# `lyt help skills` — Lyt harness skills > Skills are focused agent-facing guides over supported Lyt CLI routes. Pattern-backed skills use `lyt pattern run`; lifecycle and inspection skills call their CLI verbs directly. They ship in `@younndai/lyt-skills` and install into the user's agent harness (Claude Code: `~/.claude/skills/`; Codex: `~/.codex/skills/`; agents-compatible harnesses: `~/.agents/skills/`). --- ## The 12 default skills | Skill | Wraps | What it does | | --------------------- | ------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------- | | `/lyt-create` | `lyt mesh init` + `vault init` | Create a mesh or vault; return Receipt V1 | | `/lyt-capture` | knowledge-capture + capture | Save a Figment to `/notes/` | | `/lyt-recall` | `lyt search --vault` | Ranked search within a single vault | | `/lyt-search` | `lyt search` | Ranked search across the pod / mesh / vault | | `/lyt-pod` | `lyt mesh list` + `vault list` | Enumerate every mesh + vault | | `/lyt-mesh-explore` | `lyt mesh info` | Drill into one mesh's members + metadata | | `/lyt-alias` | `lyt alias` | Manage pod-local vault aliases (name → rid) | | `/lyt-primer-context` | `lyt primer` + `vault info` | Prime an agent with vault/mesh/pod context | | `/lyt-sync` | gated git pull/commit/push | Sync a vault under the writable gate | | `/lyt-adopt` | `lyt vault adopt` | Bring an existing markdown vault into pod | | `/lyt-update` | `lyt outdated` + `lyt update` | Check for + install a newer Lyt release | | `/lyt-pattern` | meta — manages `lyt pattern *` | Direct verb invocation + pattern management | > Lyt bundles only the `knowledge-capture` pattern (behind `/lyt-capture` + `/lyt-recall`). Opinionated workflow patterns (planning, handoffs, decision logs, project lifecycles) are intentionally not shipped — install your own with `lyt pattern install --from ` and invoke their verbs via `/lyt-pattern run `. --- ## Inspecting and installing skills ```bash lyt skills list lyt skills list --runtime codex --json lyt skills install lyt skills install lyt-capture lyt-search --runtime codex lyt skills install --runtime all --copy --force --json lyt install reconcile --apply --json ``` `lyt skills list` reports the bundled skills and their state in each requested runtime. `lyt skills install` with no names installs all bundled skills; pass one or more exact names to install only that selection. An unknown name exits nonzero and prints the valid names. Both commands accept `--runtime claude|codex|agents|all` (default: `all`) and `--json`. Install also accepts: - `--copy` — recursively copy each skill instead of creating a link. - `--force` — replace a divergent existing symlink. It does not authorize deleting user directories. Without `--copy`, install creates a symlink (a directory junction on Windows) from the harness skill directory to the bundled skill. If the operating system refuses link creation with a permissions error, Lyt falls back to a copy. An existing pristine Lyt copy is replaced safely; a different directory is renamed to `.local-` before installation so its contents are preserved. Exit behavior is stable and independent of human or JSON output: - `0` — successful install/list, including already-linked, copy-fallback, safe replacement, or collision rename-aside results. - `1` — command-line validation failure, including an invalid runtime or unknown skill name. - `2` — a divergent symlink was left untouched; rerun install with `--force` to replace it. - `4` — the target exists but is neither a directory nor a symlink, so Lyt refuses to touch it. After install, the harness picks up new skills on next session start. During `lyt update`, the old binary stages a sealed operation, installs the candidate, and launches the new binary's reconciliation. Consume its Receipt and any non-null resume action, then run `lyt doctor --json` and start a fresh agent session. Standalone `lyt install reconcile` inspects managed skills and manuals; it is read-only unless `--apply` is supplied and does not replace the CLI. --- ## How a skill invocation flows ``` user: /lyt-capture │ ▼ harness loads ~/.claude/skills/lyt-capture/SKILL.md │ ▼ skill resolves vault (--vault arg → $LYT_ACTIVE_VAULT → cwd detect → default) │ ▼ skill resolves purpose + topic + slug (args, then user prompts) │ ▼ skill calls CLI: lyt pattern run knowledge-capture capture --vault --slug │ ▼ CLI loads ~/lyt/patterns/knowledge-capture/templates/capture.md │ ▼ CLI substitutes , , , , ... │ ▼ CLI resolves path-glob: <vault>/notes/<date>-<slug>.md │ ▼ CLI writes the file │ ▼ skill confirms to user; user opens the file in their markdown editor ``` --- ## Vault targeting conventions Each skill documents its own target-resolution chain. For capture, the chain is: 1. `--vault <name-or-path>` explicit argument 2. `$LYT_ACTIVE_VAULT` environment variable 3. `<pod-root>/vaults/<handle>/main/` — resolving `<handle>` from `identity.yon` / `pod.yon`, never hardcoding it 4. ask the user which vault to target Skills never fabricate a vault from cwd or write to a random directory. If `.lyt/vault.yon` is missing at the resolved path, the skill aborts. --- ## Writing a custom skill A custom skill is a directory at `~/.claude/skills/my-skill/` (or `~/.codex/skills/...`) containing a `SKILL.md` with this frontmatter shape: ```yaml --- name: my-skill description: > Short trigger description. When does this skill fire? What does it do? visibility: public --- # /my-skill Body content — the harness reads this on invocation. Cite which `lyt pattern run` verb the skill wraps (if any), and the user-facing flow. ``` The harness reads `name` to register the slash command, `description` to compute relevance, and the body as the skill's instructions to the agent. --- ## Conflicts + priority If two skills declare the same `name`, the harness's behavior depends on its lookup order (Claude Code: alphabetical by directory name). For Lyt-specific patterns: - The 12 default skills ship with names `lyt-*` to avoid colliding with user-installed skills. - A user installing a pattern whose verb name matches a built-in (e.g., a second pattern's `capture` verb) will have the second skill auto-generated as `/lyt-<pattern-id>-capture` to avoid clobbering `/lyt-capture`. See also: `lyt help patterns` for the verb infrastructure used by pattern-backed workflows.