Content
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[](https://github.com/BandarLabs/open-skills/stargazers)
[](https://github.com/BandarLabs/open-skills/blob/master/LICENSE)
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```
___ ____ _____ _ _ ____ _ _____ _ _ ____
/ _ \| _ \| ____| \ | | / ___|| |/ /_ _| | | | / ___|
| | | | |_) | _| | \| | \___ \| ' / | || | | | \___ \
| |_| | __/| |___| |\ | ___) | . \ | || |___| |___ ___) |
\___/|_| |_____|_| \_| |____/|_|\_\___|_____|_____|____/
```
# OpenSkills: Run Claude Skills Locally on Your Mac
Anthropic recently announced [Skills for Claude](https://www.anthropic.com/news/skills) - reusable folders with instructions, scripts, and resources that make Claude better at specialized tasks. This tool lets you run these skills **entirely on your local machine** in a sandboxed environment.
**What this means:** You can now process your files (documents, spreadsheets, presentations, images) using these specialized skills while keeping all data on your Mac. No uploads, complete privacy.
> This tool executes AI-generated code in a truly isolated sandboxed environment on your Mac using Apple's native containers.
## Demo
Watch Open-Skills in action with Gemini CLI:
## Why Run Skills Locally?
- **Privacy:** Process sensitive documents, financial data
- **Full Control:** Skills execute in an isolated container with VM-level isolation
- **Compatibility:** Works with Claude Desktop, Gemini CLI, Qwen CLI, or any MCP-compatible tool
- **Extensibility:** Import Anthropic's official skills or create your own custom skills
## Quick Start
**Prerequisites:** Mac with macOS and Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4/M5), Python 3.10+
```bash
git clone https://github.com/BandarLabs/open-skills.git
cd open-skills
chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh
```
Installation takes ~2 minutes. The MCP server will be available at `http://open-skills.local:8222/mcp`
**Install required packages** (use virtualenv and note the python path):
```bash
pip install -r examples/requirements.txt
```
## Setup: Connect Your AI Tool
This MCP server works with any MCP-compatible tool. All execution happens locally on your Mac.
### Option 1: Claude Desktop Integration
Configure Claude Desktop to use this MCP server:
1. **Copy the example configuration:**
```bash
cd examples
cp claude_desktop/claude_desktop_config.example.json claude_desktop/claude_desktop_config.json
```
2. **Edit the configuration file** and replace the placeholder paths:
- Replace `/path/to/your/python` with your actual Python path (e.g., `/usr/bin/python3` or `/opt/homebrew/bin/python3`)
- Replace `/path/to/open-skills` with the actual path to your cloned repository
Example after editing:
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"open-skills": {
"command": "/opt/homebrew/bin/python3",
"args": ["/Users/yourname/open-skills/examples/claude_desktop/mcpproxy.py"]
}
}
}
```
3. **Update Claude Desktop configuration:**
- Open Claude Desktop
- Go to Settings → Developer
- Add the MCP server configuration
- Restart Claude Desktop
### Option 2: OpenCode Configuration
For OpenCode users, create `~/.config/opencode/opencode.json`:
```json
{
"$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
"mcp": {
"open-skills": {
"type": "remote",
"url": "http://open-skills.local:8222/mcp",
"enabled": true
}
}
}
```
### Option 3: Gemini CLI Configuration
Edit `~/.gemini/settings.json`:
```json
{
"theme": "Default",
"selectedAuthType": "oauth-personal",
"mcpServers": {
"open-skills": {
"httpUrl": "http://open-skills.local:8222/mcp"
}
}
}
```
For system instructions, replace `~/.gemini/GEMINI.md` with [GEMINI.md](examples/gemini_cli/GEMINI.md)
### Option 3: Python OpenAI Agents
Use this server with OpenAI's Python agents library:
1. **Set your OpenAI API key:**
```bash
export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-openai-api-key-here"
```
2. **Run the client:**
```bash
python examples/openai_agents/openai_client.py
```
### Other Supported Tools
- **Qwen CLI:** Configure similar to Gemini CLI
- **Kiro by Amazon:** See examples in this repository for configuration
- **Any MCP client:** Point to `http://open-skills.local:8222/mcp`
## Example Use Cases
Once configured, you can ask your AI to:
- "Create a professional PowerPoint presentation from this markdown outline"
- "Extract all tables from these 10 PDFs and combine into one Excel spreadsheet"
- "Generate ASCII art logo for my project"
- "Fill out this tax form PDF with data from my CSV file"
- "Batch process these 100 images: crop to 16:9 and rotate 90 degrees"
## Adding New Skills
You can extend this server with additional skills in two ways:
### Option 1: Import Anthropic's Official Skills
Download skills from [Anthropic's skills repository](https://github.com/anthropics/skills/) and copy to:
```
~/.open-skills/assets/skills/user/<new-skill-folder>
```
**Available Official Skills:**
- Microsoft Word (docx)
- Microsoft PowerPoint (pptx)
- Microsoft Excel (xlsx)
- PDF manipulation
- Image processing
- Slack GIF creator
- And more...
### Skills Directory Structure
Here's an example with 4 imported skills:
```shell
~/.open-skills/assets/skills/
├── public
│ ├── image-crop-rotate
│ │ ├── scripts
│ │ └── SKILL.md
│ └── pdf-text-replace
│ ├── scripts
│ └── SKILL.md
└── user
├── docx
│ ├── docx-js.md
│ ├── LICENSE.txt
│ ├── ooxml
│ ├── ooxml.md
│ ├── scripts
│ └── SKILL.md
├── pptx
│ ├── html2pptx.md
│ ├── LICENSE.txt
│ ├── ooxml
│ ├── ooxml.md
│ ├── scripts
│ └── SKILL.md
├── slack-gif-creator
│ ├── core
│ ├── LICENSE.txt
│ ├── requirements.txt
│ ├── SKILL.md
│ └── templates
└── xlsx
├── LICENSE.txt
├── recalc.py
└── SKILL.md
```
### Option 2: Create Your Own Skills
Create a folder matching the structure shown above. The only mandatory file is `SKILL.md`. See [Anthropic's skills documentation](https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/agents-and-tools/agent-skills/overview) for details.
**Quick Method:**
Ask Claude to generate a skill for you:
> "Can you write a skill which creates ASCII art of words?"
Claude will create the skill and offer a ZIP download. Place the ZIP file directly in `~/.open-skills/assets/skills/user` (no need to expand).
**Manual Method:**
Create your own skill folder structure:
```
~/.open-skills/assets/skills/user/my-custom-skill/
├── SKILL.md # Documentation and usage examples
├── scripts/ # Your Python/bash scripts
│ └── process.py
└── requirements.txt # (optional) Python dependencies
```
## How Folder Mapping Works
This MCP server provides a compatibility layer that lets you run Claude's skills locally without modification:
**Path Translation:**
- Claude's path: `/mnt/user-data` → Local path: `/app/uploads`
- Skills designed for Claude work locally without any changes
**File Sharing - How to Share Files with Skills:**
To share your local files with skills for processing:
1. **Place files in the outputs directory:**
```bash
cp your-file.pdf ~/.open-skills/assets/outputs/
cp your-image.png ~/.open-skills/assets/outputs/
```
2. **Files become available inside the container:**
- Your files in `~/.open-skills/assets/outputs/` are automatically mounted
- Skills can access them via `/mnt/user-data/` (the standard Claude path)
- No manual copying or cloud uploads required
3. **Processed files appear in the same directory:**
- Output files are saved back to `~/.open-skills/assets/outputs/`
- You can access results immediately on your Mac
**Skill Structure:**
- No changes needed to imported skills
- Original folder hierarchy and file organization remain identical
- Import Claude skills and use them directly
## Live Demo: ASCII Art Skill
Here's a real example using Gemini CLI:
```
> /mcp
Configured MCP servers:
🟢 open-skills - Ready (5 tools)
Tools:
- execute_python_code
- get_skill_file
- get_skill_info
- list_skills
- navigate_and_get_all_visible_text
> can you generate ascii art for my project
✦ I will generate the ASCII art you desire. First, I must survey my available skills.
✓ list_skills (open-skills MCP Server)
✦ I have located a relevant skill: ascii-art. I will now retrieve its instructions.
✓ get_skill_info (open-skills MCP Server) {"skill_name":"ascii-art"}
✦ Your ASCII art is ready:
___ ____ _____ _ _ ____ _ _____ _ _ ____
/ _ \| _ \| ____| \ | | / ___|| |/ /_ _| | | | / ___|
| | | | |_) | _| | \| | \___ \| ' / | || | | | \___ \
| |_| | __/| |___| |\ | ___) | . \ | || |___| |___ ___) |
\___/|_| |_____|_| \_| |____/|_|\_\___|_____|_____|____/
Using: 1 GEMINI.md file | 3 MCP servers (ctrl+t to view)
```
**What happened:**
1. AI discovered available skills via `list_skills`
2. Found the relevant `ascii-art` skill
3. Retrieved skill instructions with `get_skill_info`
4. Executed the skill locally in the sandbox
5. Returned results - all without uploading any data to the cloud
## Security
Code runs in an isolated container with VM-level isolation. Your host system and files outside the sandbox remain protected.
From [@apple/container](https://github.com/apple/container/blob/main/docs/technical-overview.md):
>Each container has the isolation properties of a full VM, using a minimal set of core utilities and dynamic libraries to reduce resource utilization and attack surface.
## Architecture
This MCP server consists of:
- **Sandbox Container:** Isolated execution environment with Jupyter kernel
- **MCP Server:** Handles communication between AI models and the sandbox
- **Skills System:** Pre-packaged tools for common tasks (PDF manipulation, image processing, etc.)
## Available MCP Tools
When connected, this server exposes these tools to your AI:
- `execute_python_code` - Execute code in the sandbox
- `get_skill_file` - Read skill files
- `get_skill_info` - Get skill documentation
- `list_skills` - List all available skills
- `navigate_and_get_all_visible_text` - Web scraping with Playwright
## Learn More
- **GitHub Repository:** [github.com/BandarLabs/open-skills](https://github.com/BandarLabs/open-skills)
- **Anthropic Skills:** [github.com/anthropics/skills](https://github.com/anthropics/skills)
- **Skills Documentation:** [docs.claude.com/skills](https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/agents-and-tools/agent-skills/overview)
- **Blog: Building Offline Workspace:** [instavm.io/blog/building-my-offline-workspace-part-2-skills](https://instavm.io/blog/building-my-offline-workspace-part-2-skills)
- **Report Issues:** [github.com/BandarLabs/open-skills/issues](https://github.com/BandarLabs/open-skills/issues)
## Contributing
We welcome contributions! If you create useful skills or improve the implementation, please share them with the community.
## License
This project is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License - see the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for details.
