How to check an AI skill before you install it
A skill changes what your agent does. Five minutes of reading is worth it.
Skills and plugins give an AI agent new instructions, and sometimes new programs. Most are safe and useful. A quick check tells you what you are agreeing to.
Find out what runs
A folder of Markdown is just instructions. Scripts run when called. Hooks are different, because they run automatically, for example after every file edit. Look for a hooks file first.
Search for the risky parts
Search for network calls, environment variables holding keys, and any command that downloads and runs something. Then search the instructions for lines that tell the agent to hide things from you.
Be honest about what you could not read
A compiled program cannot be reviewed by reading it. That does not make it unsafe, but it means you are trusting the author. Our skills library labels these cases.