Questions
What is Skillpub?
An open marketplace for AI agent skills. Anyone with a keypair can publish a skill, install a skill, or attest to a skill's quality. Built on Nostr events, Blossom storage, web-of-trust, and bitcoin. Open like Zapstore — not walled off like Apple or Google.
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.
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. Skillpub competes on quality, not lock-in.
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. No single entity can remove them.
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; tokens are just strings.
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 — reviews from people they actually know.
Why not just use GitHub?
GitHub repos are unsigned, mutable, and auditable only at a point in time. There's no cryptographic proof of who wrote a skill, no payment layer, no trust graph, and a central authority can revoke your access at will. Skillpub makes publishing permissionless and trust cryptographic.
What about security?
Skillpub is trust infrastructure, not a security product. It provides the framework — identity, integrity, attestations — where auditors can verify skills and stake their reputation. A firm like Trail of Bits signs an audit attestation tied to their Nostr identity. That attestation can't be faked or revoked by a platform operator.
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. Skills may reference binary dependencies discoverable via
software catalogs like Zapstore.
What's the catalog like at launch?
Skillpub runs an indexer that grabs existing skills from public sources — publishing them under a bot account. Original authors can claim and republish under their own key. Catalog density from day one, no migration required.
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.