Curated Skill Exposure Without Source Deletion

Skill source, installation, enablement, and invocation are separate states. Keep useful source versioned without making every skill part of every session’s available catalog.

Use a small profile

Start with the smallest always-on set that protects common work. Add a bounded task profile only when the current repository or mission needs it. Enable a specialist skill by exact name for an exceptional task, then return to the smaller profile.

Low observed use is evidence for task-scoped exposure, not source deletion. Likewise, a skill read during a difficult task does not prove that the skill caused either success or failure.

Keep the layers separate

Layer	Decision
Source	Is the reusable capability worth retaining and improving?
Discovery installation	Can the runtime find the skill directory?
Enablement	Should this skill be available in the current profile?
Invocation	Should the current task select it implicitly or explicitly?

Bundled system skills and plugin-provided skills are separate governance layers. A source-repository profile controller must not silently modify them.

Controller contract

A local profile controller should:

default to a read-only preview;
use an explicit allowlist rather than inferred popularity;
touch only source-owned entries;
preserve unrelated configuration and external skills;
reject conflicting manual overrides;
validate the complete generated configuration before replacement;
write a protected backup and reversal record before mutation;
replace configuration atomically;
make repeated application idempotent;
refuse restoration after unrecognized configuration drift; and
never restart an active runtime automatically.

Use the runtime’s supported per-skill enablement mechanism when available. Unlinking a verified source-owned discovery link is a fallback, not source deletion. Never remove a real skill directory to change exposure.

Adoption flow

Inventory source-owned, bundled, plugin-provided, and externally installed skills separately.
Define the minimal core and each task profile as reviewable allowlists.
Preview the exact enable, disable, install, and unchanged sets.
Validate the controller against an isolated configuration and discovery root.
Apply only the approved profile and retain its reversal record.
Restart at an approved idle boundary when the runtime requires it.
Verify the effective available-skill catalog in a fresh session.
Restore if protected capabilities are missing or unrelated entries changed.

Evidence and limitations

Record profile name, source revision, enabled and disabled names, configuration hashes, validation status, and restoration pointer. Do not record credentials, authentication state, or the complete unrelated runtime configuration.