📊 Full opportunity report: The Skills Marketplace Nobody Is Building Yet on ThorstenMeyerAI.com — validation score, market gap, and execution plan.
TL;DR
A standardized format for AI skills has been established, with several reference implementations and directories, but a dedicated marketplace layer remains absent. This gap presents an opportunity for early entrants to shape the ecosystem.
While the open standard for AI skills has been published and several reference implementations and directories exist, there is currently no dedicated marketplace layer to host, discover, or monetize these skills, representing a significant gap in the AI ecosystem.
In December 2025, Anthropic published the Agent Skills specification as an open standard at agentskills.io, enabling interoperability across different AI models and runtimes. This standard defines a simple format—primarily YAML frontmatter with Markdown instructions—that allows non-engineers to create and share skills without coding. Several reference implementations are already available, including Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s Codex CLI, which adopt the standard.
Multiple community directories, such as SkillsMP, ClaudeWorld, claudeskills.info, and GitHub repositories, host over 140 free, open-source skills. These serve as discovery layers but do not support monetization, vetting, or security audits beyond trusting the source. Importantly, there is no marketplace akin to an app store, with no revenue sharing, no vetting process, and no cross-surface portability—skills uploaded to Claude.ai are not available via API for other models, and vice versa.
The core issue is that, despite the open standard and growing ecosystem, the marketplace layer—where skills could be sold, curated, and securely managed—is missing. This creates a significant gap, limiting the ability for developers and organizations to monetize or securely distribute skills at scale. The window to build this layer is roughly 9 to 18 months, and smaller companies are positioned to capitalize on this opportunity, given their agility and focus.
The skills marketplace.
The directory exists. The marketplace doesn’t. Here’s the gap — and who closes it.
There are 140+ free Agent Skills on community marketplaces today. 17 official Anthropic skills under Apache 2.0. A published open standard at agentskills.io that OpenAI’s Codex CLI adopted. Microsoft, Google, Vercel publishing skill collections. And no skills equivalent of the App Store. No revenue share. No vetted-author verification. No security audit pipeline. No paid skills at all.
Folder. Frontmatter. Instructions.
A skill is a directory containing a SKILL.md file with YAML frontmatter and Markdown instructions, plus optional scripts and templates. Progressive disclosure: the agent loads only metadata into context until the skill becomes relevant. The format is simple. The implication is significant.
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The directory exists. The marketplace doesn’t.
Five layers, in roughly the order they emerged. The first five are real and growing. The last five are the capture gaps — each is a real product, each is uncaptured, and any company that solves four of five wins the layer.
agentskills.io · Anthropic + OpenAI · Dec 2025The platform owner’s incentives do not align with the developer’s.
Same structural problem that produced the App Store / Play Store / Steam separation in mobile and gaming. The platform owner extracts rent at the marketplace layer; the developer wants to publish once and distribute everywhere. The two only align if a third party owns the marketplace.
Skills as a platform retention feature.
- Cross-surface friction is a soft retention mechanism, not a bug
- Partner directory is curated to drive distribution into their stack
- Revenue share competes with the lab’s own enterprise sales motion
- Verified-publisher status is awkward when the auditor is also the model vendor
- Skills tied to one model = same problem the standard was built to solve
Three fronts the labs cannot credibly compete on.
- Cross-surface neutrality — “publish once, run on any model”
- Verified-publisher status as a paid security service
- 70/30 revenue share creates incentives for vertical specialists
- Trust calculation is cleaner: auditor ≠ model vendor
- Wins by being the only neutral broker between labs and enterprise
Smaller than you assumed. Closer than you think.
~20 engineers · $30–50M Series A · founded 2026 H2 / 2027 H1. Reference: Replicate’s positioning in model hosting — neutral, multi-vendor, developer-first. The challenge is distribution.
GitHub (= Microsoft, conflict). Cursor. Replit. Linear. The most legible path is “GitHub Skills” — but Microsoft competes at the model layer, reproducing the original problem.
Harvey in legal · a healthcare-AI company yet to emerge · Bloomberg in finance. Slower path, structurally stronger trust position. Customer never has to ask “is this skill safe?”
The 2026 H2 author looks like the 2007 YouTube creator.
Write the skills now. Capture when the marketplace ships.
The capture mechanism does not yet exist. Skills you write today have no way to charge for themselves. This is a feature, not a bug, for the next 12 months. Write skills, accumulate authorship reputation, build a portfolio that becomes legible the moment a marketplace with revenue share goes live.
The directory exists. The marketplace doesn’t. Whoever builds it captures the most defensible position in the post-model AI stack.
Four assignments. By role.
Start writing skills now.
The marketplace doesn’t exist yet but the reputation system runs on what you publish in 2026. The early-mover advantage when the marketplace ships is real. GitHub stars compound into discoverable authorship.
The window is open. Funding is favorable through Q3.
The standard is set, the demand is forming, the labs won’t build it themselves, and the second-mover penalty in marketplaces is severe. The “App Store of agents” thesis is investable today.
Demand a skill governance roadmap.
If your AI vendor’s answer is “we trust Anthropic to vet skills,” the answer is incomplete. Demand SIEM integration, audit logging, enterprise approval workflows. Current admin controls are a starting line.
The position is winnable in 2026 H2.
Natural fits: GitHub, Cursor, Replit. If you build developer tooling but aren’t one of those, you have 12 months to figure out whether your product becomes a skills publishing channel — or watches the value flow past it.
Why a Skills Marketplace Is Critical for AI Ecosystem Growth
The absence of a dedicated marketplace hampers the ability for developers and organizations to monetize their skills and limits the ecosystem’s scalability. A marketplace would facilitate discovery, vetting, security, and monetization, creating a more robust and sustainable economy around AI skills. Without this layer, the ecosystem remains fragmented, with trust and security gaps that could slow adoption and innovation. Early entrants who establish this marketplace could secure a defensible position in the evolving AI infrastructure landscape, especially as model and platform competition intensify.
The Evolution of AI Skills Standards and Ecosystem Layers
Since Anthropic’s publication of the Agent Skills standard in December 2025, the ecosystem has seen rapid development of reference implementations and discovery directories. These layers have established a common format and enabled interoperability, making skills portable across models and runtimes. However, the marketplace layer—where skills would be bought, sold, and curated—remains undeveloped. Historically, ecosystems like app stores have driven platform growth and monetization, but no such structure exists yet for AI skills, leaving a key gap in the value chain. Smaller companies and startups are in a position to build this layer before larger tech giants, who are still focused on core model deployment and API access.
“The standard exists. The marketplace does not. The window is roughly 9–18 months.”
— Thorsten Meyer
Unresolved Challenges in Building a Skills Marketplace
It remains unclear who will take the lead in establishing a secure, scalable, and monetized skills marketplace. Questions include how to implement vetting and security protocols, manage cross-surface portability, and develop sustainable revenue models. Additionally, the regulatory and enterprise compliance requirements for such a marketplace are still being defined, and it is uncertain whether larger players or smaller startups will dominate this space.
Next Steps for Ecosystem Builders and Stakeholders
Within the next 9 to 18 months, developers and companies are expected to start building dedicated marketplaces or platforms that leverage the open standard. Early movers could establish ecosystems with integrated vetting, security, and monetization features. Industry collaborations, investment in security audits, and community-driven curation are likely to accelerate development. Monitoring these efforts will reveal who gains a dominant position and how the marketplace influences AI model and skill adoption.
Key Questions
Why is there no marketplace for AI skills yet?
While standards and reference implementations exist, the infrastructure for a secure, monetized, and discoverable marketplace has not been built. Challenges include vetting, security, cross-surface compatibility, and sustainable revenue models.
Who could lead the development of a skills marketplace?
Potential leaders include smaller innovative startups, existing AI platform providers, or consortiums formed by industry stakeholders aiming to establish open, secure standards for trading skills.
What are the risks of not having a marketplace?
The ecosystem risks fragmentation, limited monetization opportunities, and slower adoption, which could hinder the growth and sustainability of AI skill development.
When is a marketplace likely to emerge?
Industry experts estimate a window of roughly 9 to 18 months for the development of a functional, scalable marketplace layer around AI skills.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
