01 | Identify what you are actually installing
A skill may be instructions only, or it may reference scripts, resources, hooks, MCP servers, and external services. A plugin may bundle several skills, agents, and automatically executed logic. The label ‘skill’ does not mean ‘prompt only.’
Record the repository, author, commit or version, install date, and host client. These details determine whether future changes can be traced and rolled back.
- Is it a skill, skill pack, plugin, agent, hook, or MCP server?
- Is installation pinned to a defined version or commit?
- Does the maintainer provide releases, change history, or a security-reporting path?
02 | Inspect permissions and data paths layer by layer
Reading SKILL.md is only the first layer. Inspect referenced scripts, commands, environment variables, network hosts, and resources. Pay special attention to recursive file operations, package installation, uploads, telemetry, Git credentials, and commands that mutate production state.
The host agent's permissions define what a skill can potentially use. Even without its own credentials, a skill may direct the agent to inspect the workspace or call authenticated services. Use minimum permissions and a temporary project without sensitive data.
- Which files and directories can it read or modify?
- Which commands run and which dependencies are downloaded?
- Which hosts are contacted, what is uploaded, and is telemetry present?
03 | Inspect licensing at the directory level
A root license may not govern every file. Example repositories can mix open-source, source-available, and third-party material. Commercial use, modification, redistribution, and embedding must follow the license attached to the relevant directory or file.
Publicly readable does not mean commercially reusable when no license is identifiable. Keep the candidate in research until the maintainer provides clear terms.
04 | Establish a baseline with the same real task
Complete the task once without the skill and record time, errors, file changes, and review effort. Install the skill on a temporary branch and repeat with identical inputs and acceptance criteria. Adoption value exists only if quality, speed, or repeatability materially improves.
Do not rely on the maintainer's demo task. Real material exposes trigger errors, path assumptions, language limits, dependency conflicts, and irreversible changes.
05 | The pilot ends only after successful removal
Removal is more than deleting a folder. Check personal and project configuration, hooks, MCP registration, background processes, downloaded dependencies, caches, and environment variables. Rerun the original tests to prove the project does not depend on hidden state left behind.
Keep ‘do not install’ as a formal decision. If benefits do not cover permission, maintenance, and learning cost, retaining the current workflow is reasonable.