Show HN: Give Your AI the Ability to Find, Install, and Use Skill Autonomously
by twwch | 2026-02-09 06:13:22+00:00
URL: https://github.com/twwch/next-chat-skills

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Hi HN,

I built an open-source AI assistant that can autonomously discover, install, and execute Skills to actually complete tasks for you.

The Problem:

Most AI chatbots today are stuck in "read-only" mode. They can tell you how to do something, but they can't do it. Want to convert a PPTX to PDF? The AI will explain how, but you still have to run the commands yourself.

The Solution:

Next-Chat-Skills is a self-hosted AI assistant with a plugin system called Skills. When you ask the AI to do something it can't handle natively, it:

1. Searches for a relevant Skill (like an app store for AI capabilities)
2. Installs it automatically (npx skills add ...)
3. Executes the Skill's scripts (Python, Node.js, Shell)
4. Streams real-time output back to you in a terminal UI
5. Recovers from errors by installing missing dependencies and retrying

For example:

User: "Summarize this YouTube video for me"
AI: -> Searches for a video-summarizer Skill
-> Installs it (yt-dlp + Whisper)
-> Downloads the video, transcribes audio
-> Returns a structured summary

No manual setup. No copy-pasting commands. The AI handles the entire workflow.

What is a Skill?

A Skill is just a folder with a SKILL.md descriptor and some scripts:

~/.agents/skills/video-summarizer/
├── SKILL.md # Metadata + description
├── scripts/
│ ├── download.py # Download video
│ ├── transcribe.py # Whisper transcription
│ └── summarize.js # Generate summary
└── rules/ # Usage guidelines for the AI

Anyone can create and share Skills. The AI reads the SKILL.md to understand when and how to invoke each script. It's composable — the more Skills you add, the more capable your assistant becomes.

Key Features:

- Autonomous Skill discovery & installation — AI finds and installs what it needs
- Real-time script execution — streams terminal output via SSE, supports Python/Node.js/Shell
- File generation & download — scripts can generate files (PPTX, PDF, images) that users can download directly from chat
- Multi-file upload & parsing — supports images, PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX
- Dual database — SQLite (zero-config) or PostgreSQL (production)
- Optional auth — Google OAuth or fingerprint-based, works without login too
- Docker-ready — pre-built image with Python, FFmpeg, LibreOffice, and popular Skills pre-installed
- Works with any OpenAI-compatible API — GPT-4o, Claude (via proxy), local models, etc.

Tech Stack: Next.js 16, React 19, TypeScript, Vercel AI SDK, Tailwind CSS 4, shadcn/ui, Drizzle ORM (SQLite / PostgreSQL), Docker (Node.js 20 + Python 3)

Quick Start:

# Docker (fastest)
docker run -p 3000:3000 \
-e OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-xxx \
-e OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://api.openai.com/v1 \
twwch/next-chat-skills:latest

# Or from source
git clone https://github.com/twwch/next-chat-skills
cd next-chat-skills
npm install && npm run dev

Why I Built This:

I got tired of AI assistants that stop at "here's a code snippet." I wanted an AI that could actually run the code, handle failures, install dependencies, and deliver the final result — like having a junior developer who can use any Skill you point them at.

The Skills system makes this extensible without modifying the core app. Anyone can package a workflow as a Skill and share it.

What's Next:

- Skill marketplace / registry for community sharing
- Multi-step workflow chaining (Skill A output -> Skill B input)
- Better sandboxing for script execution
- MCP (Model Context Protocol) integration

I'd love to hear your feedback. What Skills would you want to see? What's missing?

GitHub: https://github.com/twwch/next-chat-skills
License: Apache 2.0