Joseon Sillok Search Skill (NomaDamas) for Claude Code: What It Does and How to Install It

Makes Claude search the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty on the official site by keyword, with optional king and year filters.

Installs: 8.9K; on skills.sh
Stars: 8.2K; on GitHub
Files: 3; besides SKILL.md
Updated: Nov 2026; last repo commit

This skill runs a bundled Python script that calls the search page of sillok.history.go.kr, the National Institute of Korean History site. It reads the result list, opens the detail page for chosen articles and returns JSON with titles, links, summaries and a Korean-translation or original-text excerpt. You can narrow by king (--king), by Gregorian year (--year), by number of results (--limit) and by translation or original-text search (--type k|w).

SKILL.md is a stub that has Claude run an npx command to print the live instructions. The script itself is bundled with the k-skill npm package and is also in the repo. It needs an internet connection and python3, and instruction.md says no API key is needed. The v1 scope is plain scraping of the public HTML pages, with no semantic search or index.

Good for

Students and researchers of Joseon history who read Korean
Anyone who wants article titles, links and excerpts for a keyword such as 훈민정음
Teachers who want records narrowed to one king or one year

Install joseon-sillok-search

Claude Code

Copy this prompt.

Install the joseon-sillok-search skill in Claude Code. Run this command:

/plugin marketplace add NomaDamas/k-skill
/plugin install k-skill@k-skill

Then check that it loaded and tell me how to use it.

2
Paste it into Claude Code. It shows the change and asks before running it.

Requires Node.js 18 or newer, python3.

Pick one route. The plugin route installs the k-skill plugin, which covers the whole repo: 135 top-level skill folders (counted from the repo tree), with no hooks or MCP config files in the tree. The skills CLI and folder routes install only joseon-sillok-search. It also needs python3. The skill runs npx at use time, so there is no Claude app upload route.

From the project README. Source.

What's in the skill

When it loads

Search Joseon Dynasty Annals records from the official sillok.history.go.kr site with keyword search plus optional king/year narrowing.

Sections in SKILL.md

Get the full instructions (required first step)
Hard rules even without the CLI

Key facts

Author: NomaDamas (repo owner; k-skill collection for Korean users)
License: MIT
Installs on skills.sh: 8,894 (Nov 2, 2026)
GitHub stars: 8,232 for the whole repo (Nov 2, 2026)
Last repo commit: Nov 1, 2026
Audits on skills.sh: Gen Agent Trust Hub: pass, Socket: pass, Snyk: warn
What it includes: 4 files: SKILL.md, instruction.md, skill.json and scripts/sillok_search.py
Needs: Node.js 18 or newer for npx; python3; an internet connection
Part of: The k-skill plugin: 135 top-level skill folders in the repo tree

What it includes

SKILL.md tells Claude to run this first and follow its output
Fetches the current instructions from the k-skill npm package. The repo copy is joseon-sillok-search/instruction.md.
Runs code · Bootstrap: npx -y @nomadamas/k-skill@0 instruct joseon-sillok-search
Runs scripts/sillok_search.py --query "..." through npx and returns JSON
The script calls the search endpoint on sillok.history.go.kr and parses the result HTML.
Try: “조선왕조실록에서 훈민정음 찾아줘”
Runs code · Keyword search
--king (for example 세종 or 세종실록) and --year (for example 1443)
King names are normalised, so 세종 and 세종실록 give the same filter.
Try: “세종 때 실록에서 측우기 관련 기사 검색해줘”
Runs code · King and year filters
--limit sets the result count; --type k searches the translation, w the original text
Runs code · Result limit and search type
Opens /id/<article_id> pages to pull a translation or original-text excerpt
Links are returned in the https://sillok.history.go.kr/id/... form.
Network · Article detail excerpts

From the official docs

Permissions

High risk

Claude runs an npm package at use time and follows the instructions it prints, and a bundled Python script sends your search to a government website. Read the output of the k-skill command before Claude acts on it.

What it can do

Read your data
Create and change things
Delete things
Read-only mode

Watch out for

Claude runs whatever the k-skill npm package prints
SKILL.md says to run npx -y @nomadamas/k-skill@0 instruct joseon-sillok-search and follow its output as the primary instructions. Claude therefore acts on text that comes from an npm package at run time, and the @0 tag floats across 0.x releases, so the instructions can change without any change to SKILL.md. Read the output before Claude acts on it. github.com
npx -y installs packages without asking
The bootstrap and update commands use npx -y, which downloads and runs the k-skill package from npm without a prompt. github.com
It runs a Python script that scrapes a website
instruction.md says v1 is plain scraping of the public search and article pages. The script uses Python urllib, and requests when it is installed, and sets no API key. Keep requests to personal lookups. github.com
The k-skill CLI sends usage statistics
The docs say the CLI can send a usage event to PostHog with a random local id, the command, the skill name, CLI version, runtime mode and a success flag. It does not send command arguments, input, file contents, API responses or credentials. Set KSKILL_ANALYTICS_DISABLED=1 to opt out. github.com
The plugin route installs the whole k-skill set
The k-skill plugin in the repo tree has 135 top-level skill folders, including skills that cover other services. The skills CLI route can install just this one. github.com
Hard rules in SKILL.md
SKILL.md says never to run payment, message delivery, final submission, cancellation or public posting without explicit approval, and never to handle plaintext credentials in chat or files. github.com

Security advisories

No published security advisories as of Nov 2, 2026.

Technical details

Turning on read-only	No read-only switch exists.
Talks to	sillok.history.go.kr (search and article pages). npm registry (k-skill package via npx). us.i.posthog.com (k-skill usage statistics, opt-out available)
Sign-in and keys	SKILL.md says never to ask for or store plaintext credentials.
Scopes	Makes web requests to sillok.history.go.kr through a bundled Python script Installs and runs npm packages through npx

Questions

What does the joseon-sillok-search skill do?

It makes Claude search the Joseon Dynasty Annals on the official site, sillok.history.go.kr. It returns article titles, links, summaries and excerpts as JSON, optionally narrowed by king and year.

How do I install it?

Use the install box at the top of this page. The repo README documents a Claude Code plugin for the whole k-skill set and a skills CLI command for one skill. You also need Node.js 18 or newer and python3.

Do I need an API key?

No key is listed. instruction.md says no separate API key is needed and that the v1 script uses only the public HTML pages of the official site.

Where do my searches go?

The script sends your keyword to sillok.history.go.kr and opens article pages there. The npx commands also contact the npm registry.

Is it safe?

It has Claude run npx -y, which installs and runs an npm package without asking, and it follows instructions fetched at run time. The bundled Python script makes web requests to the Sillok site. Read what the k-skill command prints before Claude acts on it.

What happens when nothing matches?

instruction.md says Claude should not guess. It reports an empty result as it is.

Do I need to read Korean?

The instructions and example prompts are in Korean, and the site returns Korean and classical Chinese text. SKILL.md is in English.

Information

updated Nov 2, 2026

Repository: nomadamas/k-skill
Folder: joseon-sillok-search

nomadamas/k-skill skills.sh

Sources

Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.

Show all 6

k-skill README · github.com
k-skill marketplace.json · github.com
joseon-sillok-search SKILL.md · github.com
joseon-sillok-search instruction.md · github.com
sillok_search.py · github.com
k-skill usage analytics · github.com