CLI reference
The committed interface for the skillwarden command (npm package skillwarden).
Scripts and CI configs may rely on everything documented here; changes are
semver-major.
Exit codes (all subcommands)
Section titled “Exit codes (all subcommands)”| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
0 |
Clean: no gate failure |
1 |
Gate failure: findings at/above --fail-on, or lockfile drift |
2 |
Usage or environment error: bad flags, no skills found, missing lockfile for diff |
Skill resolution (positional [paths...])
Section titled “Skill resolution (positional [paths...])”Each path may be a skill directory (contains SKILL.md), a SKILL.md file, or a
parent directory whose children are skill directories. With no paths, well-known
directories under the current working directory are discovered: .claude/skills,
.agents/skills, .agent/skills, .codex/skills, .gemini/skills,
.opencode/skills, .cursor/skills, skills.
Subcommands
Section titled “Subcommands”| Command | Purpose |
|---|---|
skillwarden scan |
Deterministic, offline security analysis of skills |
skillwarden lock |
Pin approved skill content into skillwarden.lock |
skillwarden diff |
Human-readable drift report against the lockfile |
skillwarden ci |
Drift gate + scan gate in one command for CI |
Guarantees
Section titled “Guarantees”- Scanning never executes skill content — files are only read.
- No network access in any subcommand.
- Reports never echo credential values (matches are redacted).