Install
Claude Desktop uses a different installation flow from other agents. Instead of writing a skill file directly, docmancer creates a zip package that you upload manually:
docmancer agent install claude-desktop
This creates a zip file at:
~/.docmancer/exports/claude-desktop/docmancer.zip
Upload to Claude Desktop
After running the install command, follow these steps:
- Open Claude Desktop
- Go to Customize > Skills
- Click "+" and select "Upload a skill"
- Select the zip file at
~/.docmancer/exports/claude-desktop/docmancer.zip
The skill will be available immediately after upload.
Why a zip file?
Claude Desktop does not have a stable skills directory on disk that docmancer can write to directly. The zip upload flow is Claude Desktop's supported method for adding third-party skills.
Verify
After uploading, you can verify the installation is tracked by docmancer:
docmancer status
The claude-desktop entry will show the path to the generated zip file. Note that docmancer cannot verify whether the zip was actually uploaded to Claude Desktop, only that the package was created.
Add docs and query
Make sure you have documentation indexed:
docmancer docs add https://docs.pytest.org
Then ask Claude Desktop about pytest. The uploaded skill teaches Claude Desktop to call docmancer docs query on your machine.
Updating the skill
When you update docmancer, re-run the install command and re-upload the zip:
docmancer agent install claude-desktop
Then repeat the upload steps in Claude Desktop. The old skill will be replaced.