feat(skills): serve skill list from the daemon so MCP prompt skills are visible - #1891
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| "Demo File", | ||
| "A file-backed skill.", | ||
| new FileSkillSource( | ||
| Path.Combine(paths.SkillsDirectory, "demo-file", "SKILL.md"), |
| "A file-backed skill.", | ||
| new FileSkillSource( | ||
| Path.Combine(paths.SkillsDirectory, "demo-file", "SKILL.md"), | ||
| Path.Combine(paths.SkillsDirectory, "demo-file")), |
Aaronontheweb
added
mcp
…re visible netclaw skill list scanned the skills directory on disk, so it never showed dynamic MCP prompt skills. Those live only in the daemon's in-memory SkillRegistry, next to file and server-feed skills, and load live via prompts/get. Operators saw no prompts while the agent already had them in its [skills] index, which read as a bug. - Add GET /api/skills (RequireAuthorization, same policy as the other read endpoints), returning the live registry as a SkillInventory wire DTO. The DTO carries name, display name, description, source (system/native/external/mcp), version, invocability, argument hint, and for MCP prompts the server name, prompt name, and declared arguments. - skill list now calls that endpoint. It requires the daemon: when the daemon is unreachable, times out, or returns an unusable response, it reports "Daemon unavailable" and exits non-zero, rather than silently degrading to a disk scan that would drop the MCP prompts (AGENTS.md: no silent fallbacks). - skill_load's not-found message no longer implies MCP prompts are unavailable; it points the model at the [skills] index without leaking audience-denied prompt names. Tests cover the endpoint auth gate and the MCP-prompt projection, the CLI render, and the daemon-unavailable cases (unreachable, non-JSON body, null body).
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Round-2 review findings, all addressed: - A malformed daemon endpoint (no scheme, bad URI) or an undecryptable stored device token threw before any HTTP happened and crashed skill list with a stack trace. RunListAsync now ends with a trailing catch, like McpCommand.RunListAsync, so every pre-HTTP failure reports "Daemon unavailable" and exits 1. - A 404 from a reachable daemon means the daemon predates /api/skills (the normal window after a CLI update). The message now says to restart the daemon instead of telling the operator to start it. - Building the DI host for skill list parses netclaw.json and secrets.json; a corrupt file produced a stack trace. The route now catches config-load failures and prints the file problem plus a fix hint. - The skill help text and the netclaw-operations reference doc claimed every subcommand works offline. Both now say list needs the daemon. - Four stale comments still described the deleted disk fallback; all removed. - skill_load's not-found note was gated on the unfiltered registry, which leaked whether any MCP prompts exist to a session denied all of them. The pointer at the [skills] index is now unconditional, so no registry state crosses the audience boundary. - New tests pin the contract: empty inventory renders "No skills found" with exit 0; unreachable, 500, 404 (restart wording), non-JSON body, null body, pre-HTTP failure, and a missing daemon API all report "Daemon unavailable" with exit 1. Test temp dirs now live under the fixture dir so they are cleaned up.
Aaronontheweb
commented
Aug 12, 2026
| /// prompt skills a disk scan cannot see. Throws <see cref="HttpRequestException"/> | ||
| /// (or a timeout) when the daemon is unreachable, so callers can fall back. | ||
| /// </summary> | ||
| public async Task<SkillInventory.Response?> GetSkillsAsync(CancellationToken ct = default) |
Aaronontheweb
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August 12, 2026 01:33
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| catch (Exception ex) | ||
| { | ||
| // The request can fail BEFORE any HTTP happens: a malformed endpoint | ||
| // string (UriFormatException, NotSupportedException, | ||
| // InvalidOperationException) or a stored device token that no longer | ||
| // decrypts (CryptographicException). The endpoint and token are | ||
| // operator-editable configuration, so these are "daemon unavailable" | ||
| // reports too, not stack traces. Mirrors McpCommand.RunListAsync's | ||
| // trailing catch. | ||
| unavailable = $"the daemon request failed ({ex.Message})"; | ||
| } |
| { | ||
| var configuration = new ConfigurationBuilder().Build(); | ||
| // Nested under the test's own temp dir so Dispose cleans it up. | ||
| var paths = new NetclawPaths(Path.Combine(_dir.Path, $"api-{Guid.NewGuid():N}")); |
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What
netclaw skill listscanned the skills directory on disk, so it could never show dynamic MCP prompt skills — those exist only in the daemon's in-memorySkillRegistry(alongside file and server-feed skills) and load live viaprompts/get. Operators saw "no prompts" while the agent already had them in its[skills]index, which read as a bug.Change
GET /api/skills(SkillEndpointRouteBuilderExtensions.MapSkillEndpoints) —.RequireAuthorization(), same default policy as/api/stats/skillsand/api/sessions. Returns the live registry as aSkillInventorywire DTO.Name,DisplayName,Description,Source(system/native/external/mcp),Version,UserInvocable/ModelInvocable,ArgumentHint, and for MCP prompts theServerName,PromptName, and declaredArguments.netclaw skill list— calls the endpoint throughDaemonApi.GetSkillsAsync. It requires the daemon: when the daemon is unreachable, times out, or returns an unusable response (non-success status, non-JSON body, null body), it printsDaemon unavailable: …and exits non-zero. No disk fallback — a disk scan would silently omit the MCP prompts, whichAGENTS.md's no-silent-fallbacks rule forbids.skill_load— its not-found message no longer implies MCP prompts are unavailable; it points the model at the[skills]index without listing (leaking) audience-denied prompt names.Design notes
prompts/get); nothing new is written to disk. The registry is the source of truth the model's index already reads, so the operator surface reads it too.[skills]index (truncated, audience-scoped) the model consumes./api/mcp/statuses) is full-trust, so returning every server's prompts is not an audience leak — audience filtering is a per-session/model control, not an operator-endpoint one.Tests
source=mcpplus its arguments, and a file skill asnative.{"skills":null}body) reportsDaemon unavailableand exits non-zero rather than crashing or degrading.McpCommand/DaemonApi,SkillRegistry,SkillToolTests, and the full Cli skill area all green.Adversarial review rounds
Two review passes ran against this PR; every finding is addressed in-branch:
skill listrequires the daemon and fails loudly.skill_loadnote leaked an existence bit from the unfiltered registry. All fixed in the follow-up commit, with tests pinning each failure mode (exit 1 +Daemon unavailable) and the empty-inventory success case (exit 0).Known follow-ups (out of scope here):
skill show/skill removestill disk-scan and cannot address MCP prompt skills; scanner issues are not part of the daemon inventory (useskill issues).