> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.multivon.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Install Claude Code skills

> Wire the bundled eval-bootstrap, eval-audit, and eval-explain skills into ~/.claude/skills/ with one command.

`multivon-eval install-skills` symlinks the three Claude Code skills that ship
inside the wheel into `~/.claude/skills/`, where Claude Code auto-discovers
them. Shipped in [0.9.8](https://github.com/multivon-ai/multivon-eval/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md#098--2026-06-03)
so the package no longer just *contains* the skills, it wires them up.

## What it does

The three skills live inside the installed package at
`multivon_eval/_skills/{eval-bootstrap,eval-audit,eval-explain}/`. The CLI
prefers a directory symlink for each one so a later `pip install -U
multivon-eval` propagates SKILL.md edits without re-running the command. On
filesystems that refuse directory symlinks (Windows without developer mode,
some FUSE mounts), it falls back to `shutil.copytree` and prints a note that
you'll need to re-run `install-skills` after upgrades.

The implementation lives in
[`cmd_install_skills`](https://github.com/multivon-ai/multivon-eval/blob/main/multivon_eval/cli.py)
— about 70 lines, no magic.

| Skill            | What it does                                                                                                                |
| ---------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `eval-bootstrap` | Generates a runnable eval suite from a product description + sample traces. Wraps the [`bootstrap` CLI](/guides/bootstrap). |
| `eval-audit`     | Pre-flight eval check on a PR diff. Runs only the cases that stress the changed surface.                                    |
| `eval-explain`   | Three-sentence rationale for any evaluator the bootstrap picked.                                                            |

## Run it

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash install theme={null}
  pip install 'multivon-eval>=0.9.8'
  multivon-eval install-skills
  ```

  ```bash preview theme={null}
  multivon-eval install-skills --dry-run
  ```

  ```bash overwrite theme={null}
  multivon-eval install-skills --force
  ```
</CodeGroup>

<ParamField path="--dry-run" type="flag">
  Print the symlink operations that would happen, touch nothing on disk.
  Useful in CI scripts that want to verify the source tree before installing.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--force" type="flag">
  Replace anything that already exists at `~/.claude/skills/eval-bootstrap`,
  `~/.claude/skills/eval-audit`, or `~/.claude/skills/eval-explain`. Without
  `--force`, existing entries are skipped with a clear log line.
</ParamField>

## Verify

```bash theme={null}
ls ~/.claude/skills/
# eval-audit  eval-bootstrap  eval-explain  (plus any others you have)
```

Open a new Claude Code session and type `/eval-bootstrap` — it should
autocomplete. The skill descriptions also trigger on natural-language phrases
("add evals to this project", "audit this prompt change"); see each skill's
SKILL.md frontmatter for the exact trigger list.

## Uninstall

```bash theme={null}
rm -rf ~/.claude/skills/eval-bootstrap \
       ~/.claude/skills/eval-audit \
       ~/.claude/skills/eval-explain
```

Removing the symlinks doesn't affect the installed package. `pip uninstall
multivon-eval` leaves the symlinks dangling — clean them up with the same
`rm -rf` above if you uninstall the package.

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Claude Code doesn't see the skill">
    Restart Claude Code. The skill registry is scanned at session start; new
    entries in `~/.claude/skills/` aren't hot-reloaded. After restart, verify
    with `ls ~/.claude/skills/` that the three symlinks exist and point at a
    real path inside your `site-packages/multivon_eval/_skills/` directory.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Permission denied on ~/.claude/skills/">
    The target directory doesn't exist or isn't writable. Create it first:

    ```bash theme={null}
    mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills
    multivon-eval install-skills
    ```

    `install-skills` calls `target_root.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)`
    itself, so this only fires on locked-down setups where the parent
    `~/.claude/` is owned by another user.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Symlink fell back to copy on Windows">
    Expected on Windows without developer mode enabled (directory symlinks
    require either admin or the Developer Mode setting). The CLI logs a
    `note: symlink failed for <skill> (...); copying tree instead` line and
    proceeds with `shutil.copytree`. The tradeoff: a subsequent `pip install -U
        multivon-eval` won't auto-pick-up SKILL.md edits — re-run
    `multivon-eval install-skills --force` after each upgrade.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="'already exists' on every skill">
    Re-run with `--force` to replace the existing entries. The CLI skips
    existing paths by default to avoid clobbering a hand-edited copy.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<Note>
  Prefer to vendor the skills into a different directory? Skip the CLI and
  symlink manually — see [`_skills/README.md`](https://github.com/multivon-ai/multivon-eval/blob/main/multivon_eval/_skills/README.md)
  for the one-liner.
</Note>

## See also

* [Bootstrap an eval suite](/guides/bootstrap) — what the `eval-bootstrap` skill runs under the hood
* [LLM-judge evaluators](/evaluators/llm-judge) — what `eval-explain` explains
* [The three skills, on GitHub](https://github.com/multivon-ai/multivon-eval/tree/main/multivon_eval/_skills) — read the SKILL.md before installing
* [Anthropic skill spec](https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/agents-and-tools/agent-skills) — the format these files conform to