I’ve been working on a simple idea: instead of hard-coding capabilities into Codex-like agents, let them install skills on demand, from a public registry.
The setup is intentionally minimal:
A public skill registry (JSON index + signed artifacts)
A CLI (npx codex-skill install <skill>) for humans
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server so agents can:
search skills
fetch manifests
verify artifacts
install workflows programmatically
As a concrete example, the first skill is a theming skill for frontend projects (static HTML or Next.js + shadcn/ui). An agent can install the skill, apply a theme, and produce a clean diff in under a minute.
What this enables:
Agents that evolve without redeploying the core model
A neutral, inspectable “app store” for agent skills
Deterministic workflows (install → apply → diff → verify)
Humans and agents using the same install path
This is early and intentionally boring technically. The goal is to see if a shared skill ecosystem for agents actually makes sense in practice.
Happy to hear thoughts, criticism, or similar experiments people have tried.
Repo / demo links in comments if relevant.