A Claude Code skill that enforces a "search before you build" philosophy. Before implementing anything from scratch, Skill Scout checks a curated local database of plugins, skills, MCP servers, and community resources — then falls back to web searches only when needed.
5 minutes searching can save 2 hours building. The Claude Code ecosystem is growing fast — there are thousands of plugins, skills, and MCP servers across dozens of registries and awesome lists. Skill Scout makes sure you check what already exists before writing something new.
Skill Scout activates whenever you're about to implement a feature, set up tooling, build an integration, or start any task that could be addressed by an existing resource. It follows a prioritized search workflow:
- Local reference database — Curated, categorized, instant lookup
- Installed plugins & skills — What's already available in your environment
- Configured marketplaces — Browse the Discover tab
- Web search — Cast a wider net across registries and GitHub
- Evaluate & install — Assess fit, recency, and quality
- Build from scratch — Only as a last resort
The references/ directory contains categorized resource files that are checked first:
| File | Contents |
|---|---|
curated-collections.md |
Awesome lists, mega-repos, and web directories |
skills-and-plugins.md |
Individual skills and plugins by category |
mcp-servers.md |
MCP servers organized by domain |
claude-md-and-configs.md |
CLAUDE.md examples and configuration collections |
registries-and-directories.md |
Where to search when local DB doesn't have it |
refresh-protocol.md |
How to keep the database current |
The database is seeded with resources from across the ecosystem and grows organically as new resources are discovered during sessions.
Skill Scout includes a refresh protocol — after roughly every 5 sessions or when starting a new project type, it prompts to run web searches for new resources and adds discoveries back to the reference files with updated timestamps.
Clone into your Claude Code skills directory:
git clone https://github.com/michaelcarwile/claude-skill-skill-scout.git ~/.claude/skills/skill-scoutThat's it — Claude Code automatically picks up skills from ~/.claude/skills/.
MIT