Getting Started
This guide walks you through setting up Shared Context and getting your first skill installed into an AI tool. You'll be up and running in under five minutes.
Create an Account
Visit app.sharedcontext.ai and sign in with your Google account. Authentication is handled through Google OAuth, so there's no separate password to remember.
After signing in for the first time, you'll be guided through a short onboarding flow to set up your workspace.
Create an Organization
Organizations are the core workspace unit in Shared Context. Every resource you create belongs to an organization, and organizations share a credit pool and git-backed file repository.
During onboarding, you can either create a new organization or accept an invitation to join an existing one. Each organization gets:
- A unique slug for public URLs (e.g.,
app.sharedcontext.ai/your-team) - A git repository for version-controlled resource storage
- A shared credit balance for AI execution
- Team member management with invitations
Explore the Dashboard
The dashboard is your home base. It has two main tabs:
Skills Tab
Browse skills available to you with sub-filters for Trending, Popular, New, and Installed. Skills you've already installed are hidden from the discovery views so you always see fresh content. Each skill card shows quality signals like star count, install count, and topic tags.
My Files Tab
A GitHub-style file browser that mirrors your organization's git repository. You can create folders, move resources, and navigate through your team's content with breadcrumb navigation. Switch between table view and grid view using the toolbar.
Create Your First Skill
There are two ways to create a skill:
Option A: AI Skill Builder
Navigate to the Skill Builder assistant page. Describe what you want your skill to do in natural language, and the AI will draft a complete skill document for you. You can iterate on it through conversation, then save it to your organization.
Option B: Manual Editor
From the My Files tab, create a new skill. You'll get access to two editing modes:
- Markdown mode — A source editor with a formatting toolbar (bold, italic, headings, lists, code blocks)
- Visual mode — A WYSIWYG editor for writing without markdown syntax
Skills support YAML front matter for metadata (title and description), though this is managed automatically when you save through the UI.
Sub-Files
Skills can include attached sub-files for executable scripts and configuration data:
- Scripts — Executable code files (Python, Shell, JavaScript, TypeScript, Ruby, Go, Rust)
- Resources — Configuration and data files (JSON, YAML, TOML, XML, CSV, TXT, ENV, INI)
Connect Your AI Tools
Before you can install skills, you need at least one connection to an AI tool. Go to Settings → Connections and add a connection for one of the supported platforms:
| Platform | Description | Install Method |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | Anthropic's terminal-based coding agent | Manual export / Filesystem |
| ChatGPT | OpenAI's conversational AI | Manual export |
| Gemini | Google's AI assistant | Manual export |
| MCP | Model Context Protocol server | Always-live connection |
| Custom | Webhook or filesystem integration | Webhook / Filesystem |
sc init will automatically create a connection for your detected agent. See the CLI Reference for details.
Install a Skill
Once you have a connection, installing a skill takes one click:
- Open any installable skill (from the dashboard, library, or direct link)
- Click the Install button in the skill header
- Select which connection(s) to install to
- The skill is written to your AI tool's configuration
After installation, a badge shows you the install status. When the skill author publishes updates, you'll see an Update indicator — every save is an automatic publish, so there's no separate publishing step.
Discover Published Skills
The Library is a public catalog of published skills. Browse by topic tags, or explore skills from community publishers and curated GitHub sources. Any published skill can be previewed, starred, cloned, or installed.
You can also discover skills through:
- Organization profiles — Visit
app.sharedcontext.ai/{org-slug}to see a team's published skills - External publishers — GitHub-sourced skills appear at
app.sharedcontext.ai/external/{owner}/skills - CLI search — Run
sc search <query>from your terminal