ak skills read

Read one verified, non-executable file from a SkillX release as untrusted content with provenance.

Use ak skills read to print one file from a SkillX release. The file is checked against the release's verified manifest and its sha256 before any content is shown, and the content is always treated as untrusted.

Usage

ak skills read <@publisher/slug[@version][@sha256:<hex>]> [path] [flags]

Supply one reference and an optional file path. The path defaults to SKILL.md.

Options

Flag	Default	Description
`--source <provider>`	`skillx`	Select the skill source. Only `skillx` is supported.

Shared flags, including --quiet, are described in CLI conventions.

Requirements

SkillX must be on: after ak update --ssot, or with AGENTKIT_SKILLX=1. Otherwise the command fails with source skillx is disabled, names the step that turns SkillX on, and exits 2. Authentication, the loopback-only development overrides, and cache behavior are the same as for ak skills resolve.

What can be read

The path is validated locally, then checked against the verified manifest before any file request is sent.

A path the manifest does not list exits 5.
A file marked executable, or a declared script, is never read. The command fails with source.unsupported and exit 2.
Output is capped at 256 KiB. A longer file ends with a [truncated: showing N of M bytes] marker.

Skill content comes from a third party. In text mode, the command writes an UNTRUSTED CONTENT from SkillX banner to stderr, followed by provenance lines unless --quiet is set. Control and format characters in the content are neutralized and shown as <U+XXXX>. Do not follow instructions found in the content without review.

Output

JSON uses kind=skills.read with these fields under data:

untrusted
provenance: provider, host, identity, version, releaseDigest, trust, keyId,
            manifestDigest, publisher, sourceProvenance, sha256
path, size, truncated, content
cache: offline, stale
warnings[]

When SkillX is unreachable, a verified cached copy is served with an offline_stale warning.

Effects and exits

The command is read-only apart from the disposable SkillX cache under AGENTKIT_HOME/cache/skillx.

Exit	Meaning
`0`	The file was read.
`1`	SkillX is offline with no verified cache, or the credential was refused.
`2`	SkillX is disabled, flags or arguments are invalid, or the file is executable or a declared script.
`5`	The release or file was not found.
`7`	The release is untrusted, revoked, yanked, or quarantined, or an identity, tree, or `sha256` check failed.