security-skills MCP — Use Cases, Install & Live Demo

Why use it

Key features

Threat modeling template based on STRIDE
Dependency CVE cross-referencing workflow
IaC misconfiguration checks (Terraform, Docker, k8s)
Security code review patterns
Defensive focus — no exploitation tooling

Live Demo

What it looks like in practice

security-skill.replay ▶ ready

0/0

Install

Pick your client

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json · Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "security-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/eth0izzle/security-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/security-skills"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config. Restart after saving.

~/.cursor/mcp.json · .cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "security-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/eth0izzle/security-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/security-skills"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Cursor uses the same mcpServers schema as Claude Desktop. Project config wins over global.

VS Code → Cline → MCP Servers → Edit

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "security-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/eth0izzle/security-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/security-skills"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Click the MCP Servers icon in the Cline sidebar, then "Edit Configuration".

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "security-skill": {
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/eth0izzle/security-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/security-skills"
      ],
      "_inferred": true
    }
  }
}

Same shape as Claude Desktop. Restart Windsurf to pick up changes.

~/.continue/config.json

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "security-skill",
      "command": "git",
      "args": [
        "clone",
        "https://github.com/eth0izzle/security-skills",
        "~/.claude/skills/security-skills"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Continue uses an array of server objects rather than a map.

~/.config/zed/settings.json

{
  "context_servers": {
    "security-skill": {
      "command": {
        "path": "git",
        "args": [
          "clone",
          "https://github.com/eth0izzle/security-skills",
          "~/.claude/skills/security-skills"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to context_servers. Zed hot-reloads on save.

claude mcp add security-skill -- git clone https://github.com/eth0izzle/security-skills ~/.claude/skills/security-skills

One-liner. Verify with claude mcp list. Remove with claude mcp remove.

Use Cases

Real-world ways to use security-skills

Produce a STRIDE threat model for a new feature

👤 Security engineers, staff+ engineers owning a feature's security review ⏱ ~45 min advanced

When to use: Design review for a feature that touches user data, auth, or external networks.

Prerequisites

Feature design doc or architecture diagram — Paste into chat or point Claude at the file
Skill installed — git clone https://github.com/eth0izzle/security-skills ~/.claude/skills/security-skills

Flow

Walk the system

Use security-skills. Here's the design for [feature]. Enumerate trust boundaries and data flows.✓ Copied

→ Named trust boundaries, explicit data flow arrows
Apply STRIDE

For each boundary, call out Spoofing, Tampering, Repudiation, Info Disclosure, DoS, Elevation risks.✓ Copied

→ Table with threats scored, not generic 'consider XSS'
Propose mitigations

Rank the threats by likelihood * impact and propose concrete mitigations for the top 5.✓ Copied

→ Specific controls (rate limit, signed requests, audit log)

Outcome: A threat model doc ready for a security review meeting.

Pitfalls

STRIDE becomes checkbox theater — Demand concrete attacker stories — 'attacker with X wants Y, does Z'

Combine with: filesystem

Sweep a repo's dependencies for known CVEs

👤 Dev teams responding to a security advisory ⏱ ~30 min intermediate

When to use: A new CVE drops and you need to know where you're exposed.

Flow

Point at the manifest

Use security-skills. Audit package-lock.json for dependencies with known CVEs published in the last 90 days.✓ Copied

→ List of packages, advisory IDs, severity
Triage by usage

For each vulnerable dep, grep the codebase — is it actually reachable?✓ Copied

→ Reachable vs unreachable classification
Draft an upgrade plan

Plan the minimum-risk upgrade order so CI doesn't explode.✓ Copied

→ Ordered upgrade sequence with version pins

Outcome: A concrete patch plan — not 'run npm audit fix' and pray.

Pitfalls

Transitive dependencies missed — Use full lockfile, not just top-level manifest

Combine with: filesystem · github

Review Terraform and k8s manifests for common misconfigs

👤 Platform engineers, DevSecOps ⏱ ~30 min intermediate

When to use: Before merging IaC changes into main, or auditing what's already there.

Flow

Point Claude at the IaC directory

Use security-skills. Scan terraform/ for S3 buckets without encryption, IAM wildcards, public security groups.✓ Copied

→ File+line references with severity
Get fixes

For each finding, propose the minimal Terraform diff to fix it.✓ Copied

→ HCL snippets showing before/after

Outcome: PR-sized security fixes you can merge incrementally.

Pitfalls

False positives on intentional public assets — Tag resources that are intentionally public; the skill should skip them

Combine with: github · filesystem

Combinations

Pair with other MCPs for X10 leverage

security-skill + github

Post findings as PR comments automatically

Review this PR and leave line comments for each security finding.✓ Copied

security-skill + filesystem

Recursive scans across a monorepo

Walk the entire services/ tree and aggregate findings by service.✓ Copied

Tools

What this MCP exposes

Tool	Inputs	When to call	Cost
threat_model	system description	Design-phase review	0
cve_audit	lockfile path	After a public CVE drops	0 (uses public advisory data)
iac_review	directory path	Pre-merge IaC audits	0
secret_scan	path or diff	Pre-commit or pre-push	0

Cost & Limits

What this costs to run

API quota: None built-in
Tokens per call: Moderate — depends on files inspected
Monetary: Free
Tip: Scope scans to specific directories; don't point at node_modules.

Security

Permissions, secrets, blast radius

Credential storage: None in skill itself

Data egress: None — skill is prompts; be aware inspected code goes to Claude API

Defensive only. Do not use for exploitation, credential harvesting, or red-team operations.
Never paste production secrets into prompts — even when asking the skill to 'find them'.

Troubleshooting

Common errors and fixes

Skill suggests exploitation techniques

Re-prompt for defensive framing: 'as a defender, how do I prevent X'

Too many false positives on IaC scan

Provide context (prod vs staging; intentional public resources)

Missed a known vulnerability

Claude's knowledge cutoff may lag. Pair with a proper scanner (Trivy, Snyk) for authoritative CVE data.

Alternatives

security-skills vs others

Alternative	When to use it instead	Tradeoff
Trivy / Grype	You need an authoritative, up-to-date vulnerability database	No LLM reasoning — just raw scan output
tfsec / checkov	Specific IaC scanning with a curated rule set	Rule-bound; misses nuanced misconfigs

More

Resources

📖 Read the official README on GitHub

🐙 Browse open issues

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