diff --git a/src/server/api/skills.ts b/src/server/api/skills.ts
index e76c2dc2..73dfbcba 100644
--- a/src/server/api/skills.ts
+++ b/src/server/api/skills.ts
@@ -224,11 +224,25 @@ async function collectSkillsFromRoots(
     }
 
     for (const entry of entries) {
-      if (!entry.isDirectory() || entry.name.startsWith('.') || seenNames.has(entry.name)) {
-        continue
+      if (
+         (!entry.isDirectory() && !entry.isSymbolicLink()) ||
+         entry.name.startsWith('.') ||
+         seenNames.has(entry.name)
+      ) {
+         continue
       }
 
-      const meta = await loadSkillMeta(path.join(root, entry.name), entry.name, source)
+      const skillDir = path.join(root, entry.name)
+      const skillFile = path.join(skillDir, 'SKILL.md')
+ 
+      try {
+         const stat = await fs.stat(skillFile)
+      if (!stat.isFile()) continue
+      } catch {
+         continue
+      }
+ 
+      const meta = await loadSkillMeta(skillDir, entry.name, source)
       if (!meta) continue
 
       seenNames.add(entry.name)