---
title: "Provider Reference"
slug: "skillset/reference/providers"
description: Explains Skillset's provider vocabulary and routes to canonical targets and generated support facts.
---

<a id="provider-reference"></a>

A Skillset [target](/skillset/glossary/#target) is an enabled provider adapter selected for a compiler run. It receives [provider-native](/skillset/glossary/#provider-native) output produced by a [render](/skillset/glossary/#render), which a [build](/skillset/glossary/#build) can write. A runtime is a concrete application or harness that may consume that output. Adding a runtime does not add a target, and rendering provider output does not prove [activation](/skillset/glossary/#activation).

Use the [feature support matrix](/skillset/reference/support-matrix/) for the exhaustive registry-owned view of feature status across every canonical target. The authored provider pages explain how to interpret those facts: native output shapes, important unsupported or provider-native boundaries, and the evidence behind current claims. Status terms are defined once in the [feature-reference support vocabulary](/skillset/reference/features/#support-vocabulary).

## Providers

<!-- skillset:generated:start provider-list -->
- [Claude](/skillset/reference/providers/claude/) — Skillset support and provider-specific guidance for the `claude` target.
- [Codex](/skillset/reference/providers/codex/) — Skillset support and provider-specific guidance for the `codex` target.
- [Cursor](/skillset/reference/providers/cursor/) — Skillset support and provider-specific guidance for the `cursor` target.
<!-- skillset:generated:end provider-list -->

## Reading Provider Support

A support cell describes what Skillset can render for one feature and target. It does not prove that a runtime installed, trusted, discovered, or invoked the result. Open the linked feature page for authoring shape, diagnostics, qualifications, and evidence; open the provider page for target-level constraints that cut across features.

Provider evidence is checked into the repository so ordinary builds stay deterministic and offline. Maintainers refresh that evidence through the [feature-registry provider evidence procedure](https://github.com/outfitter-dev/skillset/blob/24800e02ed4e7150ea1bc7130c35603c98ea9da2/docs/development/features/feature-registry.md#provider-evidence-refresh).

The [hosted provider-validation record](/skillset/reference/provider-validation/) lists exact external pins, the surfaces each validator actually covers, negative canaries, and the internal-conformance fallback for uncovered provider behavior.

Skillset renders files. It does not install, trust, activate, symlink, or mutate user-level provider configuration. See [Build Versus Activation](/skillset/start/build-versus-activation/).