Fix --no-skills flag not preventing skills from loading

The --no-skills flag set options.skills = [] in main.ts, but the
interactive mode UI would rediscover skills anyway because it called
loadSkills() directly instead of using the already-loaded skills.

Changes:
- Add AgentSession.skills and AgentSession.skillWarnings properties
- discoverSkills() now returns { skills, warnings } instead of Skill[]
- Interactive mode uses session.skills instead of calling loadSkills()
- Update SDK docs and examples for new return type

Fixes #577

packages/coding-agent/src/core/agent-session.ts

@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ import type { ModelRegistry } from "./model-registry.js";
 import { expandPromptTemplate, type PromptTemplate } from "./prompt-templates.js";
 import type { BranchSummaryEntry, CompactionEntry, NewSessionOptions, SessionManager } from "./session-manager.js";
 import type { SettingsManager, SkillsSettings } from "./settings-manager.js";
+import type { Skill, SkillWarning } from "./skills.js";
 import type { BashOperations } from "./tools/bash.js";
 
 /** Session-specific events that extend the core AgentEvent */
@@ -77,6 +78,10 @@ export interface AgentSessionConfig {
 	promptTemplates?: PromptTemplate[];
 	/** Extension runner (created in sdk.ts with wrapped tools) */
 	extensionRunner?: ExtensionRunner;
+	/** Loaded skills (already discovered by SDK) */
+	skills?: Skill[];
+	/** Skill loading warnings (already captured by SDK) */
+	skillWarnings?: SkillWarning[];
 	skillsSettings?: Required<SkillsSettings>;
 	/** Model registry for API key resolution and model discovery */
 	modelRegistry: ModelRegistry;
@@ -177,6 +182,8 @@ export class AgentSession {
 	private _extensionRunner: ExtensionRunner | undefined = undefined;
 	private _turnIndex = 0;
 
+	private _skills: Skill[];
+	private _skillWarnings: SkillWarning[];
 	private _skillsSettings: Required<SkillsSettings> | undefined;
 
 	// Model registry for API key resolution
@@ -198,6 +205,8 @@ export class AgentSession {
 		this._scopedModels = config.scopedModels ?? [];
 		this._promptTemplates = config.promptTemplates ?? [];
 		this._extensionRunner = config.extensionRunner;
+		this._skills = config.skills ?? [];
+		this._skillWarnings = config.skillWarnings ?? [];
 		this._skillsSettings = config.skillsSettings;
 		this._modelRegistry = config.modelRegistry;
 		this._toolRegistry = config.toolRegistry ?? new Map();
@@ -870,6 +879,16 @@ export class AgentSession {
 		return this._skillsSettings;
 	}
 
+	/** Skills loaded by SDK (empty if --no-skills or skills: [] was passed) */
+	get skills(): readonly Skill[] {
+		return this._skills;
+	}
+
+	/** Skill loading warnings captured by SDK */
+	get skillWarnings(): readonly SkillWarning[] {
+		return this._skillWarnings;
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Abort current operation and wait for agent to become idle.
 	 */

packages/coding-agent/src/core/sdk.ts

@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ import { ModelRegistry } from "./model-registry.js";
 import { loadPromptTemplates as loadPromptTemplatesInternal, type PromptTemplate } from "./prompt-templates.js";
 import { SessionManager } from "./session-manager.js";
 import { type Settings, SettingsManager, type SkillsSettings } from "./settings-manager.js";
-import { loadSkills as loadSkillsInternal, type Skill } from "./skills.js";
+import { loadSkills as loadSkillsInternal, type Skill, type SkillWarning } from "./skills.js";
 import {
 	buildSystemPrompt as buildSystemPromptInternal,
 	loadProjectContextFiles as loadContextFilesInternal,
@@ -225,13 +225,16 @@ export async function discoverExtensions(
 /**
  * Discover skills from cwd and agentDir.
  */
-export function discoverSkills(cwd?: string, agentDir?: string, settings?: SkillsSettings): Skill[] {
-	const { skills } = loadSkillsInternal({
+export function discoverSkills(
+	cwd?: string,
+	agentDir?: string,
+	settings?: SkillsSettings,
+): { skills: Skill[]; warnings: SkillWarning[] } {
+	return loadSkillsInternal({
 		...settings,
 		cwd: cwd ?? process.cwd(),
 		agentDir: agentDir ?? getDefaultAgentDir(),
 	});
-	return skills;
 }
 
 /**
@@ -419,7 +422,16 @@ export async function createAgentSession(options: CreateAgentSessionOptions = {}
 		thinkingLevel = "off";
 	}
 
-	const skills = options.skills ?? discoverSkills(cwd, agentDir, settingsManager.getSkillsSettings());
+	let skills: Skill[];
+	let skillWarnings: SkillWarning[];
+	if (options.skills !== undefined) {
+		skills = options.skills;
+		skillWarnings = [];
+	} else {
+		const discovered = discoverSkills(cwd, agentDir, settingsManager.getSkillsSettings());
+		skills = discovered.skills;
+		skillWarnings = discovered.warnings;
+	}
 	time("discoverSkills");
 
 	const contextFiles = options.contextFiles ?? discoverContextFiles(cwd, agentDir);
@@ -641,13 +653,6 @@ export async function createAgentSession(options: CreateAgentSessionOptions = {}
 		sessionManager.appendThinkingLevelChange(thinkingLevel);
 	}
 
-	// Determine skillsSettings: if options.skills was explicitly provided (even []),
-	// mark skills as disabled so UI doesn't re-discover them
-	const skillsSettings =
-		options.skills !== undefined
-			? { ...settingsManager.getSkillsSettings(), enabled: false }
-			: settingsManager.getSkillsSettings();
-
 	const session = new AgentSession({
 		agent,
 		sessionManager,
@@ -655,7 +660,9 @@ export async function createAgentSession(options: CreateAgentSessionOptions = {}
 		scopedModels: options.scopedModels,
 		promptTemplates: promptTemplates,
 		extensionRunner,
-		skillsSettings,
+		skills,
+		skillWarnings,
+		skillsSettings: settingsManager.getSkillsSettings(),
 		modelRegistry,
 		toolRegistry: wrappedToolRegistry ?? toolRegistry,
 		rebuildSystemPrompt,

packages/coding-agent/src/modes/interactive/interactive-mode.ts

@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@ import type {
 import { KeybindingsManager } from "../../core/keybindings.js";
 import { createCompactionSummaryMessage } from "../../core/messages.js";
 import { type SessionContext, SessionManager } from "../../core/session-manager.js";
-import { loadSkills } from "../../core/skills.js";
 import { loadProjectContextFiles } from "../../core/system-prompt.js";
 import { allTools } from "../../core/tools/index.js";
 import type { TruncationResult } from "../../core/tools/truncate.js";
@@ -564,24 +563,22 @@ export class InteractiveMode {
 			this.chatContainer.addChild(new Spacer(1));
 		}
 
-		// Show loaded skills
-		const skillsSettings = this.session.skillsSettings;
-		if (skillsSettings?.enabled !== false) {
-			const { skills, warnings: skillWarnings } = loadSkills(skillsSettings ?? {});
-			if (skills.length > 0) {
-				const skillList = skills.map((s) => theme.fg("dim", `  ${s.filePath}`)).join("\n");
-				this.chatContainer.addChild(new Text(theme.fg("muted", "Loaded skills:\n") + skillList, 0, 0));
-				this.chatContainer.addChild(new Spacer(1));
-			}
+		// Show loaded skills (already discovered by SDK)
+		const skills = this.session.skills;
+		if (skills.length > 0) {
+			const skillList = skills.map((s) => theme.fg("dim", `  ${s.filePath}`)).join("\n");
+			this.chatContainer.addChild(new Text(theme.fg("muted", "Loaded skills:\n") + skillList, 0, 0));
+			this.chatContainer.addChild(new Spacer(1));
+		}
 
-			// Show skill warnings if any
-			if (skillWarnings.length > 0) {
-				const warningList = skillWarnings
-					.map((w) => theme.fg("warning", `  ${w.skillPath}: ${w.message}`))
-					.join("\n");
-				this.chatContainer.addChild(new Text(theme.fg("warning", "Skill warnings:\n") + warningList, 0, 0));
-				this.chatContainer.addChild(new Spacer(1));
-			}
+		// Show skill warnings if any
+		const skillWarnings = this.session.skillWarnings;
+		if (skillWarnings.length > 0) {
+			const warningList = skillWarnings
+				.map((w) => theme.fg("warning", `  ${w.skillPath}: ${w.message}`))
+				.join("\n");
+			this.chatContainer.addChild(new Text(theme.fg("warning", "Skill warnings:\n") + warningList, 0, 0));
+			this.chatContainer.addChild(new Spacer(1));
 		}
 
 		const extensionRunner = this.session.extensionRunner;