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Publishing to NestHub

What is NestHub?#

NestHub is the community registry for Cognest skills. It works like npm for skills — publish once, install anywhere. Every published skill gets a dedicated page with documentation, usage stats, and version history.

Prerequisites#

  • An Cognest account with a verified email
  • The Cognest CLI authenticated (cognest auth login)
  • A skill with tests passing

Prepare for Publishing#

Skill Manifest#

Every published skill needs a skill.json manifest file. Generate one with the CLI:

terminal
# Generate skill.json manifest
cognest skills init-manifest

# Or create it manually
skill.json
{
  "name": "expense-tracker",
  "version": "1.2.0",
  "description": "Track and categorize expenses from receipts and messages",
  "author": "your-username",
  "license": "MIT",
  "repository": "https://github.com/you/cognest-skill-expense-tracker",
  "keywords": ["finance", "expense", "tracking", "receipts"],
  "integrations": ["gmail", "google-drive"],
  "permissions": ["gmail.read", "drive.write"],
  "cognest": {
    "min_version": "2.0.0"
  }
}

Add a README#

Create a README.md in your skill directory. This is displayed on your skill's NestHub page.

Validate & Test#

terminal
# Validate your skill before publishing
cognest skills validate expense-tracker

# ✓ skill.json is valid
# ✓ defineSkill() export found
# ✓ Input schema is well-defined
# ✓ Tests pass (3/3)
# ✓ No security issues detected
# ✓ Ready to publish!

Publish#

terminal
# Publish to NestHub
cognest skills publish expense-tracker

# Output:
# Publishing expense-tracker@1.2.0...
# ✓ Package built
# ✓ Uploaded to NestHub
# ✓ Published! https://hub.cognest.ai/skills/expense-tracker

Version bumping

NestHub uses semantic versioning. You cannot overwrite a published version. Bump the version in skill.json before each publish.

Version Management#

terminal
# Bump version (patch: 1.2.0 → 1.2.1)
cognest skills version patch

# Bump minor (1.2.0 → 1.3.0)
cognest skills version minor

# Bump major (1.2.0 → 2.0.0)
cognest skills version major

# Publish the new version
cognest skills publish expense-tracker

Deprecation & Unpublishing#

terminal
# Deprecate a version (warns users on install)
cognest skills deprecate expense-tracker@1.0.0 --message "Use v2.x instead"

# Unpublish a version (only within 72 hours of publishing)
cognest skills unpublish expense-tracker@1.2.1

Publishing Checklist#

  1. Skill has a clear, descriptive name and description
  2. skill.json manifest is complete with version, author, and keywords
  3. All required integrations and permissions are declared
  4. Input schema has descriptions for all parameters
  5. Tests pass (cognest skills test)
  6. README.md exists with usage examples
  7. Validation passes (cognest skills validate)
  8. No hardcoded secrets or credentials in the source

Organization publishing

You can publish skills under your organization's namespace by prefixing the skill name: @my-org/expense-tracker. This requires the organization owner to grant publish permissions.