
- Dominant language
- Shell
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Description
## Description
The `skill` tool cannot find or invoke a valid skill installed under `~/.agents/skills`, even though the skill directory and `SKILL.md` are present.
This appears to be a regression or an incomplete fix related to #2230, which is closed.
## Environment
- Copilot CLI: `1.0.78`
- OS: Windows
- Skill path: `C:\Users\omzig\.agents\skills\setup-matt-pocock-skills\SKILL.md`
## Reproduction
1. Create or install a skill at `~/.agents/skills/setup-matt-pocock-skills/SKILL.md`.
2. Ensure its frontmatter includes:
```yaml
---
name: setup-matt-pocock-skills
description: Configure this repo for the engineering skills.
disable-model-invocation: true
---
```
3. Invoke the skill tool with `setup-matt-pocock-skills`.
## Actual result
The tool returns:
```text
Skill not found: setup-matt-pocock-skills
```
The skill is also absent from the tool's available-skill registry, despite the file being present and having valid frontmatter.
## Expected result
Skills in `~/.agents/skills` should either be discovered by the CLI automatically or produce a clear configuration/status indication explaining that the directory is unsupported.
## Workaround
Copying or linking the skill into a directory that the CLI does discover appears to be required.
## Additional validation: minimal test skill
To rule out a problem specific to the original skill, I created a minimal skill with valid frontmatter at:
`C:\Users\omzig\.agents\skills\test-skill\SKILL.md`
Its contents were:
```markdown
---
name: test-skill
description: A simple test skill that confirms whether skills installed in ~/.agents/skills are discovered and invoked.
---
# Test Skill
When this skill is invoked, respond with exactly:
`test-skill loaded successfully`
```
Invoking `skill(test-skill)` produced the same result:
```text
Skill not found: test-skill
```
This validates that the failure is with out-of-box discovery of `~/.agents/skills`, not with the original skill's complexity or frontmatter.
## Follow-up validation: supported path works
I moved the same minimal `test-skill` directory from:
`C:\Users\omzig\.agents\skills\test-skill`
to:
`C:\Users\omzig\.copilot\skills\test-skill`
After moving it, invoking `skill(test-skill)` succeeded and the skill returned:
```text
test-skill loaded successfully
```
This confirms that the skill content and frontmatter are valid. The failure is specifically that `~/.agents/skills` is not included in the CLI's out-of-box discovery paths, while `~/.copilot/skills` is.
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start by tracing the CLI's skill discovery and available-skill registry, comparing the supported ~/.copilot/skills path with ~/.agents/skills on Windows. Reproduce the issue with the minimal test-skill described in the report, then verify that skills under ~/.agents/skills are discovered and invoked or that the CLI clearly reports the directory as unsupported.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- shell
- Domain
- cli
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 55/100