From 2af55f482c268fab1a41ffde88e224a3e7dabb8d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: elliotllliu <55885132+elliotllliu@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Mar 2026 20:18:06 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] fix: initialize git submodules when cloning repositories
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After cloning a repository, run `git submodule update --init
--recursive --depth 1` to initialize any submodules. This allows
skills in submodule directories to be discovered by `skills add`.

The submodule init is best-effort with shallow depth to minimize
overhead — if no submodules exist or init fails, cloning proceeds
normally.

Closes #492
---
 src/git.ts | 13 +++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+)

diff --git a/src/git.ts b/src/git.ts
index fff86f58..389e9c1f 100644
--- a/src/git.ts
+++ b/src/git.ts
@@ -29,6 +29,19 @@ export async function cloneRepo(url: string, ref?: string): Promise<string> {
 
   try {
     await git.clone(url, tempDir, cloneOptions);
+
+    // Initialize submodules if any exist
+    try {
+      const repoGit = simpleGit({
+        timeout: { block: CLONE_TIMEOUT_MS },
+        env: { ...process.env, GIT_TERMINAL_PROMPT: '0' },
+      });
+      await repoGit.cwd(tempDir);
+      await repoGit.submoduleUpdate(['--init', '--recursive', '--depth', '1']);
+    } catch {
+      // Submodule init is best-effort — skip silently if no submodules or if it fails
+    }
+
     return tempDir;
   } catch (error) {
     // Clean up temp dir on failure