registry: cross-agent `agents publish` / `agents search` (exploit the sync moat)

[muqsitnawaz]

Part of #321 · Tier 2 · Surface: version-mgmt / distribution (moat-hardening)

Summary

Our cross-agent config sync is unique, but there is no registry to discover or publish resources. Claude Code's marketplace (21k+ skills indexed) is the only real ecosystem today — and it's mono-vendor. A hosted agents publish / agents search where authors target multiple agents via agents: frontmatter directly exploits our moat.

Current behavior (this repo)

• Plugin marketplace exists as a synthetic per-version catalog (src/lib/plugin-marketplace.ts); agents repo add shares git repos of resources.
• There is no hosted registry, no agents search <term>, and no publish workflow.

The gap (competitors — June 2026)

• Claude Code plugins + claude-plugins-official (55+ curated) + community marketplaces (claudemarketplaces.com indexes 21,600+ skills) — Claude-only.
• ECC 2.0 ships 271 skills but is not a registry/distribution network.

Why it matters

Sophisticated users build mono-vendor marketplace workflows in Claude Code and never need agents-cli for discovery. A cross-agent registry — publish once, target Claude + Codex + Gemini + Cursor via agents: frontmatter — is something no single-vendor marketplace can match. It turns the sync moat into a network effect.

Proposed implementation

• Hosted registry.agents-cli.sh with agents publish <resource> and agents search <query> (skills/commands/hooks/plugins).
• Cross-agent targeting via existing agents: frontmatter; integrity hashes per artifact.
• Reuse the existing resource model; the registry is a thin index + artifact store.

Acceptance criteria

• agents publish uploads a skill and agents search finds it.
• A published resource installs cleanly across at least 3 different agents.
• Artifacts are integrity-verified on install.

Effort: L (4–6 months) · Priority: P1

[muqsitnawaz]

Triage (main @ d00c4df): partial. agents search exists for consuming external registries (Smithery et al., packages.ts:143). The cross-agent agents publish half — the sync-moat use case in this issue — is unimplemented (no publish command). Keep open, scoped to publish.