Installed custom skill (aihot) does not appear in available skills in fresh non-project sessions

Open 💬 1 comment Opened May 8, 2026 by Billy-cpu0366

What version of the Codex App are you using (From “About Codex” dialog)?

Codex Desktop

What subscription do you have?

ChatGPT subscription

What platform is your computer?

Windows (x64)

What issue are you seeing?

I can successfully install a custom skill, but it is not exposed in the “available skills” list in fresh non-project sessions.

Repro steps:

Confirm local custom skill exists:
C:\Users\inertnet\.codex\skills\aihot\SKILL.md
Push same skill to GitHub:
https://github.com/Billy-cpu0366/aihot-skill
Install with official installer:
python "C:\Users\inertnet\.codex\skills\.system\skill-installer\scripts\install-skill-from-github.py" --repo Billy-cpu0366/aihot-skill --path . --name aihot-global
Installer succeeds with:
Installed aihot-global to C:\Users\inertnet/.codex/skills/aihot-global
Restart Codex Desktop.
Start a fresh non-project conversation.
Ask: “List available skills verbatim.”
Actual result:

Available skills list includes system skills and frontend-design, but does not include aihot or aihot-global.
Expected result:

A successfully installed custom skill should be available in fresh non-project sessions, or documentation should clearly state that installed custom skills are project-scoped only unless separately registered for global session injection.
Additional notes:

Project-level AGENTS.md declaration works reliably.
This issue is specifically about non-project/global session exposure.

What steps can reproduce the bug?

  1. Create a custom skill locally:
  • C:\Users\inertnet\.codex\skills\aihot\SKILL.md
  • frontmatter includes valid name and description.
  1. Publish the same skill to GitHub:
  • https://github.com/Billy-cpu0366/aihot-skill
  1. Install via official installer:

```powershell
python "C:\Users\inertnet\.codex\skills\.system\skill-installer\scripts\install-skill-from-github.py" --repo Billy-cpu0366/aihot-skill --path . --name aihot-global

Installer output:

Installed aihot-global to C:\Users\inertnet/.codex/skills/aihot-global
Restart Codex Desktop completely.

Open a fresh non-project conversation (no project AGENTS.md context).

Ask:

List available skills verbatim
Observe returned skill list:

system skills + frontend-design
missing aihot and aihot-global

What is the expected behavior?

A successfully installed custom skill (via official skill-installer) should be exposed in fresh non-project session available skills, same as other globally visible skills.

If this is not intended, documentation should explicitly state:

  • installed custom skills are not auto-exposed in non-project sessions, and
  • only specific pre-injected/registered skills appear globally.

Additional information

This is reproducible across multiple fresh sessions.

  • Project-level workaround works:
  • declaring the skill in project AGENTS.md makes it available in that project context.
  • So the issue is specifically with non-project/global session skill exposure.
  • Local file presence and format are valid; installation also reports success.

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