{
  "id": 3660892,
  "title": "I Published Skills to 5 AI Marketplaces in One Week — Here's the Brutal Automation Ceiling Test",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/27/i-published-skills-to-5-ai-marketplaces-in-one-week-heres-the-brutal",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-08-27T04:06:46.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/felixwang007/i-published-skills-to-5-ai-marketplaces-in-one-week-heres-the-brutal-automation-ceiling-test-8gh"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In a recent effort, the author managed to publish agent skills to five AI marketplaces within a single week. The revenue generated so far is $0, but the real takeaway from this endeavor was the development of an \"automation ceiling test.\" This framework serves as a decision-making tool before writing any code, helping to avoid unnecessary work. The test categorizes marketplaces into three tiers based on their publish paths, which are either fully automated, partially automated, or require human intervention at every step.\n\nThe author discovered that not all platforms are created equal when it comes to automation. For instance, Xiaping offered a full REST API, making the publishing process seamless with multipart upload and JSON arrays. Apify also provided scriptable publishing with its CLI tool, while MCPize and Capafy offered similar opportunities with CLI interfaces. However, Agensi, despite having a more visually appealing interface and higher pricing, lacked a publish API and relied entirely on a web UI, making it unsuitable for automated workflows.\n\nOne key insight from the experience was the importance of thoroughly mapping the automation ceiling before investing time and effort into building a skill package. The author learned that each marketplace presents unique challenges, such as trial periods, promotion strategies, and distribution hurdles. While revenue share and payment models vary, the author emphasizes that automation is the most critical factor in determining the success of a published skill.\n\nThe author concludes by advocating for a repeatable, mostly-automated pipeline for building and publishing skills. By treating trial periods as a product phase, monitoring notifications, and actively engaging in community promotion, the chances of a skill gaining visibility and generating revenue increase significantly. The author encourages readers to share their experiences with automatable marketplaces, aiming to create a comprehensive table of automatable platforms for future reference.",
  "summary": "I've spent months building agent skills (SKILL.md files) that turn AI coding agents into specialists — stock scanners, content pipelines, document tools. Earlier this year I made the leap from \"tools for myself\" to \"products for sale.\" In one week I published skills and MCP servers to five AI marketplaces : Agensi, Xiaping, Apify, MCPize, and Capafy. The revenue so far: $0. And I'm not ashamed to…",
  "key_points": [
    "Author published skills to five AI marketplaces in one week",
    "Developed automation ceiling test to guide code-writing decisions",
    "Marketplaces categorized into three tiers based on publish paths"
  ],
  "editors_take": "The experience reveals that automation capabilities, not just revenue share and payment models, largely determine a marketplace's suitability for publishing skills and potential for generating revenue.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}