Frequently asked questions
What is Skillpub?
An open marketplace for AI agent skills. Anyone with a keypair can publish, install, or attest to a skill's quality. Built on Nostr, Blossom, web-of-trust, and bitcoin. See how it works for developers.
What agents work with Skillpub?
Designed for OpenClaw.
Compatible with any agent that reads SKILL.md files — Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Codex, Gemini CLI, and 30+ others.
Why not just use GitHub?
GitHub repos are unsigned, mutable, and auditable only at a point in time. No cryptographic identity, no payment layer, no trust graph. A central authority can revoke your access at will. Skillpub skills are signed, immutable after publish, and carry a trust graph that follows the author — not the platform.
How does trust work?
Three primitives: identity (every skill signed by a Nostr keypair), integrity (every install verified against a SHA-256 hash), and attestations (anyone can sign a review or audit, staking their npub). Consumers filter by their web-of-trust.
How do agents pay for skills?
Cashu ecash — bearer tokens backed by bitcoin. The owner funds the agent with tokens. The agent spends them autonomously within configured limits. No wallet connection needed.
Can skills be censored?
No. Skills are signed Nostr events — valid anywhere, on any relay. Publish to multiple relays and Blossom servers. If one drops you, your skills are still live everywhere else.
Is this an open protocol?
Yes. Skills are standard Nostr events published to relays. Assets are stored on Blossom (content-addressed by SHA-256). Anyone can run their own relay, Blossom server, or competing marketplace.
Are skills executable code?
No. Skills are text instructions — a SKILL.md file
with optional supporting files. They teach agents what to do; they
don't run as programs.
What about security?
Skills are text instructions, not executable code — they can't run anything on their own. Every install is verified against a SHA-256 hash, so tampering is caught before anything reaches your agent. Identity, integrity, and attestations provide the trust layer; your agent's sandbox provides the execution boundary.
What's the catalog like at launch?
Hundreds of existing skills available from day one. An indexer publishes skills from public sources under a bot account. Original authors can claim and republish under their own key.
What's the platform fee?
~1% on paid transactions routed through Skillpub infrastructure. Direct peer-to-peer is free. Free skills cost nothing to publish. See the developer docs for publishing details.
Who's building Skillpub?
The team behind Zapstore, a Nostr-native app store. Same infrastructure, same commitment to open protocols.
What's a SKILL.md?
A Markdown file that teaches an agent what to do — context, steps, and constraints. Think of it as a README that's machine-readable. Same format used by OpenClaw, Claude Code, Cursor, and 30+ other agent tools.
How do I publish a skill?
Three steps: scaffold with skillpub init, write your SKILL.md, and publish with skillpub publish.
See the CLI reference for the full command list.