diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 695961abe6..b1b07e3ade 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Gateway/Agent: reject malformed `agent:`-prefixed session keys (for example, `agent:main`) in `agent` and `agent.identity.get` instead of silently resolving them to the default agent, preventing accidental cross-session routing. (#15707) Thanks @rodrigouroz.
 - Gateway/Security: redact sensitive session/path details from `status` responses for non-admin clients; full details remain available to `operator.admin`. (#8590) Thanks @fr33d3m0n.
 - Web Fetch/Security: cap downloaded response body size before HTML parsing to prevent memory exhaustion from oversized or deeply nested pages. Thanks @xuemian168.
+- Skills/Security: restrict `download` installer `targetDir` to the per-skill tools directory to prevent arbitrary file writes. Thanks @Adam55A-code.
 - Agents: return an explicit timeout error reply when an embedded run times out before producing any payloads, preventing silent dropped turns during slow cache-refresh transitions. (#16659) Thanks @liaosvcaf and @vignesh07.
 - Agents/OpenAI: force `store=true` for direct OpenAI Responses/Codex runs to preserve multi-turn server-side conversation state, while leaving proxy/non-OpenAI endpoints unchanged. (#16803) Thanks @mark9232 and @vignesh07.
 - Agents/Security: sanitize workspace paths before embedding into LLM prompts (strip Unicode control/format chars) to prevent instruction injection via malicious directory names. Thanks @aether-ai-agent.
diff --git a/skills/sherpa-onnx-tts/SKILL.md b/skills/sherpa-onnx-tts/SKILL.md
index ee5daeae97..1628660637 100644
--- a/skills/sherpa-onnx-tts/SKILL.md
+++ b/skills/sherpa-onnx-tts/SKILL.md
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ metadata:
               "archive": "tar.bz2",
               "extract": true,
               "stripComponents": 1,
-              "targetDir": "~/.openclaw/tools/sherpa-onnx-tts/runtime",
+              "targetDir": "runtime",
               "label": "Download sherpa-onnx runtime (macOS)",
             },
             {
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ metadata:
               "archive": "tar.bz2",
               "extract": true,
               "stripComponents": 1,
-              "targetDir": "~/.openclaw/tools/sherpa-onnx-tts/runtime",
+              "targetDir": "runtime",
               "label": "Download sherpa-onnx runtime (Linux x64)",
             },
             {
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ metadata:
               "archive": "tar.bz2",
               "extract": true,
               "stripComponents": 1,
-              "targetDir": "~/.openclaw/tools/sherpa-onnx-tts/runtime",
+              "targetDir": "runtime",
               "label": "Download sherpa-onnx runtime (Windows x64)",
             },
             {
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ metadata:
               "url": "https://github.com/k2-fsa/sherpa-onnx/releases/download/tts-models/vits-piper-en_US-lessac-high.tar.bz2",
               "archive": "tar.bz2",
               "extract": true,
-              "targetDir": "~/.openclaw/tools/sherpa-onnx-tts/models",
+              "targetDir": "models",
               "label": "Download Piper en_US lessac (high)",
             },
           ],
diff --git a/src/agents/skills-install-download.ts b/src/agents/skills-install-download.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f9b2ff2837
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/agents/skills-install-download.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,376 @@
+import type { ReadableStream as NodeReadableStream } from "node:stream/web";
+import fs from "node:fs";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { Readable } from "node:stream";
+import { pipeline } from "node:stream/promises";
+import type { SkillInstallResult } from "./skills-install.js";
+import type { SkillEntry, SkillInstallSpec } from "./skills.js";
+import { extractArchive as extractArchiveSafe } from "../infra/archive.js";
+import { fetchWithSsrFGuard } from "../infra/net/fetch-guard.js";
+import { isWithinDir, resolveSafeBaseDir } from "../infra/path-safety.js";
+import { runCommandWithTimeout } from "../process/exec.js";
+import { ensureDir, resolveUserPath } from "../utils.js";
+import { hasBinary } from "./skills.js";
+import { resolveSkillToolsRootDir } from "./skills/tools-dir.js";
+
+function isNodeReadableStream(value: unknown): value is NodeJS.ReadableStream {
+  return Boolean(value && typeof (value as NodeJS.ReadableStream).pipe === "function");
+}
+
+function summarizeInstallOutput(text: string): string | undefined {
+  const raw = text.trim();
+  if (!raw) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+  const lines = raw
+    .split("\n")
+    .map((line) => line.trim())
+    .filter(Boolean);
+  if (lines.length === 0) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+
+  const preferred =
+    lines.find((line) => /^error\b/i.test(line)) ??
+    lines.find((line) => /\b(err!|error:|failed)\b/i.test(line)) ??
+    lines.at(-1);
+
+  if (!preferred) {
+    return undefined;
+  }
+  const normalized = preferred.replace(/\s+/g, " ").trim();
+  const maxLen = 200;
+  return normalized.length > maxLen ? `${normalized.slice(0, maxLen - 1)}…` : normalized;
+}
+
+function formatInstallFailureMessage(result: {
+  code: number | null;
+  stdout: string;
+  stderr: string;
+}): string {
+  const code = typeof result.code === "number" ? `exit ${result.code}` : "unknown exit";
+  const summary = summarizeInstallOutput(result.stderr) ?? summarizeInstallOutput(result.stdout);
+  if (!summary) {
+    return `Install failed (${code})`;
+  }
+  return `Install failed (${code}): ${summary}`;
+}
+
+function isWindowsDrivePath(p: string): boolean {
+  return /^[a-zA-Z]:[\\/]/.test(p);
+}
+
+function resolveDownloadTargetDir(entry: SkillEntry, spec: SkillInstallSpec): string {
+  const safeRoot = resolveSkillToolsRootDir(entry);
+  const raw = spec.targetDir?.trim();
+  if (!raw) {
+    return safeRoot;
+  }
+
+  // Treat non-absolute paths as relative to the per-skill tools root.
+  const resolved =
+    raw.startsWith("~") || path.isAbsolute(raw) || isWindowsDrivePath(raw)
+      ? resolveUserPath(raw)
+      : path.resolve(safeRoot, raw);
+
+  if (!isWithinDir(safeRoot, resolved)) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `Refusing to install outside the skill tools directory. targetDir="${raw}" resolves to "${resolved}". Allowed root: "${safeRoot}".`,
+    );
+  }
+  return resolved;
+}
+
+function resolveArchiveType(spec: SkillInstallSpec, filename: string): string | undefined {
+  const explicit = spec.archive?.trim().toLowerCase();
+  if (explicit) {
+    return explicit;
+  }
+  const lower = filename.toLowerCase();
+  if (lower.endsWith(".tar.gz") || lower.endsWith(".tgz")) {
+    return "tar.gz";
+  }
+  if (lower.endsWith(".tar.bz2") || lower.endsWith(".tbz2")) {
+    return "tar.bz2";
+  }
+  if (lower.endsWith(".zip")) {
+    return "zip";
+  }
+  return undefined;
+}
+
+function normalizeArchiveEntryPath(raw: string): string {
+  return raw.replaceAll("\\", "/");
+}
+
+function validateArchiveEntryPath(entryPath: string): void {
+  if (!entryPath || entryPath === "." || entryPath === "./") {
+    return;
+  }
+  if (isWindowsDrivePath(entryPath)) {
+    throw new Error(`archive entry uses a drive path: ${entryPath}`);
+  }
+  const normalized = path.posix.normalize(normalizeArchiveEntryPath(entryPath));
+  if (normalized === ".." || normalized.startsWith("../")) {
+    throw new Error(`archive entry escapes targetDir: ${entryPath}`);
+  }
+  if (path.posix.isAbsolute(normalized) || normalized.startsWith("//")) {
+    throw new Error(`archive entry is absolute: ${entryPath}`);
+  }
+}
+
+function stripArchivePath(entryPath: string, stripComponents: number): string | null {
+  const raw = normalizeArchiveEntryPath(entryPath);
+  if (!raw || raw === "." || raw === "./") {
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  // Important: tar's --strip-components semantics operate on raw path segments,
+  // before any normalization that would collapse "..". We mimic that so we
+  // can detect strip-induced escapes like "a/../b" with stripComponents=1.
+  const parts = raw.split("/").filter((part) => part.length > 0 && part !== ".");
+  const strip = Math.max(0, Math.floor(stripComponents));
+  const stripped = strip === 0 ? parts.join("/") : parts.slice(strip).join("/");
+  const result = path.posix.normalize(stripped);
+  if (!result || result === "." || result === "./") {
+    return null;
+  }
+  return result;
+}
+
+function validateExtractedPathWithinRoot(params: {
+  rootDir: string;
+  relPath: string;
+  originalPath: string;
+}): void {
+  const safeBase = resolveSafeBaseDir(params.rootDir);
+  const outPath = path.resolve(params.rootDir, params.relPath);
+  if (!outPath.startsWith(safeBase)) {
+    throw new Error(`archive entry escapes targetDir: ${params.originalPath}`);
+  }
+}
+
+async function downloadFile(
+  url: string,
+  destPath: string,
+  timeoutMs: number,
+): Promise<{ bytes: number }> {
+  const { response, release } = await fetchWithSsrFGuard({
+    url,
+    timeoutMs: Math.max(1_000, timeoutMs),
+  });
+  try {
+    if (!response.ok || !response.body) {
+      throw new Error(`Download failed (${response.status} ${response.statusText})`);
+    }
+    await ensureDir(path.dirname(destPath));
+    const file = fs.createWriteStream(destPath);
+    const body = response.body as unknown;
+    const readable = isNodeReadableStream(body)
+      ? body
+      : Readable.fromWeb(body as NodeReadableStream);
+    await pipeline(readable, file);
+    const stat = await fs.promises.stat(destPath);
+    return { bytes: stat.size };
+  } finally {
+    await release();
+  }
+}
+
+async function extractArchive(params: {
+  archivePath: string;
+  archiveType: string;
+  targetDir: string;
+  stripComponents?: number;
+  timeoutMs: number;
+}): Promise<{ stdout: string; stderr: string; code: number | null }> {
+  const { archivePath, archiveType, targetDir, stripComponents, timeoutMs } = params;
+  const strip =
+    typeof stripComponents === "number" && Number.isFinite(stripComponents)
+      ? Math.max(0, Math.floor(stripComponents))
+      : 0;
+
+  try {
+    if (archiveType === "zip") {
+      await extractArchiveSafe({
+        archivePath,
+        destDir: targetDir,
+        timeoutMs,
+        kind: "zip",
+        stripComponents: strip,
+      });
+      return { stdout: "", stderr: "", code: 0 };
+    }
+
+    if (archiveType === "tar.gz") {
+      await extractArchiveSafe({
+        archivePath,
+        destDir: targetDir,
+        timeoutMs,
+        kind: "tar",
+        stripComponents: strip,
+        tarGzip: true,
+      });
+      return { stdout: "", stderr: "", code: 0 };
+    }
+
+    if (archiveType === "tar.bz2") {
+      if (!hasBinary("tar")) {
+        return { stdout: "", stderr: "tar not found on PATH", code: null };
+      }
+
+      // Preflight list to prevent zip-slip style traversal before extraction.
+      const listResult = await runCommandWithTimeout(["tar", "tf", archivePath], { timeoutMs });
+      if (listResult.code !== 0) {
+        return {
+          stdout: listResult.stdout,
+          stderr: listResult.stderr || "tar list failed",
+          code: listResult.code,
+        };
+      }
+      const entries = listResult.stdout
+        .split("\n")
+        .map((line) => line.trim())
+        .filter(Boolean);
+
+      const verboseResult = await runCommandWithTimeout(["tar", "tvf", archivePath], { timeoutMs });
+      if (verboseResult.code !== 0) {
+        return {
+          stdout: verboseResult.stdout,
+          stderr: verboseResult.stderr || "tar verbose list failed",
+          code: verboseResult.code,
+        };
+      }
+      for (const line of verboseResult.stdout.split("\n")) {
+        const trimmed = line.trim();
+        if (!trimmed) {
+          continue;
+        }
+        const typeChar = trimmed[0];
+        if (typeChar === "l" || typeChar === "h" || trimmed.includes(" -> ")) {
+          return {
+            stdout: verboseResult.stdout,
+            stderr: "tar archive contains link entries; refusing to extract for safety",
+            code: 1,
+          };
+        }
+      }
+
+      for (const entry of entries) {
+        validateArchiveEntryPath(entry);
+        const relPath = stripArchivePath(entry, strip);
+        if (!relPath) {
+          continue;
+        }
+        validateArchiveEntryPath(relPath);
+        validateExtractedPathWithinRoot({ rootDir: targetDir, relPath, originalPath: entry });
+      }
+
+      const argv = ["tar", "xf", archivePath, "-C", targetDir];
+      if (strip > 0) {
+        argv.push("--strip-components", String(strip));
+      }
+      return await runCommandWithTimeout(argv, { timeoutMs });
+    }
+
+    return { stdout: "", stderr: `unsupported archive type: ${archiveType}`, code: null };
+  } catch (err) {
+    const message = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
+    return { stdout: "", stderr: message, code: 1 };
+  }
+}
+
+export async function installDownloadSpec(params: {
+  entry: SkillEntry;
+  spec: SkillInstallSpec;
+  timeoutMs: number;
+}): Promise<SkillInstallResult> {
+  const { entry, spec, timeoutMs } = params;
+  const url = spec.url?.trim();
+  if (!url) {
+    return {
+      ok: false,
+      message: "missing download url",
+      stdout: "",
+      stderr: "",
+      code: null,
+    };
+  }
+
+  let filename = "";
+  try {
+    const parsed = new URL(url);
+    filename = path.basename(parsed.pathname);
+  } catch {
+    filename = path.basename(url);
+  }
+  if (!filename) {
+    filename = "download";
+  }
+
+  let targetDir = "";
+  try {
+    targetDir = resolveDownloadTargetDir(entry, spec);
+    await ensureDir(targetDir);
+    const stat = await fs.promises.lstat(targetDir);
+    if (stat.isSymbolicLink()) {
+      throw new Error(`targetDir is a symlink: ${targetDir}`);
+    }
+    if (!stat.isDirectory()) {
+      throw new Error(`targetDir is not a directory: ${targetDir}`);
+    }
+  } catch (err) {
+    const message = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
+    return { ok: false, message, stdout: "", stderr: message, code: null };
+  }
+
+  const archivePath = path.join(targetDir, filename);
+  let downloaded = 0;
+  try {
+    const result = await downloadFile(url, archivePath, timeoutMs);
+    downloaded = result.bytes;
+  } catch (err) {
+    const message = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
+    return { ok: false, message, stdout: "", stderr: message, code: null };
+  }
+
+  const archiveType = resolveArchiveType(spec, filename);
+  const shouldExtract = spec.extract ?? Boolean(archiveType);
+  if (!shouldExtract) {
+    return {
+      ok: true,
+      message: `Downloaded to ${archivePath}`,
+      stdout: `downloaded=${downloaded}`,
+      stderr: "",
+      code: 0,
+    };
+  }
+
+  if (!archiveType) {
+    return {
+      ok: false,
+      message: "extract requested but archive type could not be detected",
+      stdout: "",
+      stderr: "",
+      code: null,
+    };
+  }
+
+  const extractResult = await extractArchive({
+    archivePath,
+    archiveType,
+    targetDir,
+    stripComponents: spec.stripComponents,
+    timeoutMs,
+  });
+  const success = extractResult.code === 0;
+  return {
+    ok: success,
+    message: success
+      ? `Downloaded and extracted to ${targetDir}`
+      : formatInstallFailureMessage(extractResult),
+    stdout: extractResult.stdout.trim(),
+    stderr: extractResult.stderr.trim(),
+    code: extractResult.code,
+  };
+}
diff --git a/src/agents/skills-install.ts b/src/agents/skills-install.ts
index deee4b425f..79b541c09d 100644
--- a/src/agents/skills-install.ts
+++ b/src/agents/skills-install.ts
@@ -1,15 +1,11 @@
-import type { ReadableStream as NodeReadableStream } from "node:stream/web";
 import fs from "node:fs";
 import path from "node:path";
-import { Readable } from "node:stream";
-import { pipeline } from "node:stream/promises";
 import type { OpenClawConfig } from "../config/config.js";
-import { extractArchive as extractArchiveSafe } from "../infra/archive.js";
 import { resolveBrewExecutable } from "../infra/brew.js";
-import { fetchWithSsrFGuard } from "../infra/net/fetch-guard.js";
 import { runCommandWithTimeout } from "../process/exec.js";
 import { scanDirectoryWithSummary } from "../security/skill-scanner.js";
-import { CONFIG_DIR, ensureDir, resolveUserPath } from "../utils.js";
+import { resolveUserPath } from "../utils.js";
+import { installDownloadSpec } from "./skills-install-download.js";
 import {
   hasBinary,
   loadWorkspaceSkillEntries,
@@ -18,7 +14,6 @@ import {
   type SkillInstallSpec,
   type SkillsInstallPreferences,
 } from "./skills.js";
-import { resolveSkillKey } from "./skills/frontmatter.js";
 
 export type SkillInstallRequest = {
   workspaceDir: string;
@@ -37,10 +32,6 @@ export type SkillInstallResult = {
   warnings?: string[];
 };
 
-function isNodeReadableStream(value: unknown): value is NodeJS.ReadableStream {
-  return Boolean(value && typeof (value as NodeJS.ReadableStream).pipe === "function");
-}
-
 function summarizeInstallOutput(text: string): string | undefined {
   const raw = text.trim();
   if (!raw) {
@@ -200,304 +191,6 @@ function buildInstallCommand(
   }
 }
 
-function resolveDownloadTargetDir(entry: SkillEntry, spec: SkillInstallSpec): string {
-  if (spec.targetDir?.trim()) {
-    return resolveUserPath(spec.targetDir);
-  }
-  const key = resolveSkillKey(entry.skill, entry);
-  return path.join(CONFIG_DIR, "tools", key);
-}
-
-function resolveArchiveType(spec: SkillInstallSpec, filename: string): string | undefined {
-  const explicit = spec.archive?.trim().toLowerCase();
-  if (explicit) {
-    return explicit;
-  }
-  const lower = filename.toLowerCase();
-  if (lower.endsWith(".tar.gz") || lower.endsWith(".tgz")) {
-    return "tar.gz";
-  }
-  if (lower.endsWith(".tar.bz2") || lower.endsWith(".tbz2")) {
-    return "tar.bz2";
-  }
-  if (lower.endsWith(".zip")) {
-    return "zip";
-  }
-  return undefined;
-}
-
-function normalizeArchiveEntryPath(raw: string): string {
-  return raw.replaceAll("\\", "/");
-}
-
-function isWindowsDrivePath(p: string): boolean {
-  return /^[a-zA-Z]:[\\/]/.test(p);
-}
-
-function validateArchiveEntryPath(entryPath: string): void {
-  if (!entryPath || entryPath === "." || entryPath === "./") {
-    return;
-  }
-  if (isWindowsDrivePath(entryPath)) {
-    throw new Error(`archive entry uses a drive path: ${entryPath}`);
-  }
-  const normalized = path.posix.normalize(normalizeArchiveEntryPath(entryPath));
-  if (normalized === ".." || normalized.startsWith("../")) {
-    throw new Error(`archive entry escapes targetDir: ${entryPath}`);
-  }
-  if (path.posix.isAbsolute(normalized) || normalized.startsWith("//")) {
-    throw new Error(`archive entry is absolute: ${entryPath}`);
-  }
-}
-
-function resolveSafeBaseDir(rootDir: string): string {
-  const resolved = path.resolve(rootDir);
-  return resolved.endsWith(path.sep) ? resolved : `${resolved}${path.sep}`;
-}
-
-function stripArchivePath(entryPath: string, stripComponents: number): string | null {
-  const raw = normalizeArchiveEntryPath(entryPath);
-  if (!raw || raw === "." || raw === "./") {
-    return null;
-  }
-
-  // Important: tar's --strip-components semantics operate on raw path segments,
-  // before any normalization that would collapse "..". We mimic that so we
-  // can detect strip-induced escapes like "a/../b" with stripComponents=1.
-  const parts = raw.split("/").filter((part) => part.length > 0 && part !== ".");
-  const strip = Math.max(0, Math.floor(stripComponents));
-  const stripped = strip === 0 ? parts.join("/") : parts.slice(strip).join("/");
-  const result = path.posix.normalize(stripped);
-  if (!result || result === "." || result === "./") {
-    return null;
-  }
-  return result;
-}
-
-function validateExtractedPathWithinRoot(params: {
-  rootDir: string;
-  relPath: string;
-  originalPath: string;
-}): void {
-  const safeBase = resolveSafeBaseDir(params.rootDir);
-  const outPath = path.resolve(params.rootDir, params.relPath);
-  if (!outPath.startsWith(safeBase)) {
-    throw new Error(`archive entry escapes targetDir: ${params.originalPath}`);
-  }
-}
-
-async function downloadFile(
-  url: string,
-  destPath: string,
-  timeoutMs: number,
-): Promise<{ bytes: number }> {
-  const { response, release } = await fetchWithSsrFGuard({
-    url,
-    timeoutMs: Math.max(1_000, timeoutMs),
-  });
-  try {
-    if (!response.ok || !response.body) {
-      throw new Error(`Download failed (${response.status} ${response.statusText})`);
-    }
-    await ensureDir(path.dirname(destPath));
-    const file = fs.createWriteStream(destPath);
-    const body = response.body as unknown;
-    const readable = isNodeReadableStream(body)
-      ? body
-      : Readable.fromWeb(body as NodeReadableStream);
-    await pipeline(readable, file);
-    const stat = await fs.promises.stat(destPath);
-    return { bytes: stat.size };
-  } finally {
-    await release();
-  }
-}
-
-async function extractArchive(params: {
-  archivePath: string;
-  archiveType: string;
-  targetDir: string;
-  stripComponents?: number;
-  timeoutMs: number;
-}): Promise<{ stdout: string; stderr: string; code: number | null }> {
-  const { archivePath, archiveType, targetDir, stripComponents, timeoutMs } = params;
-  const strip =
-    typeof stripComponents === "number" && Number.isFinite(stripComponents)
-      ? Math.max(0, Math.floor(stripComponents))
-      : 0;
-
-  try {
-    if (archiveType === "zip") {
-      await extractArchiveSafe({
-        archivePath,
-        destDir: targetDir,
-        timeoutMs,
-        kind: "zip",
-        stripComponents: strip,
-      });
-      return { stdout: "", stderr: "", code: 0 };
-    }
-
-    if (archiveType === "tar.gz") {
-      await extractArchiveSafe({
-        archivePath,
-        destDir: targetDir,
-        timeoutMs,
-        kind: "tar",
-        stripComponents: strip,
-        tarGzip: true,
-      });
-      return { stdout: "", stderr: "", code: 0 };
-    }
-
-    if (archiveType === "tar.bz2") {
-      if (!hasBinary("tar")) {
-        return { stdout: "", stderr: "tar not found on PATH", code: null };
-      }
-
-      // Preflight list to prevent zip-slip style traversal before extraction.
-      const listResult = await runCommandWithTimeout(["tar", "tf", archivePath], { timeoutMs });
-      if (listResult.code !== 0) {
-        return {
-          stdout: listResult.stdout,
-          stderr: listResult.stderr || "tar list failed",
-          code: listResult.code,
-        };
-      }
-      const entries = listResult.stdout
-        .split("\n")
-        .map((line) => line.trim())
-        .filter(Boolean);
-
-      const verboseResult = await runCommandWithTimeout(["tar", "tvf", archivePath], { timeoutMs });
-      if (verboseResult.code !== 0) {
-        return {
-          stdout: verboseResult.stdout,
-          stderr: verboseResult.stderr || "tar verbose list failed",
-          code: verboseResult.code,
-        };
-      }
-      for (const line of verboseResult.stdout.split("\n")) {
-        const trimmed = line.trim();
-        if (!trimmed) {
-          continue;
-        }
-        const typeChar = trimmed[0];
-        if (typeChar === "l" || typeChar === "h" || trimmed.includes(" -> ")) {
-          return {
-            stdout: verboseResult.stdout,
-            stderr: "tar archive contains link entries; refusing to extract for safety",
-            code: 1,
-          };
-        }
-      }
-
-      for (const entry of entries) {
-        validateArchiveEntryPath(entry);
-        const relPath = stripArchivePath(entry, strip);
-        if (!relPath) {
-          continue;
-        }
-        validateArchiveEntryPath(relPath);
-        validateExtractedPathWithinRoot({ rootDir: targetDir, relPath, originalPath: entry });
-      }
-
-      const argv = ["tar", "xf", archivePath, "-C", targetDir];
-      if (strip > 0) {
-        argv.push("--strip-components", String(strip));
-      }
-      return await runCommandWithTimeout(argv, { timeoutMs });
-    }
-
-    return { stdout: "", stderr: `unsupported archive type: ${archiveType}`, code: null };
-  } catch (err) {
-    const message = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
-    return { stdout: "", stderr: message, code: 1 };
-  }
-}
-
-async function installDownloadSpec(params: {
-  entry: SkillEntry;
-  spec: SkillInstallSpec;
-  timeoutMs: number;
-}): Promise<SkillInstallResult> {
-  const { entry, spec, timeoutMs } = params;
-  const url = spec.url?.trim();
-  if (!url) {
-    return {
-      ok: false,
-      message: "missing download url",
-      stdout: "",
-      stderr: "",
-      code: null,
-    };
-  }
-
-  let filename = "";
-  try {
-    const parsed = new URL(url);
-    filename = path.basename(parsed.pathname);
-  } catch {
-    filename = path.basename(url);
-  }
-  if (!filename) {
-    filename = "download";
-  }
-
-  const targetDir = resolveDownloadTargetDir(entry, spec);
-  await ensureDir(targetDir);
-
-  const archivePath = path.join(targetDir, filename);
-  let downloaded = 0;
-  try {
-    const result = await downloadFile(url, archivePath, timeoutMs);
-    downloaded = result.bytes;
-  } catch (err) {
-    const message = err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err);
-    return { ok: false, message, stdout: "", stderr: message, code: null };
-  }
-
-  const archiveType = resolveArchiveType(spec, filename);
-  const shouldExtract = spec.extract ?? Boolean(archiveType);
-  if (!shouldExtract) {
-    return {
-      ok: true,
-      message: `Downloaded to ${archivePath}`,
-      stdout: `downloaded=${downloaded}`,
-      stderr: "",
-      code: 0,
-    };
-  }
-
-  if (!archiveType) {
-    return {
-      ok: false,
-      message: "extract requested but archive type could not be detected",
-      stdout: "",
-      stderr: "",
-      code: null,
-    };
-  }
-
-  const extractResult = await extractArchive({
-    archivePath,
-    archiveType,
-    targetDir,
-    stripComponents: spec.stripComponents,
-    timeoutMs,
-  });
-  const success = extractResult.code === 0;
-  return {
-    ok: success,
-    message: success
-      ? `Downloaded and extracted to ${targetDir}`
-      : formatInstallFailureMessage(extractResult),
-    stdout: extractResult.stdout.trim(),
-    stderr: extractResult.stderr.trim(),
-    code: extractResult.code,
-  };
-}
-
 async function resolveBrewBinDir(timeoutMs: number, brewExe?: string): Promise<string | undefined> {
   const exe = brewExe ?? (hasBinary("brew") ? "brew" : resolveBrewExecutable());
   if (!exe) {
diff --git a/src/agents/skills/tools-dir.ts b/src/agents/skills/tools-dir.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..767ad3f79f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/agents/skills/tools-dir.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+import path from "node:path";
+import type { SkillEntry } from "./types.js";
+import { safePathSegmentHashed } from "../../infra/install-safe-path.js";
+import { resolveConfigDir } from "../../utils.js";
+import { resolveSkillKey } from "./frontmatter.js";
+
+export function resolveSkillToolsRootDir(entry: SkillEntry): string {
+  const key = resolveSkillKey(entry.skill, entry);
+  const safeKey = safePathSegmentHashed(key);
+  return path.join(resolveConfigDir(), "tools", safeKey);
+}
diff --git a/src/infra/archive.ts b/src/infra/archive.ts
index 1dc8953fda..260c202e57 100644
--- a/src/infra/archive.ts
+++ b/src/infra/archive.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import path from "node:path";
 import { Readable, Transform } from "node:stream";
 import { pipeline } from "node:stream/promises";
 import * as tar from "tar";
+import { resolveSafeBaseDir } from "./path-safety.js";
 
 export type ArchiveKind = "tar" | "zip";
 
@@ -101,11 +102,6 @@ export async function withTimeout<T>(
   }
 }
 
-function resolveSafeBaseDir(destDir: string): string {
-  const resolved = path.resolve(destDir);
-  return resolved.endsWith(path.sep) ? resolved : `${resolved}${path.sep}`;
-}
-
 // Path hygiene.
 function normalizeArchivePath(raw: string): string {
   // Archives may contain Windows separators; treat them as separators.
diff --git a/src/infra/install-safe-path.ts b/src/infra/install-safe-path.ts
index 012f633a88..98da6bba6e 100644
--- a/src/infra/install-safe-path.ts
+++ b/src/infra/install-safe-path.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { createHash } from "node:crypto";
 import path from "node:path";
 
 export function unscopedPackageName(name: string): string {
@@ -16,6 +17,30 @@ export function safeDirName(input: string): string {
   return trimmed.replaceAll("/", "__").replaceAll("\\", "__");
 }
 
+export function safePathSegmentHashed(input: string): string {
+  const trimmed = input.trim();
+  const base = trimmed
+    .replaceAll(/[\\/]/g, "-")
+    .replaceAll(/[^a-zA-Z0-9._-]/g, "-")
+    .replaceAll(/-+/g, "-")
+    .replaceAll(/^-+/g, "")
+    .replaceAll(/-+$/g, "");
+
+  const normalized = base.length > 0 ? base : "skill";
+  const safe = normalized === "." || normalized === ".." ? "skill" : normalized;
+
+  const hash = createHash("sha256").update(trimmed).digest("hex").slice(0, 10);
+
+  if (safe !== trimmed) {
+    const prefix = safe.length > 50 ? safe.slice(0, 50) : safe;
+    return `${prefix}-${hash}`;
+  }
+  if (safe.length > 60) {
+    return `${safe.slice(0, 50)}-${hash}`;
+  }
+  return safe;
+}
+
 export function resolveSafeInstallDir(params: {
   baseDir: string;
   id: string;
diff --git a/src/infra/path-safety.ts b/src/infra/path-safety.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..df05097b31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/infra/path-safety.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import path from "node:path";
+
+export function resolveSafeBaseDir(rootDir: string): string {
+  const resolved = path.resolve(rootDir);
+  return resolved.endsWith(path.sep) ? resolved : `${resolved}${path.sep}`;
+}
+
+export function isWithinDir(rootDir: string, targetPath: string): boolean {
+  const resolvedRoot = path.resolve(rootDir);
+  const resolvedTarget = path.resolve(targetPath);
+
+  // Windows paths are effectively case-insensitive; normalize to avoid false negatives.
+  if (process.platform === "win32") {
+    const relative = path.win32.relative(resolvedRoot.toLowerCase(), resolvedTarget.toLowerCase());
+    return relative === "" || (!relative.startsWith("..") && !path.win32.isAbsolute(relative));
+  }
+
+  const relative = path.relative(resolvedRoot, resolvedTarget);
+  return relative === "" || (!relative.startsWith("..") && !path.isAbsolute(relative));
+}
diff --git a/src/infra/state-migrations.ts b/src/infra/state-migrations.ts
index 9bec6f5789..0556b562de 100644
--- a/src/infra/state-migrations.ts
+++ b/src/infra/state-migrations.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import {
   DEFAULT_MAIN_KEY,
   normalizeAgentId,
 } from "../routing/session-key.js";
+import { isWithinDir } from "./path-safety.js";
 import {
   ensureDir,
   existsDir,
@@ -360,11 +361,6 @@ function isDirPath(filePath: string): boolean {
   }
 }
 
-function isWithinDir(targetPath: string, rootDir: string): boolean {
-  const relative = path.relative(path.resolve(rootDir), path.resolve(targetPath));
-  return relative === "" || (!relative.startsWith("..") && !path.isAbsolute(relative));
-}
-
 function isLegacyTreeSymlinkMirror(currentDir: string, realTargetDir: string): boolean {
   let entries: fs.Dirent[];
   try {
@@ -395,7 +391,7 @@ function isLegacyTreeSymlinkMirror(currentDir: string, realTargetDir: string): b
       } catch {
         return false;
       }
-      if (!isWithinDir(resolvedRealTarget, realTargetDir)) {
+      if (!isWithinDir(realTargetDir, resolvedRealTarget)) {
         return false;
       }
       continue;