diff --git a/src/cli/agent-help.ts b/src/cli/agent-help.ts
index fccd8ee..3b66dc5 100644
--- a/src/cli/agent-help.ts
+++ b/src/cli/agent-help.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import {
   skillsListMeta,
   skillsAddMeta,
   skillsRemoveMeta,
+  skillsSearchMeta,
 } from './metadata/plugin-skills.js';
 
 const allCommands: AgentCommandMeta[] = [
@@ -35,6 +36,7 @@ const allCommands: AgentCommandMeta[] = [
   skillsListMeta,
   skillsAddMeta,
   skillsRemoveMeta,
+  skillsSearchMeta,
   updateMeta,
 ];
 
diff --git a/src/cli/commands/plugin-skills.ts b/src/cli/commands/plugin-skills.ts
index 51fcaa8..4134f6f 100644
--- a/src/cli/commands/plugin-skills.ts
+++ b/src/cli/commands/plugin-skills.ts
@@ -28,7 +28,13 @@ import {
   skillsListMeta,
   skillsRemoveMeta,
   skillsAddMeta,
+  skillsSearchMeta,
 } from '../metadata/plugin-skills.js';
+import {
+  searchSkills,
+  SkillSearchError,
+  type SkillSearchOptions,
+} from '../../core/skill-search.js';
 import { getHomeDir, CONFIG_DIR, WORKSPACE_CONFIG_FILE } from '../../constants.js';
 import { isGitHubUrl, parseGitHubUrl } from '../../utils/plugin-path.js';
 import { fetchPlugin, getPluginName, seedFetchCache } from '../../core/plugin.js';
@@ -1245,6 +1251,108 @@ const addCmd = command({
   },
 });
 
+// =============================================================================
+// skill search (GitHub Code Search)
+// =============================================================================
+
+const searchCmd = command({
+  name: 'search',
+  description: buildDescription(skillsSearchMeta),
+  args: {
+    query: positional({ type: string, displayName: 'query' }),
+    owner: option({
+      type: optional(string),
+      long: 'owner',
+      description: 'Scope to a single GitHub owner (org or user).',
+    }),
+    page: option({
+      type: optional(string),
+      long: 'page',
+      description: 'Result page (1-indexed, default 1).',
+    }),
+    limit: option({
+      type: optional(string),
+      long: 'limit',
+      description: 'Results per page (1–100, default 30).',
+    }),
+  },
+  handler: async ({ query, owner, page, limit }) => {
+    try {
+      const opts: SkillSearchOptions = {};
+      if (owner) opts.owner = owner;
+      if (page !== undefined) {
+        const n = Number.parseInt(page, 10);
+        if (Number.isNaN(n)) {
+          const err = '--page must be an integer.';
+          if (isJsonMode()) {
+            jsonOutput({ success: false, command: 'skill search', error: err });
+            process.exit(2);
+          }
+          console.error(`Error: ${err}`);
+          process.exit(2);
+        }
+        opts.page = n;
+      }
+      if (limit !== undefined) {
+        const n = Number.parseInt(limit, 10);
+        if (Number.isNaN(n)) {
+          const err = '--limit must be an integer.';
+          if (isJsonMode()) {
+            jsonOutput({ success: false, command: 'skill search', error: err });
+            process.exit(2);
+          }
+          console.error(`Error: ${err}`);
+          process.exit(2);
+        }
+        opts.limit = n;
+      }
+
+      const result = await searchSkills(query, opts);
+
+      if (isJsonMode()) {
+        jsonOutput({
+          success: true,
+          command: 'skill search',
+          data: result,
+        });
+        return;
+      }
+
+      if (result.items.length === 0) {
+        console.log(`No skills found for "${query}".`);
+        return;
+      }
+
+      console.log(`Found ${result.total} skill(s)${result.truncated ? ' (results truncated)' : ''}:`);
+      for (const item of result.items) {
+        const repoCol = item.repo.padEnd(28);
+        const nameCol = item.name.padEnd(28);
+        const desc = item.description ? `  ${item.description}` : '';
+        console.log(`  ${repoCol}  ${nameCol}${desc}`);
+      }
+    } catch (error) {
+      if (error instanceof SkillSearchError) {
+        const exitCode = error.kind === 'validation' ? 2 : 1;
+        if (isJsonMode()) {
+          jsonOutput({ success: false, command: 'skill search', error: error.message });
+          process.exit(exitCode);
+        }
+        console.error(`Error: ${error.message}`);
+        process.exit(exitCode);
+      }
+      if (error instanceof Error) {
+        if (isJsonMode()) {
+          jsonOutput({ success: false, command: 'skill search', error: error.message });
+          process.exit(1);
+        }
+        console.error(`Error: ${error.message}`);
+        process.exit(1);
+      }
+      throw error;
+    }
+  },
+});
+
 // =============================================================================
 // skill subcommands group (canonical singular; `skills` is a CLI alias)
 // =============================================================================
@@ -1256,5 +1364,6 @@ export const skillsCmd = conciseSubcommands({
     list: listCmd,
     remove: removeCmd,
     add: addCmd,
+    search: searchCmd,
   },
 });
diff --git a/src/cli/metadata/plugin-skills.ts b/src/cli/metadata/plugin-skills.ts
index ccbfb69..604da0a 100644
--- a/src/cli/metadata/plugin-skills.ts
+++ b/src/cli/metadata/plugin-skills.ts
@@ -41,6 +41,34 @@ export const skillsRemoveMeta: AgentCommandMeta = {
   },
 };
 
+export const skillsSearchMeta: AgentCommandMeta = {
+  command: 'skill search',
+  description: 'Search GitHub for skills by querying SKILL.md files via the Code Search API',
+  whenToUse:
+    'To discover available skills from public GitHub repositories without leaving the CLI. Bridges "I want a skill that does X" → install.',
+  examples: [
+    'allagents skill search terraform',
+    'allagents skill search terraform --owner hashicorp',
+    'allagents skill search docs --page 2 --limit 10',
+    'allagents --json skill search docs --limit 5',
+  ],
+  expectedOutput: 'Ranked list of matching skills with repo, path, and description',
+  positionals: [
+    { name: 'query', type: 'string', required: true, description: 'Search query (≥2 characters).' },
+  ],
+  options: [
+    { flag: '--owner', type: 'string', description: 'Scope to a single GitHub owner (org or user).' },
+    { flag: '--page', type: 'string', description: 'Result page (1-indexed, default 1).' },
+    { flag: '--limit', type: 'string', description: 'Results per page (1–100, default 30).' },
+  ],
+  outputSchema: {
+    query: 'string',
+    items: [{ name: 'string', repo: 'string', path: 'string', description: 'string', sha: 'string' }],
+    total: 'number',
+    truncated: 'boolean',
+  },
+};
+
 export const skillsAddMeta: AgentCommandMeta = {
   command: 'skill add',
   description: 'Add a skill from a plugin, or re-enable a previously disabled skill',
diff --git a/src/core/skill-search.ts b/src/core/skill-search.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e52d5e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/core/skill-search.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,204 @@
+/**
+ * GitHub Code Search wrapper for `allagents skill search`.
+ *
+ * Hits `GET /search/code` with a `path:SKILL.md filename:SKILL.md <query>`
+ * pattern, ranks results by relevance, and maps rate-limit errors to a
+ * single actionable message so callers never see a raw 403 / HTML dump.
+ *
+ * Auth comes from `GITHUB_TOKEN` when present; unauthenticated requests are
+ * subject to the public Code Search rate limit (10 req/min). See cli/cli
+ * issue #13293 for upstream tracking.
+ */
+
+const OWNER_REGEX = /^[A-Za-z0-9-]{1,39}$/;
+
+export interface SkillSearchItem {
+  /** Skill folder name (parent directory of SKILL.md). */
+  name: string;
+  /** `owner/repo` */
+  repo: string;
+  /** Path to SKILL.md inside the repo. */
+  path: string;
+  /** Repo description (often empty for Code Search results). */
+  description: string;
+  /** File blob SHA. */
+  sha: string;
+}
+
+export interface SkillSearchResult {
+  query: string;
+  items: SkillSearchItem[];
+  total: number;
+  truncated: boolean;
+}
+
+export interface SkillSearchOptions {
+  owner?: string;
+  page?: number;
+  limit?: number;
+}
+
+export class SkillSearchError extends Error {
+  constructor(message: string, public readonly kind: 'validation' | 'rate-limit' | 'api') {
+    super(message);
+    this.name = 'SkillSearchError';
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Validate caller-supplied arguments. Throws SkillSearchError on bad input
+ * so the CLI handler can format the message consistently.
+ */
+export function validateSkillSearchArgs(
+  query: string,
+  options: SkillSearchOptions,
+): void {
+  if (query.trim().length < 2) {
+    throw new SkillSearchError('Search query must be at least 2 characters.', 'validation');
+  }
+  if (options.page !== undefined && options.page < 1) {
+    throw new SkillSearchError('--page must be >= 1.', 'validation');
+  }
+  if (options.limit !== undefined && (options.limit < 1 || options.limit > 100)) {
+    throw new SkillSearchError('--limit must be between 1 and 100.', 'validation');
+  }
+  if (options.owner !== undefined && !OWNER_REGEX.test(options.owner)) {
+    throw new SkillSearchError(
+      `Invalid --owner "${options.owner}": GitHub owners are alphanumeric + dashes, ≤ 39 chars.`,
+      'validation',
+    );
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Map a GitHub API response to a SkillSearchError. The 403 / rate-limit body
+ * has a distinctive `documentation_url` and `message` shape; everything else
+ * falls back to a generic API error.
+ */
+function classifyApiError(status: number, body: unknown): SkillSearchError {
+  const msg = typeof body === 'object' && body !== null && 'message' in body
+    ? String((body as { message: unknown }).message ?? '')
+    : '';
+  if (status === 403 && /rate limit/i.test(msg)) {
+    return new SkillSearchError(
+      'GitHub Code Search rate limit exceeded. Authenticate with `gh auth login` or set GITHUB_TOKEN to raise the quota.',
+      'rate-limit',
+    );
+  }
+  if (status === 422) {
+    return new SkillSearchError(
+      `GitHub rejected the search query: ${msg || 'unprocessable entity'}.`,
+      'api',
+    );
+  }
+  return new SkillSearchError(
+    `GitHub Code Search returned ${status}${msg ? `: ${msg}` : ''}.`,
+    'api',
+  );
+}
+
+/**
+ * Build the `q=` querystring value: `<query> filename:SKILL.md path:SKILL.md [user:<owner>]`.
+ */
+function buildQueryString(query: string, owner: string | undefined): string {
+  const parts = [query.trim(), 'filename:SKILL.md', 'path:SKILL.md'];
+  if (owner) parts.push(`user:${owner}`);
+  return parts.join(' ');
+}
+
+/**
+ * Run the GitHub Code Search request. Network/auth comes from the environment
+ * via fetch + GITHUB_TOKEN; no extra deps.
+ *
+ * Items are returned in upstream relevance order. The handler may apply
+ * name-match-first re-ranking on top of this — kept separate so the wire
+ * format stays close to the gh-skill reference impl.
+ */
+export async function searchSkills(
+  query: string,
+  options: SkillSearchOptions = {},
+  deps: { fetch?: typeof fetch } = {},
+): Promise<SkillSearchResult> {
+  validateSkillSearchArgs(query, options);
+  const fetchFn = deps.fetch ?? fetch;
+
+  const page = options.page ?? 1;
+  const limit = options.limit ?? 30;
+  const q = buildQueryString(query, options.owner);
+  const url = new URL('https://api.github.com/search/code');
+  url.searchParams.set('q', q);
+  url.searchParams.set('per_page', String(limit));
+  url.searchParams.set('page', String(page));
+
+  const headers: Record<string, string> = {
+    Accept: 'application/vnd.github+json',
+    'X-GitHub-Api-Version': '2022-11-28',
+    'User-Agent': 'allagents-cli',
+  };
+  const token = process.env.GITHUB_TOKEN || process.env.GH_TOKEN;
+  if (token) headers.Authorization = `token ${token}`;
+
+  const response = await fetchFn(url.toString(), { headers });
+  let body: unknown = null;
+  try {
+    body = await response.json();
+  } catch {
+    // ignore — classifyApiError handles missing body gracefully
+  }
+  if (!response.ok) {
+    throw classifyApiError(response.status, body);
+  }
+
+  // GitHub Code Search response shape: { total_count, incomplete_results, items: [...] }
+  const parsed = body as {
+    total_count?: number;
+    incomplete_results?: boolean;
+    items?: Array<{
+      path?: string;
+      sha?: string;
+      repository?: { full_name?: string; description?: string };
+    }>;
+  };
+  const items: SkillSearchItem[] = (parsed.items ?? []).map((item) => {
+    const path = item.path ?? '';
+    // Skill name = parent dir of SKILL.md. For `skills/<name>/SKILL.md` this is
+    // <name>; for repo-root `SKILL.md` the parent is the repo name.
+    const parts = path.split('/');
+    const name = parts.length >= 2 ? parts[parts.length - 2] ?? '' : item.repository?.full_name?.split('/').pop() ?? '';
+    return {
+      name,
+      repo: item.repository?.full_name ?? '',
+      path,
+      description: item.repository?.description ?? '',
+      sha: item.sha ?? '',
+    };
+  });
+
+  return {
+    query,
+    items: rankItems(items, query),
+    total: parsed.total_count ?? items.length,
+    truncated: Boolean(parsed.incomplete_results),
+  };
+}
+
+/**
+ * Rank items: exact name match first, then prefix-match, then upstream order.
+ * Mirrors gh-skill's relevance heuristic so users see the obvious hits up top.
+ */
+function rankItems(items: SkillSearchItem[], query: string): SkillSearchItem[] {
+  const q = query.toLowerCase();
+  return [...items].sort((a, b) => {
+    const aScore = score(a, q);
+    const bScore = score(b, q);
+    return bScore - aScore;
+  });
+}
+
+function score(item: SkillSearchItem, q: string): number {
+  const name = item.name.toLowerCase();
+  if (name === q) return 3;
+  if (name.startsWith(q)) return 2;
+  if (name.includes(q)) return 1;
+  return 0;
+}
diff --git a/tests/unit/cli/agent-help.test.ts b/tests/unit/cli/agent-help.test.ts
index c1b593d..a2b6c22 100644
--- a/tests/unit/cli/agent-help.test.ts
+++ b/tests/unit/cli/agent-help.test.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import {
   skillsListMeta,
   skillsAddMeta,
   skillsRemoveMeta,
+  skillsSearchMeta,
 } from '../../../src/cli/metadata/plugin-skills.js';
 import type { AgentCommandMeta } from '../../../src/cli/help.js';
 
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@ const allCommands: AgentCommandMeta[] = [
   skillsListMeta,
   skillsAddMeta,
   skillsRemoveMeta,
+  skillsSearchMeta,
   updateMeta,
 ];
 
@@ -66,8 +68,8 @@ describe('extractAgentHelpFlag', () => {
 });
 
 describe('agent command metadata', () => {
-  test('contains exactly 16 commands', () => {
-    expect(allCommands.length).toBe(16);
+  test('contains exactly 17 commands', () => {
+    expect(allCommands.length).toBe(17);
   });
 
   test('all expected commands are present', () => {
@@ -86,6 +88,7 @@ describe('agent command metadata', () => {
       'skill add',
       'skill list',
       'skill remove',
+      'skill search',
       'update',
       'workspace init',
       'workspace status',
diff --git a/tests/unit/core/skill-search.test.ts b/tests/unit/core/skill-search.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1fe0def
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/core/skill-search.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+import { describe, expect, it } from 'bun:test';
+import {
+  SkillSearchError,
+  searchSkills,
+  validateSkillSearchArgs,
+} from '../../../src/core/skill-search.js';
+
+describe('validateSkillSearchArgs', () => {
+  it('rejects queries under 2 chars', () => {
+    expect(() => validateSkillSearchArgs('a', {})).toThrow(SkillSearchError);
+  });
+
+  it('rejects --page < 1', () => {
+    expect(() => validateSkillSearchArgs('docs', { page: 0 })).toThrow(SkillSearchError);
+  });
+
+  it('rejects --limit < 1 or > 100', () => {
+    expect(() => validateSkillSearchArgs('docs', { limit: 0 })).toThrow(SkillSearchError);
+    expect(() => validateSkillSearchArgs('docs', { limit: 101 })).toThrow(SkillSearchError);
+  });
+
+  it('rejects malformed --owner', () => {
+    expect(() => validateSkillSearchArgs('docs', { owner: 'with spaces' })).toThrow(SkillSearchError);
+    expect(() => validateSkillSearchArgs('docs', { owner: 'owner/repo' })).toThrow(SkillSearchError);
+  });
+
+  it('accepts valid arguments', () => {
+    expect(() => validateSkillSearchArgs('docs', { page: 2, limit: 50, owner: 'github' })).not.toThrow();
+  });
+});
+
+describe('searchSkills error mapping', () => {
+  it('maps 403 rate-limit to a SkillSearchError with kind "rate-limit"', async () => {
+    const fakeFetch = (async () => ({
+      ok: false,
+      status: 403,
+      json: async () => ({ message: 'API rate limit exceeded for ...' }),
+    })) as unknown as typeof fetch;
+
+    try {
+      await searchSkills('docs', {}, { fetch: fakeFetch });
+      throw new Error('should have thrown');
+    } catch (error) {
+      expect(error).toBeInstanceOf(SkillSearchError);
+      expect((error as SkillSearchError).kind).toBe('rate-limit');
+      expect((error as SkillSearchError).message).toContain('rate limit');
+      expect((error as SkillSearchError).message).toContain('GITHUB_TOKEN');
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('maps 422 to a SkillSearchError with kind "api"', async () => {
+    const fakeFetch = (async () => ({
+      ok: false,
+      status: 422,
+      json: async () => ({ message: 'Validation Failed' }),
+    })) as unknown as typeof fetch;
+
+    try {
+      await searchSkills('docs', {}, { fetch: fakeFetch });
+      throw new Error('should have thrown');
+    } catch (error) {
+      expect(error).toBeInstanceOf(SkillSearchError);
+      expect((error as SkillSearchError).kind).toBe('api');
+    }
+  });
+
+  it('returns normalized items on a successful response', async () => {
+    const fakeFetch = (async () => ({
+      ok: true,
+      status: 200,
+      json: async () => ({
+        total_count: 2,
+        incomplete_results: false,
+        items: [
+          {
+            path: 'skills/docs-writer/SKILL.md',
+            sha: 'abc',
+            repository: { full_name: 'org/repo', description: 'Some skills' },
+          },
+          {
+            path: 'skills/api-docs/SKILL.md',
+            sha: 'def',
+            repository: { full_name: 'org2/repo2', description: '' },
+          },
+        ],
+      }),
+    })) as unknown as typeof fetch;
+
+    const result = await searchSkills('docs', { limit: 5 }, { fetch: fakeFetch });
+    expect(result.total).toBe(2);
+    expect(result.items.length).toBe(2);
+    expect(result.items.map((i) => i.name)).toContain('docs-writer');
+    expect(result.items.map((i) => i.name)).toContain('api-docs');
+  });
+});