Installation

Prerequisites

Dependency	Version	Notes
Python	3.10–3.13	Required for the CLI and all analyzers
uv	Latest	Recommended package manager (install)
pip	Latest	Alternative to uv

Install from PyPI

# Using uv (recommended)
uv pip install cisco-ai-skill-scanner

# Using pip
pip install cisco-ai-skill-scanner

Cloud Provider Extras

Install optional extras for managed LLM cloud services:

# AWS Bedrock support (IAM credentials)
pip install cisco-ai-skill-scanner[bedrock]

# Google Vertex AI support
pip install cisco-ai-skill-scanner[vertex]

# Azure OpenAI support (managed identity)
pip install cisco-ai-skill-scanner[azure]

# All cloud providers
pip install cisco-ai-skill-scanner[all]

Install from Source

Use this if you want to contribute or run the latest development version:

git clone https://github.com/cisco-ai-defense/skill-scanner
cd skill-scanner
uv sync --all-extras

Run commands with uv run skill-scanner when using a source install.

Verify Installation

skill-scanner --help
skill-scanner list-analyzers

Environment Configuration

All configuration is done through environment variables. No config files are required for basic scanning.

LLM Analyzer and Meta-Analyzer

Variable	Description
`SKILL_SCANNER_LLM_API_KEY`	API key for the LLM provider
`SKILL_SCANNER_LLM_MODEL`	Model name (e.g., `anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-20250514`, `gpt-4o`)

External Analyzers

Variable	Description	Required for
`VIRUSTOTAL_API_KEY`	VirusTotal API key	`--use-virustotal`
`AI_DEFENSE_API_KEY`	Cisco AI Defense API key	`--use-aidefense`
`AI_DEFENSE_API_URL`	Cisco AI Defense endpoint URL	`--use-aidefense`

Quick Setup

# Required only for LLM-powered analysis
export SKILL_SCANNER_LLM_API_KEY="your_api_key"
export SKILL_SCANNER_LLM_MODEL="anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-20250514"

# Optional: VirusTotal binary scanning
export VIRUSTOTAL_API_KEY="your_virustotal_api_key"

# Optional: Cisco AI Defense
export AI_DEFENSE_API_KEY="your_aidefense_api_key"

LLM Provider Setup

The LLM and Meta analyzers use LiteLLM under the hood, supporting many providers through a unified interface.

Provider	Model String Example	Extra Required
Anthropic	`anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-20250514`	None
OpenAI	`gpt-4o`	None
AWS Bedrock	`bedrock/anthropic.claude-3-sonnet-...`	`[bedrock]`
Google Vertex	`vertex_ai/gemini-pro`	`[vertex]`
Azure OpenAI	`azure/gpt-4o`	`[azure]`

Set --llm-provider on the CLI or configure via the SKILL_SCANNER_LLM_MODEL environment variable using LiteLLM model naming conventions.

See the Dependencies and LLM Providers reference for provider-specific setup instructions.

Installation — Skill Scanner