A 1:1 clone of Claude's internal skill system, built as an LM Studio plugin.
Claude reads a list of available skills at the start of every context, then uses a view tool to read the relevant SKILL.md file before working on tasks that skill covers. This plugin replicates that system exactly for LM Studio.
1. Prompt Preprocessor
Before every message, the plugin scans the skills directory and injects an <available_skills> block into the prompt. The model sees this and knows which skills exist, their descriptions, and their file paths - exactly like Claude's system prompt injection.
2. Tools
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
list_skills | List all available skills with names and descriptions |
read_skill_file | Read any file within a skill directory (defaults to SKILL.md) |
list_skill_files |
Forked from khtsly/skills
| Explore the full file tree of a skill directory |
3. Persistent Settings
LM Studio does not save plugin settings across new chats. This plugin solves that by writing settings to ~/.lmstudio/plugin-data/lms-skills/settings.json - the skills path and all configuration survive chat resets.
A skill is any subdirectory inside your skills folder that contains a SKILL.md file.
~/.lmstudio/skills/ ā default skills directory āāā docx/ ā āāā SKILL.md ā entry point (required) ā āāā scripts/ ā ā āāā helper.py ā āāā templates/ ā āāā base.docx āāā pptx/ ā āāā SKILL.md ā āāā editing.md āāā my-custom-skill/ āāā SKILL.md āāā skill.json ā optional: override name/description
Place a skill.json in any skill directory to override its display name and description:
{ "name": "My Custom Skill", "description": "Use this skill when the user asks to do X, Y, or Z." }
If absent, the plugin uses the directory name and extracts the description from the first paragraph of SKILL.md.
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Auto-Inject Skills List | On | Injects skills block into every prompt |
| Max Skills in Context | 15 | Max skills listed in each injected block |
| Skills Directory Path | (empty) | Custom path to skills directory |
~/.lmstudio/skills on first run)default - resets the saved path back to ~/.lmstudio/skillsSettings (including the skills path) are written to disk and survive new chat sessions.
cd lms-plugin-skills bun install bun run dev
The default path ~/.lmstudio/skills resolves to:
| Platform | Path |
|---|---|
| Windows | C:\Users\<you>\.lmstudio\skills |
| macOS | /Users/<you>/.lmstudio/skills |
| Linux | /home/<you>/.lmstudio/skills |
<available_skills> blockread_skill_file("skill-name") ā receives full SKILL.md contentSKILL.md may reference other files ā model calls list_skill_files then read_skill_file with specific pathApache 2.0